Director, Lending

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Director of Lending is responsible for leading and managing the organization’s lending activities to achieve strategic, impact, and financial goals. This role oversees the loan origination and underwriting team, ensuring strong risk management while advancing HPN’s lending initiatives, including its parent organization, Housing Partnership. The Director plays a critical leadership role in product development, staff supervision, capital deployment, and external partnerships.

MAJOR DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Leadership

• Collaborate with senior leadership to shape programmatic priorities for lending business and investment strategies.

• Monitor industry trends, real estate market conditions, and government subsidy programs to identify lending opportunities and potential risks and suggest changes to internal procedures and credit standards as necessary.

• Create quarterly loan deployment revenue projections for lending cost centers HP Lending and Housing Partnership Fund.

• Coordinate with the HPF President, Director of Portfolio Management, and Finance team to embed projections and team-related expenses into the annual budget and mid-year reforecast.

• In collaboration with HPF’s President, create and update annual strategic lending goals and develop a broader teamwork plan to achieve annual goals.

• Create an annual sales plan to guide borrower marketing strategy aligned with budgeted goals.

• Lead marketing outreach to HPN members, emphasizing the development of new and expansion of existing relationships to drive loan production. This includes leading lending-focused Member Virtual Meetings, in-person member meetings, and HPN-sponsored events, and promoting HPN's lending business at industry conferences such as Strength Matters and CHAM.

• Work with HPN’s communications team to create or update key marketing and communications assets, including on HPN’s and HPF’s webpages.

• Perform other duties as assigned.

Loan Originations Management

• Manage the originations team offering a suite of financial products across multiple funding sources, including HPF/HPN lending, New Market Tax Credits for Homeownership, and loan products for off-balance sheet funds managed by HPN.

• Oversee the loan origination process, from developing a robust pipeline that meets the team's strategic and budgeted objectives through loan closing, prioritizing opportunities with available capital and budgeted deployment assumptions.

• Manage the lending pipeline in Salesforce, coordinate with Loan Officers on weekly internal updates, and ensure accurate and timely pipeline reporting.

• Coordinate with loan participants to manage pipeline-related, on-balance-sheet capital risk exposure.

• Supervise, mentor, train, and develop Loan Officers and other staff, as applicable and provide coaching, performance evaluations, and professional development opportunities.

• Train and develop Loan Officers in technical underwriting proficiencies, including, but not limited to, project-based (preservation and new construction) pro forma modeling, borrower-level financial analysis, and loan structuring, as well as business development techniques.

• Work with the team to develop and implement strategic customer assessment mechanisms to evaluate the customer experience from intake through closing, increase efficiency, and improve end-to-end procedures.

• Oversee the development, design, and implementation of loan products in collaboration with lending staff and other internal departments, such as Housing Sustainability. Work with HPF's President to align product innovation with capital raise goals.

• Provide technical assistance to borrowers as applicable.

Credit & Risk Management

• Manage and update HPN/HPF’s lending policies with the HPN and HPF Boards. Implement the loan policy and HPF’s credit framework, maintaining a balance between relevance and risk mitigation.

• Oversee credit analysis and underwriting guidelines, processes, and procedures to ensure sound risk assessment and adherence to lending policies.

• Supervise and support the Loan Officers' presentations of credit transactions to credit committees.

• In partnership with the Portfolio Management and Asset Management teams, monitor portfolio performance and work with the teams to proactively address risk, workouts, or restructuring needs.

• Coordinate cross-training exercises with the Portfolio and Asset Management teams to reinforce staff knowledge of end-to-end loan closing procedures, identify areas for improvement, and fine-tune origination-to-closing procedures.

External Relations

• Cultivate and maintain relationships with borrowers and community partners.

Reporting & Compliance

• Ensure compliance with internal policies, investor requirements, and regulatory guidelines.
• Oversee accurate and timely reporting on the pipeline.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree and ten or more years of CDFI lending experience. An advanced degree in a related field is a plus.
• Proven experience (5+ years) managing and leading a lending team to achieve strategic and financial goals.
• Qualified candidates will have the following backgrounds: (a) affordable housing and or community development finance, (b) market leadership in banking, (c) a substantive role on a finance team, understanding capital transactions, particularly in affordable housing finance and/or (d) a transferrable skillset in positions working within the communities served by HPN.
• Knowledge of and experience in the LIHTC syndication field.
• Strong familiarity with federal, state, and local government capital funding sources and operating needs of affordable housing, with knowledge of the following sectors preferred: supportive housing, housing preservation, senior housing, naturally occurring affordable.
• Deep knowledge of underwriting, loan structuring, and credit risk evaluation.
• Strong leadership, communication, and strategic thinking skills.

LOCATION

HPN is a remote company. Employees may work from anywhere in the contiguous 48 states while staying fully engaged with their team and the broader company through virtual collaboration tools and regular online meetings. Occasional travel is required for in-person meetings, conferences, or team-building events to foster strong relationships and ensure alignment with key initiatives. The ideal candidate should be prepared to work from their home, have a dedicated office, and be comfortable balancing virtual communication with the ability to travel as needed for business purposes.

COMPENSATION

Salary: $132,000-$160,000. Commensurate with education and experience with a bonus potential.

BENEFITS:

15 vacation days, 12 sick days, 12 paid holidays, paid personal day, medical, dental and vision insurance, health savings account, flexible spending account, dependent care flexible spending account, retirement, and savings plan/401(k) match, group life insurance, short- and long-term disability, parental leave, sabbatical leave, professional development and much more!

TO APPLY:

Please submit a resume and a thoughtful cover letter detailing your interest in this opportunity and your relevant skills and expertise here.

ABOUT THE HOUSING PARTNERSHIP NETWORK

Housing Partnership Network (HPN) is an award-winning membership network of 100 of the nation’s leading affordable housing and community development nonprofits. Through practitioner-driven peer exchange, policy and innovation, the Housing Partnership Network’s mission is to leverage the individual strengths and mobilize the collective power of our member organizations. Our vision is that all people live in vibrant and inclusive communities where access to affordable homes creates opportunity and economic mobility.

Since our founding in 1992, HPN has collectively served over 12.8 million people; developed, rehabilitated, or preserved about 470,000 affordable homes; and launched 14 successful social enterprises. Our work has been recognized with honors including the MacArthur Award for Creative & Effective Institutions and Wells Fargo NEXT Award for Opportunity Finance for its ongoing leadership and innovation in affordable housing and community development. HPN represents a new breed of entrepreneurial nonprofit that combines a mission focus with business acumen to achieve ambitious social outcomes. The hallmark of HPN’s member‐driven approach is:

• Peer Exchange among the senior leaders of HPN member organizations who share knowledge and ideas to advance best practices in the field.
• Policy and Advocacy to strengthen the impact, scale, and sustainability of the sector.
• Innovation R&D is borne from ideas surfaced through peer exchange which HPN staff explore and test.
• Social Enterprises that HPN and members develop together are launched to address current affordable housing and community development challenges and advance innovative solutions.

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OUR COMMITMENT TO EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

HPN is committed to creating a diverse and equitable environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. HPN recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status and other protected status.