Lending Operations Manager

**Introduction**: About us. A unique life requires a unique bank. Defence Bank is a member-owned bank that has been proudly serving the Defence Community for 50 years. With 26 branches across Australia and our award-winning app, Defence Bank is where our members need us - anywhere, anytime. The bank provides financial products and services to the Australian Defence Force and its unique community, reinvesting profits for the benefit of our members. We are a leader in our sector and our people led, technology enabled environment, celebrates the individual talents, personalities, interests and needs of our people. Winner of the Best Reward & Recognition program 2024 and a finalist for Employer of Choice 2024, it is not only our employees who think our bank is truly one of the best places to work. **Description**: The opportunity. The Lending Operations Manager (assessment) is responsible for leading a team of Credit assessors dedicated to the accurate and timely execution of credit assessment activities for lending products and overseeing the credit assessment process, ensuring compliance with relevant laws and regulations. This role ensures both high standards of service delivery, operational efficiency, and regulatory compliance, as well as ensuring a high standard of productivity, engagement, and operational efficiency of their team. This people leadership position is responsible for, but not limited to: - Providing effective leadership and coaching of team members, driving cyclical people activities such as performance reviews and inspiring new ways and engage the team. - Overseeing day-to-day lending operations, ensuring timely and accurate completion of tasks, and managing workflows to maximise productivity. - Acting as the primary contact for internal and external stakeholders, ensuring clear communication and strong relationships, promoting collaboration to support successful outcomes. - Collaborate with sales, credit risk, product, and continuous improvement teams to optimise credit processes and procedures - Ensuring activities comply with regulatory standards, proactively manage risks, and lead quality assurance measures, implementing corrective actions. - Preparing and delivering performance reports, dashboards, analysing operational data. - Providing strategic support to the Head of Lending Operations, which includes but not limited to driving initiatives, maintain and updating of credit policies, procedures, process and training **Skills and Experiences**: About you - You have At least 5 years’ experience in Banking Industry with specific experience in lending. - Relevant certifications/degree in lending or financial services (optional but beneficial). You will bring proven leadership in lending operations, a strong credit acumen and understanding of home lending products and regulatory compliance, and exceptional skills in team management and stakeholder communication & team engagement. You excel in process improvement, risk management, and data-driven decision-making, ensuring operational efficiency and high performance. The successful applicant will have an incredible opportunity to contribute to the strategic direction, drive team performance, and shape the lending process, ensuring operational efficiency and strong stakeholder relationships. We count on you. And you can count on us. **We have a great range of employee benefits including**: - Savings and discounts across our range of products and services. - A generous annual corporate wardrobe allowance. - Access to our internal "reward and recognition" platform - vouchers, discounts, e-cards and much more Interested? We'd like to hear from you. Click to apply. Defence Bank is committed to providing equal opportunities for employment and seek to have a team that reflects our diverse community. We encourage anyone interested in our role and a career at Defence Bank to apply.