Head of Underwriting – Bridging, Specialist BTL
Castle Trust Bank
full-time
Posted on:
Location Type: Hybrid
Location: Basingstoke • United Kingdom
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Job Level
About the role
- Hold and exercise a significant personal lending mandate across Bridging and Specialist BTL cases
- Lead the end‑to‑end underwriting lifecycle for complex, time‑critical transactions
- Ensure every bridging loan has a robust, credible and verified exit strategy
- Assess non‑standard BTL cases including Ltd Co, HMO, MUFB and Expat structures
- Lead, develop and mentor a team of underwriters, embedding commercial but prudent decision‑making
- Own underwriting performance against SLAs, speed‑to‑offer and quality metrics
- Act as a key member of the Credit Committee, presenting complex cases and influencing credit and risk policy
- Build strong relationships with brokers, solicitors and valuation partners
- Champion strong governance, regulatory compliance and excellent customer outcomes under SMCR
Requirements
- Proven experience in manual underwriting within Bridging and Specialist BTL lending
- Deep expertise in non‑standard lending, including complex property and income structures
- Proven experience operating with delegated lending authority
- Strong understanding of FCA regulation across regulated and non‑regulated lending
- Experience presenting cases to Credit Committees and influencing risk policy
- Demonstrable ability to lead, develop and motivate a specialist underwriting team
- Excellent stakeholder management skills across intermediary and professional panels
Benefits
- Competitive salary
- Performance bonus (based on individual and company performance)
- Generous contributory pension through Hargreaves Lansdown
- Life Assurance
- 28 days’ holiday + option to buy/sell 5 days
- Additional paid volunteering day
- Private healthcare (BUPA single cover)
- Free access to BHSF Rise EAP to support colleague health and wellbeing
- Gym discounts
- Season ticket travel loans (if applicable)
Applicant Tracking System Keywords
Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.
Hard Skills & Tools
manual underwritingBridging lendingSpecialist BTL lendingnon-standard lendingdelegated lending authorityFCA regulationcredit policyrisk policyunderwriting performanceexit strategy
Soft Skills
leadershipmentoringdecision-makingstakeholder managementrelationship buildinginfluencingteam developmentcommunicationcommercial awarenesscustomer outcomes