[Hiring] Deputy Chief Underwriter @Zions Bancorporation

Role Description

This position offers the opportunity to serve as a senior underwriting leader within a newly formed agency lending platform, with meaningful influence over transaction execution, credit discipline, team development, and underwriting standards. The Multifamily Agency Deputy Chief Underwriter will provide hands-on deal leadership, serve as a senior escalation point on complex credit matters, and help build the processes, controls, and best practices necessary to scale the platform responsibly.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide senior underwriting leadership across Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac multifamily loan opportunities, ensuring alignment with applicable agency guidelines and internal credit standards.
• Support the Chief Underwriter in establishing, maintaining, and refining underwriting policies, approval processes, credit standards, and quality control protocols.
• Review, structure, and approve complex multifamily transactions, including transactions with nuanced sponsorship, market, collateral, cash flow, or execution considerations.
• Serve as a senior credit resource and escalation point for originators, underwriters, capital markets professionals, closing, servicing, asset management, and other internal stakeholders.
• Guide underwriting diligence, including cash flow analysis, risk assessment, third-party report review, market evaluation, sponsorship analysis, and transaction structuring.
• Identify credit concerns early, develop practical mitigation strategies, and help facilitate efficient, well-supported credit decisions.
• Review and provide guidance on comprehensive credit write-ups, approval memoranda, risk summaries, and other internal or agency-facing materials.
• Mentor and develop underwriting professionals, helping build consistency, accountability, technical depth, and sound credit judgment across the team.
• Maintain strong working knowledge of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines, program requirements, credit updates, and market practices, incorporating changes into underwriting decisions and procedures.
• Partner with platform leadership to improve underwriting workflow, reporting, portfolio monitoring, audit readiness, and execution quality.
• Participate in client, broker, consultant, agency, and internal stakeholder discussions as needed to support deal execution and business development.
• Conduct or oversee on-site inspections as appropriate to evaluate property condition, management quality, and local market dynamics.
• Take on additional leadership responsibilities as the agency lending platform evolves.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree or relevant professional designation preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years of commercial real estate underwriting experience, with significant multifamily agency lending experience strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to independently underwrite, structure, review, and approve Fannie Mae and/or Freddie Mac multifamily transactions.
• Strong familiarity with agency lending structures, guidelines, approval processes, credit standards, and execution requirements.
• Prior experience leading, mentoring, or supervising underwriting professionals preferred.
• Proven ability to exercise senior credit judgment on complex transactions and communicate recommendations clearly to senior stakeholders.

Skills and Capabilities

• Deep foundation in multifamily credit analysis, including sponsorship evaluation, market analysis, property operations, cash flow sizing, and risk mitigation.
• Strong analytical mindset with the ability to make informed, balanced credit decisions in time-sensitive environments.
• Ability to lead through ambiguity in a growth-oriented, build-phase platform while maintaining discipline, consistency, and accountability.
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, with comfort presenting credit conclusions and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• High attention to detail, strong organizational skills, and a practical orientation toward process improvement and scalable execution.
• Collaborative leadership style with the ability to work effectively across originations, capital markets, closing, servicing, asset management, compliance, and agency relationships.
• Experience developing or refining underwriting frameworks, delegated authority processes, quality control practices, and portfolio monitoring tools is a plus.

Location

This role can be located anywhere in the U.S.

Pay Range

$200,000 - $275,000

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance – START DAY ONE!
• Life and Disability Insurance, Paid Paternal Leave, and Adoption Assistance.
• Health Savings (HSA), Flexible Spending (FSA), and dependent care accounts.
• Paid Training, Paid Time Off (PTO), and 11 Paid Federal Holidays.
• 401(k) plan with company match and Profit Sharing.
• Mental health benefits, including coaching and therapy sessions.
• Tuition Reimbursement for qualifying employees.
• Employee Ambassador preferred banking products.