Assistant Vice President, Third Party Residential Underwriting

We are hiring an Assistant Vice President, Third Party Residential Underwriting

Reporting To: Vice President, Third Party Residential Underwriting

Full-Time/Part- Time: Full Time

Posting Date: January 5, 2026

Closing Date: January 16, 2026

Hours of Work: 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Grade: 20.7

Office Location: Montreal, QC

What we offer:

Highly competitive compensation package which includes, base salary, bonus, benefits, and career advancement opportunities

• Eligibility for benefits is dependent on the terms of employment

The Opportunity:

The Third Party Residential Underwriting Division, as a Division of First National Financial provides underwriting expertise and services on behalf of other financial institutions to the Canadian Mortgage Broker channel.

Reporting to the Vice President, Third Party Underwriting, the Assistant Vice President provides leadership to a management team of Directors in meeting the goals of the Division. Residential Underwriting teams consist of Mortgage Underwriters, Associate Mortgage Underwriters and Mortgage Funders. Under the guidance and leadership of the Vice President, the Division is responsible for the assessment of mortgage applications, for third party clients, in making lending decisions in adherence with the established mortgage underwriting policies and guidelines set by the client. The teams also have responsibility for reviewing required documentation for accuracy, completion for closing and advancing funds on approved mortgage applications while maintaining a consistent focus on service excellence.

Management Responsibilities:

• Manage workflow so that established turn-around targets are met
• Review internal and external auditing results to ensure company guidelines and procedures are properly adhered to
• Implement appropriate action plans to ensure teams are in compliance with policies and processes
• Communicate monthly status reports to the team
• Control and manage the branch's underwriting activities adhering to the underwriting guidelines
• Analyze credit and property risk
• Review approved and rejected applications to assess risk
• Approve mortgages applications within appropriate assigned limits escalating to the appropriate level as required
• Communicate policy changes and updates to division
• Build and maintain broker relationships including escalations and concerns
• Build and maintain third party client relationship
• Communicate rate changes
• Develop and maintain relationships with brokers to build loyalty to the Third Party Underwriting team.
• Attend management meetings
• Adheres to policies/procedures to ensure AML requirements are met, when applicable
• Complete special projects as assigned

Team Management Responsibilities:

• Ensure the team has a solid understanding of clients' policies, product knowledge and industry standards
• Provide direction to team members on policy interpretation/corporate lending guidelines
• Facilitate regular team meetings to provide updates on team performance, communicating changes in policies and procedures, and linking company and department goals to individual performance
• Encourage participation and feedback from team leaders on how to continuously improve processes
• Identify team and individual performance gaps; communicate performance gaps, sets action plans and provide training to improve performance
• Provide feedback to team leaders on various quality audit reviews
• Coach Managers on performance and customer service expectations, providing specific training in key skill areas, as necessary
• Participate in the recruitment process
• Salary administration
• Conduct annual performance reviews and set performance goals, as well as, have checkpoint meetings with individuals throughout the year, as necessary

This role requires ability to speak in French and English. Priority will be given to candidates that are fluent in both languages.

The Requirements Needed:

• Post-secondary education and/or equivalent work experience preferred
• People management skills—coaching, feedback, development of individuals and teams
• Ability to build and maintain positive relationships
• Strong aptitude for service excellence
• Ability to manage and resolve conflict
• Strong communication skills—both written and verbal
• Written and spoken French is required
• Strong written and spoken English is an asset
• Strong analytical skills
• Organizational and time management skills
• Positive team player with desire and ability to mentor others
• Effective problem solving and decision making skills
• Fully competent in working with basic pc software and working knowledge of the suite of Microsoft office products
• Ability to manage pressure in an environment of high volume processing with tight turnaround times

Education/Certification/Experience Requirements:

• Post-secondary education and/or equivalent work experience preferred
• Management experience
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Proven organizational skills and demonstrated ability to prioritize and multi-task
• Demonstrated ability to:
• Analyze information and make confident decisions
• Build client/customer relationships
• Create a team environment
• Give constructive feedback
• Lead and motivate others
• Set and communicate goals

Working Environment and Physical Demands Analysis:

• Office environment
• Periods of high volume with tight timelines
• Long periods of stationary position/sitting
• Prolonged periods of repetitive movement (i.e. using a keyboard and mouse)
• Long periods of time in viewing a computer screen
• Multi-tasking may include speaking to customers on a telephone call while looking up information on a computer program.

Why join First National?

• Competitive Compensation
• Comprehensive benefits program (i.e., Health Spending Account, Maternity and Parental Leave Top Up)
• Extensive training programs to set our employees up for success
• Modern office environment conducive to collaboration
• Supportive teamwork culture
• Opportunities to give back to the communities and work through events focused on a variety of charities
• Ongoing social events throughout the year

The team you'll join:

Founded in 1988, First National is one of Canada's largest non-bank lenders. We provide residential mortgages exclusively through the mortgage broker channel and we are Canada's largest commercial mortgage lender.

First National has been consistently recognized as a great place to work and we are proud that our employee engagement feedback is higher than our industry partners.

We would like to thank all applications for their interest in this existing vacancy, but only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

First National is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to diversity and inclusion regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender identity, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation and any other category protected by law.

First National supports requests for accommodation from applicants with disabilities; please contact Human Resources at should you need an accommodation at any point in the recruitment process.