Job Description

About Credit Saison India

Established in 2019, Credit Saison India (CS India) is one of the country’s fastest-growing Non-Bank Financial Company (NBFC) lenders, with a mission to meet India’s huge gap for credit among underserved segments. Registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and boasting an “AAA” rating from CRISIL and CARE Ratings, CS India operates a tech-enabled model facilitating lending at scale. With a branch network of 80+ physical offices, 2.06 million active loans, and an AUM of over US$2B, we are committed to being a transformative partner for MSMEs, households, and individuals. It ensures that aggressive financial inclusion is supported by asset-quality safeguards, protecting the institution’s capital and reputation as it scales further.

Position Purpose

The National Technical Manager is responsible for developing and implementing the technical valuation framework across the organization to ensure accurate property valuation, legal compliance, risk mitigation, and standardization of technical processes. The role is critical in maintaining portfolio quality while supporting business growth through timely and consistent technical assessments across our expanding pan-India network. Standardized technical assessments directly mitigate the risk of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) by ensuring that loan values are tied to verified, high-quality collateral rather than market speculation. This rigor is the primary driver behind maintaining a low-risk profile, which in turn sustains the organization’s prestigious “AAA” rating. Executing this vision requires a sophisticated governance structure capable of translating high-level policy into field-level execution.

Key Responsibilities

1. Technical Policy & Governance

Defining technical eligibility is the first line of defence in mitigating collateral risk within the Home Loan and Loan Against Property (LAP) segments. By setting clear benchmarks, CS India ensures that the collateral remains marketable and legally enforceable throughout the loan tenure. Acceptable standards must be categorized to address the unique risks of different lending segments:

• Affordable and Prime LAP: Focused on building age, structural stability, and resale marketability.
• Home Loans/Affordable Housing: Emphasizing NHB compliance and the structural integrity of residential units.
• MSME-linked Collateral: Specialized assessment of industrial sheds, mixed-use properties, and commercial viability, which carry distinct risks compared to residential assets.
• Commercial Property: Evaluating industrial construction standards and occupancy potential. Technical Risk Guidelines must be developed to address:
• Structural Integrity: Verifying building materials and age to ensure the property outlasts the loan tenure.
• Legal & Municipal Alignment: Strict adherence to RERA provisions and local building codes to prevent demolition or legal stay orders.
• Product-Specific Risks: Differentiating risk parameters (e.g., higher depreciation for industrial MSME sheds vs. prime residential).
• Compliance Benchmarks: Define acceptable construction and property standards. Serving as a "Go/No-Go" checklist for field teams, ensuring transparency in property selection. These standards establish the benchmarks that both internal teams and external partners must satisfy during the appraisal process.
• Standardize valuation methodologies across all regions, as well as prepare technical risk guidelines for various products, and introduce best industry practices and regulatory requirements.

1. Vendor Management

Outsourced valuations present inherent strategic risks, including potential collusion, valuation inflation, and operational delays. A rigorous vendor governance lifecycle is required to ensure external agencies operate with the same integrity as internal staff. The end-to-end Vendor Management process includes:

• Empanel and onboard technical valuers nationwide, based on capability, reputation, and regional expertise, with their comprehensive background checks and performance history.
• Negotiate commercial terms with valuation agencies, and align fees with quality and turnaround expectations.
• Conduct due diligence and periodic performance reviews. Quarterly cycles to monitor accuracy, compliance and TAT.
• Having a process of identifying and systematic purging of underperformers; vendors who fail to meet accuracy benchmarks or exhibit unethical behavior are blacklisted to protect the lending lifecycle from fraudulent or incompetent reporting.

1. Technical Appraisal & Due Diligence

Consistency in methodology prevents property valuations from being skewed by temporary market bubbles. For high-value and complex proposals, the framework mandates an escalation matrix to ensure that senior technical leadership reviews exceptional cases. Details for the critical risk factors validated during the appraisal process are: Appraisal Component, Critical Risk Factor to Validate, Property Eligibility, Boundary disputes, non-permissible land use, or title-technical mismatches, Technical Compliance, FSI/FAR violations, lack of Occupancy Certificates (OC), or non-adherence to approved plans, Valuation Assumptions, Validity of "Market Rate" vs. "Realizable Value" and excessive depreciation adjustments, Exceptional Cases, High-risk deviations from standard technical norms or construction quality issues, etc.

• Validate valuation assumptions and ensure property eligibility as per policy.
• Review high-value and complex property proposals.
• Guide field technical teams on difficult cases.
• Approve exceptional technical cases.

1. Portfolio Risk Management & Quality Assurance

Transitioning from transaction-level reviews to macro-level analytics is critical for institutional stability. This framework focuses on "Variance Analysis" — the delta between vendor valuations and internal check-valuations — as a core tool for identifying systemic inflation or fraud. The Technical Risk Mitigation strategy includes:

• Monitoring for valuation inflation trends and identifying rogue patterns that necessitate the blacklisting of valuers.
• Identifying clusters of construction quality issues or rapid valuation shifts in specific micro-markets.
• Conducting periodic technical audits and re-inspections to verify vendor findings.
• Monitor technical fraud indicators and identify valuation inflation trends.
• Conduct portfolio analytics and recommend corrective actions.
• Conduct periodic technical audits and review valuation quality.
• Develop and periodically review Technical Valuation Policy.

1. Process Improvement & Technology Integration

• Developing precise guardrails to safeguard the portfolio against substandard construction and legal non-compliance.
• Reduce Technical TAT, automate workflows, and digitize valuation reports.
• Develop technical manuals and organize knowledge-sharing sessions.
• Introduce GIS, geo-tagging, and image analytics wherever feasible.
• Work with IT teams for LOS/LMS integration.
• Support AI-enabled valuation initiatives.

1. Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Coordination

Socializing by training Regional Technical Managers, conducting mandatory certification programs, and developing comprehensive Technical Manuals to ensure knowledge management is institutionalized. This function must be led by an executive with a B.E./B.Tech (or Diploma) in Civil Engineering and 12–18 years of experience in technical valuation and mortgage lending.

• Manage a technical team for affordable LAP, Prime LAP and Home Loans.
• Coordinate closely with Credit, Sales, Operations, Legal, Collections, Risk, Product, and IT.
• Periodic reviews of the Technical Valuation Policy to reflect shifting macroeconomic and real estate trends.
• Unifying valuation approaches across diverse geographic regions and product lines.

1. Regulatory Compliance & Governance

Managing a decentralized network of over 80 physical offices necessitates a centralized governance model to prevent inconsistent risk applications. Centralized oversight ensures that a property valued in Mumbai follows the same rigorous standards as one in a Tier-3 town, shielding the national portfolio from localized volatility and substandard construction. The mandate for Technical Policy & Governance includes:

• Ensure compliance with RBI Guidelines, NHB Guidelines (for HFCs), RERA provisions, and Municipal regulations.
• Address Internal Audit requirements and Risk Committee observations.
• Ensuring the technical function provides robust documentation as well as data for Internal Audits, RBI inspections, and statutory audits, maintaining the transparency required for an AAA-rated entity. Technology is the primary vehicle for automating these monitoring and mitigation functions at scale.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Business: Technical TAT, Valuation turnaround time, Vendor productivity, Technical approval rate.
• Risk: Technical fraud cases, Portfolio valuation variance, Audit observations, Construction quality issues, Policy deviation percentage.
• Operational: Vendor turnaround time, Reinspection completion, Report accuracy, Technical rejection ratio.

Decision Making Authority

• Approve technical vendors and recommend policy changes.
• Approve technical deviations within delegated authority.
• Escalate high-risk cases and recommend blacklisting of valuers.

Candidate Profile

Educational Qualification:

• Mandatory: B.E./B.Tech (Civil Engineering) / Diploma in Civil Engineering

Experience & Skills:

• 12–18 years of experience in Technical Valuation, Mortgage Lending, Housing Finance, or NBFC.
• Minimum 5 years managing a zonal/national technical function.
• Experience in Loan Against Property (LAP), Home Loans (HL), Affordable Housing, and Commercial Property valuations.
• Exposure to policy formulation and vendor management.
• Strong stakeholder management skills and the ability to balance risk control with business enablement.