Job Description

Purpose of the Role

The Quality Control Manager will own and develop quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) activity across Offa's underwriting and operations teams. The role will independently assess whether individual cases, transactions and operational processes are accurate, compliant, well evidenced and completed in line with Offa's policies, risk appetite, service standards and customer outcome requirements.

The role has two complementary elements:

Quality control: detailed review of individual underwriting files, operational transactions and mandates to identify errors, omissions, control failures or unacceptable risk before or after completion.

Quality assurance: thematic and process-level assessment of how consistently Offa's policies, procedures, systems and controls are operating, including root-cause analysis and recommendations for sustainable improvement.

Key Accountabilities

1. Underwriting quality control

• Carry out risk-based pre-offer, pre-completion and post-completion quality checks on Home Purchase Plan (HPP), Buy-to-Let (BTL) and Bridging cases.
• Review the full underwriting rationale and supporting evidence, including customer eligibility, affordability and rental coverage, income verification, credit profile, deposit and source of funds, property acceptability, valuation, legal position, security, fraud indicators and policy exceptions.
• Confirm that decisions are consistent with product criteria, underwriting policy, delegated authority, documented risk appetite and applicable regulatory requirements.
• Assess whether case notes, conditions, recommendations and decision records are complete, clear, accurate and capable of withstanding internal, regulatory or audit scrutiny.
• Check that material risks have been identified, appropriately mitigated and escalated, and that any exceptions have the correct approval and supporting rationale.
• Undertake targeted reviews of higher-risk areas, including complex income, portfolio landlords, HMOs and MUFBs, non-standard properties, expat cases, adverse credit, unusual ownership structures and time-sensitive bridging transactions.

2. Operations quality control

• Review customer, bank and payment mandates to confirm completeness, accuracy, authority, signatures and adherence to dual-control requirements.
• Check operational activity across the application, offer, completion and post-completion journey, including data entry, document management, customer and broker communications, completion statements, payment instructions, disbursements and system updates.
• Test adherence to operational procedures, service-level standards and hand-off controls between underwriting, operations, legal providers, valuers, finance and other teams.
• Review the accuracy and completeness of customer records, product terms, fees, payment details, security documentation and audit trails.
• Undertake checks on other operational processes as required, including redemptions, account changes, reconciliations, third-party instructions, complaints-related file reviews and control-sensitive manual activity.
• Identify actual or potential financial loss, customer harm, fraud, data-quality weaknesses, operational leakage or control failure and ensure prompt escalation.

3. Quality assurance framework and testing

• Design, maintain and continuously improve a proportionate, risk-based QA framework covering underwriting and operations.
• Set sampling methodologies and review frequencies by product, process, risk level, team member, approval authority and emerging issue.
• Create and maintain clear QC and QA checklists, scoring standards, defect classifications and materiality thresholds.
• Conduct thematic reviews to test end-to-end processes and recurring risks rather than focusing only on individual file errors.
• Perform root-cause analysis of defects and control failures, distinguish isolated errors from systemic issues and recommend practical corrective action.
• Track agreed actions through to closure and validate that remediation has been completed and is operating effectively.
• Support the development and testing of controls for new products, policy changes, system releases and material process changes.

4. Management information, governance and escalation

• Produce concise and decision-useful management information showing quality scores, defect rates, trends, recurring themes, risk severity, customer impact and overdue actions.
• Present findings and recommendations to relevant business leaders, governance forums and executive stakeholders.
• Escalate critical or high-risk findings immediately, including suspected fraud, material policy breaches, unauthorized activity, customer detriment and significant control failures.
• Maintain a complete and auditable record of reviews, evidence, outcomes, management responses and remediation.
• Work closely with Compliance, Risk and Internal Audit while maintaining clear ownership boundaries between first-line quality activity and independent second- or third-line assurance.
• Provide evidence and support for regulatory reviews, internal audits, funder due diligence and external assurance exercises where required.

5. Coaching and continuous improvement

• Deliver clear, constructive feedback to underwriters and operations colleagues, focusing on both the immediate correction and the underlying learning point.
• Identify training needs and work with team leaders to improve technical competence, consistency and judgement.
• Facilitate calibration sessions so that quality standards and underwriting interpretations are applied consistently across teams and products.
• Use quality findings to improve policies, procedures, templates, system controls and customer communications.
• Promote a culture in which quality, good customer outcomes and sensible risk management are embedded into day-to-day delivery rather than treated as a retrospective check.
• Help shape and, as the business grows, potentially build and manage a wider QC/QA capability.

Skills and Experience

Essential

• Substantial experience in the UK mortgage or property finance sector, with strong practical knowledge of mortgage underwriting and/or mortgage operations.
• Previous experience in a quality control, quality assurance, underwriting governance, audit, risk, compliance monitoring or senior underwriting role involving detailed file reviews.
• Strong understanding of the end-to-end UK mortgage lifecycle, from application and underwriting through offer, completion and post-completion administration.
• Demonstrable ability to review complex credit and property cases, challenge decisions constructively and reach balanced, evidence-based conclusions.
• Good working knowledge of UK mortgage regulation and conduct expectations, including MCOB, Consumer Duty, fair customer outcomes, vulnerable customers, data protection, financial crime controls and complaint-handling principles.
• Strong knowledge of customer due diligence, anti-money laundering, sanctions, fraud prevention, source of funds and source of wealth considerations in property finance.
• Experience producing clear management information, identifying trends and completing root-cause analysis.
• Excellent written communication and report-writing skills, with strong attention to detail and the confidence to escalate material concerns.

Desirable

• Experience across more than one of the following: regulated residential mortgages or HPPs, BTL mortgages, specialist lending and bridging finance.
• Direct experience of Islamic finance or Home Purchase Plan structures. This is desirable rather than essential; strong UK mortgage expertise is the primary requirement.
• CeMAP or an equivalent mortgage qualification.
• Experience in a fast-growing lender, bank, building society, fintech, specialist mortgage lender or mortgage servicer.
• Experience creating a QA framework, developing sampling methodology or implementing quality-management systems from an early stage.
• Experience supporting regulatory, internal audit, funder or external assurance reviews.

Knowledge and technical capability

• Mortgage affordability and income assessment, including employed, self-employed, contractor, rental and complex income.
• BTL rental coverage, portfolio landlord assessment and specialist property types.
• Ideally Bridging finance, exit strategy assessment, time-sensitive completions and heightened fraud or execution risk.
• Property valuation, title, security, legal due diligence and common conveyancing risks.
• Credit reference information, adverse credit, indebtedness, credit risk and responsible decision-making.
• Operational controls, payment authorities, segregation of duties, reconciliations, data quality and audit trails.