An exciting opportunity is available for an experienced financial services professional to take responsibility for the growth, performance and strategic direction of an incremental housing loan portfolio.
The successful candidate will oversee low- to middle-income incremental housing lending, balancing portfolio growth with sound credit, risk and operational management. The role will focus on developing innovative lending solutions that address specific housing needs across urban, peri-urban and rural South Africa.
This position will also play a key role in developing strategic partnerships and lending channels, while leading a high-performing team across sales, credit, operations and technical assessment functions.
Key Responsibilities
Portfolio Management
- Grow the incremental housing loan book while managing portfolio performance and risk.
- Develop and execute targeted sales strategies to grow the lending portfolio.
- Build and maintain relationships with key partners, including housing finance entities, Retail Finance Intermediaries, building merchants and affordable housing developers.
Product Strategy
- Manage the full lifecycle of phased micro-loans and housing improvement credit products.
- Develop and implement the growth strategy for the incremental housing portfolio across urban, peri-urban and rural markets.
- Develop tailored financial products for specific housing needs, including pension-backed home loans, employer-assisted micro-housing schemes, building-material credit and rural home loans.
- Expand market share while maintaining competitive pricing and sustainable profitability.
- Optimize digital loan processing systems to support high-volume, low-value loan originations efficiently.
Operational Control
- Manage data collection and operational metrics to achieve productivity targets, reduce costs, minimize errors and maintain excellent customer service.
- Partner with cross-functional teams to improve tools and systems.
- Assist with developing and updating standard operating procedures across business operations.
- Monitor and control expenses against the allocated budget.
- Maintain accurate documentation for operational procedures and activities.
- Ensure compliance with company policies, procedures and legislative requirements.
- Develop and implement policies and procedures where required.
- Ensure teams follow standard operating procedures across operational functions.
- Support operational maintenance, credit risk and audit processes.
- Manage technical assessment teams responsible for verifying building milestones before funds are released.
Credit & Risk Oversight
- Ensure alignment with the National Credit Act and oversee credit underwriting, scoring criteria and default prevention for non-traditional collateral.
- Establish credit risk parameters that balance financial inclusion with prudent lending practices for formal and informal income earners.
- Oversee collections and asset rehabilitation strategies across non-traditional, unsecured and unique secured portfolios.
- Ensure compliance with the National Credit Act, Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, Financial Intelligence Centre Act and South African Reserve Bank regulations.
- Audit disbursement structures to ensure funds are used for their intended purposes.
Stakeholder Engagement
- Develop partnerships with alternative builders, hardware supply networks, community savings groups and housing developers.
- Establish wholesale and retail partnerships with Retail Finance Intermediaries, employers and builders' merchants.
- Collaborate with government agencies and public entities to align products with state subsidies such as First Home Finance.
- Manage vendor relationships with bond originators, aggregators and alternative distribution channels.
Team Leadership
- Lead, mentor and develop a high-performing department within a time-sensitive and demanding environment.
- Provide operational support and guidance to staff.
- Manage work assignments and allocations.
- Conduct performance reviews and provide ongoing performance feedback.
- Lead regular meetings with credit, audit and maintenance teams to address issues, concerns and operational updates.
Job Experience and Skills Required
- Grade 12 / Senior Certificate.
- BCom, equivalent degree or national diploma.
- 5+ years' experience within financial services or lending.
- 3+ years' experience in a management or senior management position.
- Proven experience in incremental housing finance.
- Experience managing sales teams and lending operations.
- Strong understanding of credit, affordability, collections and portfolio quality.
- Experience developing partnerships and channels to generate lending business.
- Strong Excel and reporting capability.
- Power BI and systems experience advantageous.
- Working knowledge of NCA, FICA, POPIA and relevant financial services legislation.
- Excellent Excel, Word and Outlook experience.
- Experience with Run a Loan and ALLPS.
- Building-material finance experience advantageous.
- Hardware or merchant partnership experience advantageous.
- Payroll or alternative lending channel experience advantageous.
- Proactive and target driven with strong leadership capability.
The successful candidate will suit a commercially minded financial services professional who combines lending and portfolio expertise with strong leadership, risk management and stakeholder engagement capabilities.
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For more information, contact:
Angelique Jardim
Specialist Recruitment Consultant