Senior Manager, Credit Risk

Zippy was founded with one mission: to make getting a loan for a manufactured home simple, fast, and fully online. We believe modern manufactured homes are affordable, well-built, eco-friendly, and stylish, but finding a lender who understands this market can be challenging. That’s why Zippy focuses exclusively on manufactured home loans, offering a seamless, digital experience.

Headquartered in Dallas, TX, with an office in Tempe, AZ, Zippy provides home loans and insurance to manufactured home buyers throughout the United States. Our remote-first team is spread across cities like Dallas, Houston, Knoxville, Omaha, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and several other states and cities. Backed by institutional investors, we offer competitive pay, stock options, and excellent benefits. At Zippy, we pride ourselves on our commitment to finance happiness through the power of home. We are dedicated to enhancing consumers' financial outcomes and tackling the affordable housing crisis through cutting-edge technology and innovative solutions.

The Role

The Senior Manager, Credit Risk is responsible for executing and maintaining the company’s credit policy, underwriting governance, and guideline framework across originations. This role serves as the central point of contact for credit-related questions, ensuring consistent application of underwriting standards and alignment with investor requirements.

This position emphasizes practical decision making, policy clarity, and operational consistency. The role is responsible for translating complex or ambiguous guidelines into clear internal standards, maintaining underwriting authority structures, and supporting scalable credit decisioning across the organization.

While this role does not own overall credit strategy or portfolio level risk decisions, it plays a critical role in enabling those outcomes by ensuring that policy, guidelines, and decision frameworks are accurate, usable, and consistently applied.

In this capacity, the role functions as the operational backbone of credit risk governance while also providing informed, experience-based input to support effective risk oversight.

Core Responsibilities

Credit Policy and Guideline Management

• Own drafting, updating, and maintenance of underwriting guidelines and credit policy

• Translate investor guidelines and overlays into clear, actionable internal standards

• Ensure alignment between internal policy, investor requirements, and operational practices

• Maintain documentation of policy interpretations and decisions for consistency and auditability

Underwriting Governance and Authority Framework

• Maintain and enhance underwriting authority structures, including approval tiers and escalation paths

• Support testing and validation of underwriting authority frameworks

• Ensure consistent application of authority levels across underwriting teams

• Identify gaps or inconsistencies in decisioning and recommend corrective actions

Credit Decision Support (Primary Point of Contact)

• Serve as the first point of contact for guideline questions and credit policy clarifications

• Provide clear and consistent interpretations of underwriting standards

• Evaluate edge cases and provide structured, well-reasoned decisions

• Escalate only material or novel scenarios as appropriate

Tools and Decision Infrastructure

• Develop and maintain:

  • Guideline grids

  • Investor overlay matrices

  • Decision trees and reference materials

• Improve usability and accessibility of credit guidance across underwriting and operations

• Reduce reliance on ad hoc decision making through structured tools and documentation

Credit Performance Feedback Loop

• Review defaulted loans and perform root cause analysis

• Identify trends and potential gaps in underwriting, policy, or guideline clarity

• Provide recommendations for policy or process improvements based on findings

• Support continuous improvement of credit standards through data driven insights

Risk Documentation and Control Support

• Maintain credit risk policies and procedures in alignment with approved practices

• Ensure documentation supports audit readiness and control requirements

• Support internal and external audits by providing evidence of policy application and governance practices

• Track and document changes to guidelines and policy over time

Decision Authority

• Final authority on routine guideline interpretations and credit policy clarifications

• Approval authority for standard policy and procedure updates within defined parameters

• First pass review and assessment of defaulted loans for purposes of policy feedback and improvement

• Escalation of material, high risk, or novel scenarios to VP of Risk

Operating Model

• Operates as a senior individual contributor with functional ownership of credit policy and governance

• No direct people management responsibilities

• Expected to influence underwriting, operations, and cross functional stakeholders

• Acts as the primary gatekeeper for credit policy interpretation and application

Qualifications

• 8 to 12+ years of experience in credit risk, underwriting, or credit policy within a lending or financial services environment

• Experience working with multiple investor guidelines and overlays

• Demonstrated ability to write, interpret, and operationalize credit policy

• Strong credit judgment with ability to make decisions under ambiguity

• Ability to translate complex or unclear guidelines into clear, actionable rules

• Consistent and disciplined decision making across varying scenarios

• Strong written communication skills with ability to document policy and rationale clearly

• Practical, execution focused mindset with attention to operational detail

• Experience building or improving underwriting governance frameworks

• Manufactured housing, specialty finance, or partner-based lending experience strongly preferred

Important Applicant Information

• While many of our interviews are conducted virtually, all applicants should be prepared to potentially meet in person as part of the process.

• As a participating employer, we will use E-Verify to confirm employment eligibility.

• Please note that we are currently only hiring candidates who reside in the following states: Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin. Applicants that do not reside in the bolded states will be rejected.

Total Rewards

At Zippy, we're passionate about creating a workplace where people love to work. We put a lot of heart into building and nurturing a company culture that not only supports our team but also inspires them to do their best work.

Our benefits and perks are always evolving, but here’s what we offer right now:

• Competitive Compensation: We offer a competitive salary with the potential for annual bonuses and variable pay, depending on your skills and experience.

• Equity for All: As a part of our commitment to shared success, all employees receive equity in the company, allowing you to share in the growth and achievements of Zippy.

• Remote Work: Enjoy the flexibility of working from home in a dynamic, remote-first environment.

• Comprehensive Health Coverage: We provide medical, dental, and vision insurance, along with company-subsidized benefits like STD, LTD, and life insurance for you and your family.

• Flexible Spending Accounts: Take advantage of medical & dependent care FSAs to help manage your expenses.

• Training & Licensing Support: We invest in your professional growth with resources for training and licensing.

• Paid Time Off: We offer generous PTO—and we encourage you to use it!

• Wellbeing Programs: Access a variety of wellbeing resources, including Headspace, Gympass+, Fetch, Spring Health, SoFi, Perkspot, Ladder, and more through our Sequoia Wellbeing Programs.

• Parental Leave: We provide paid parental leave to support you and your growing family.

• No Meeting Wednesdays: Enjoy a mid-week break from meetings to focus and recharge.

• Vibrant Slack Community: Engage with colleagues in our lively remote Slack community, featuring fun channels that connect people around shared interests like travel, pets, sports, food, and more.

• Career Growth: We believe in promoting from within, offering you opportunities to grow your career with us.

Beyond the tangible benefits:

• Core Values: At the heart of everything we do are our core values: Lead with Passion, Own It, Build a Better Way, Results Driven, and The Golden Rule. These values guide our decisions, shape our culture, and inspire us to achieve our best every day.

• Join a Growing Team: Be part of a dynamic team at a pivotal moment in Zippy’s growth, where every contribution makes a significant impact.

• Innovative Work: Collaborate with sharp, passionate teammates to tackle unique challenges in the Manufactured Housing market, positioning our product as a top-tier lending solution.

• Supportive Culture: You’ll be welcomed into a collaborative environment that fosters camaraderie, respect, and a deep sense of belonging.

• Diversity & Inclusion: We’re committed to empowering a diverse and inclusive workforce, celebrating our differences, and ensuring everyone feels safe to bring their whole selves to work.

• Inspirational Leadership: Work alongside leaders who are not only approachable but also dedicated to providing guidance, mentorship, and support to help you succeed.

• Meaningful Impact: Be part of a mission-driven team that’s making housing more affordable for everyone, helping prospective buyers secure fast and simple online loans to purchase manufactured homes. By joining Zippy you will help improve the lives of over 22 million Americans who live in manufactured homes today.

Zippy is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion. We do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, religion, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability status, or marital status. If you are excited about the role but do not meet 100% of the qualifications listed above, we encourage you to apply. Nothing in this job posting should be construed as an offer or guarantee of employment.