Description The Head of Property Secured Default Operations leads the efforts to develop and provide robust, compliant solutions for customers experiencing financial hardship including functional responsibility for collections, loss mitigation, bankruptcy and foreclosure. The candidate must have deep mortgage experience in default and strong knowledge of GSE investor guidelines and regulations, performance and relationship management. He/she must be a strategic thought leader who enjoys working in a highly collaborative environment and serve as a role model to drive a culture of accountability, integrity and engagement. The ideal individual has strong leadership skills to create a vision, create followership, build a strong team, mentor future leaders, and develop a strong team brand. The Head of Property Secured Default Operations must: + Create a customer focused environment that motivates and empowers their teams to deliver high quality customer service and solutions. + Foster and drive a performance culture with personal accountability, trust, teamwork and gratitude to exceed performance expectations from customer, financial, investor, and risk lenses. + Develop leaders at every level through clear “how” expectations, personal engagement, and investment and modeling of leadership behaviors. + Proactively collaborate and engage with stakeholders and support partners to develop strategic plans, tactical execution, and performance measurement leveraging the power of the broader organization and creating a strong brand of delivery, reliability and responsiveness. Responsibilities include: + Drive strong operational discipline, oversight and performance culture to minimize losses and maniacally focus on customer engagement to deliver solutions for customers in hardship. + Lead a team of ~200 colleagues with ~$35MM budget. + Establish key performance metrics and dashboards to manage performance and identify challenges. + Build relationships and effectively communicates across departments within Citizens, the investors, and vendor partners to deliver consistent, strong performance while meeting regulatory compliance and strong risk management standards. + Support and maintain critical Investor Relationships (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, GNMA) in an increasingly complex and demanding environment. + Regularly communicate key operational and program performance information to executive leadership, including Product Owners, Risk, Compliance, and Legal partners. + Drive a robust vendor partner performance oversight and engagement model to ensure vendor partners deliver strong performance in terms of financial, customer and regulatory aspects. + Develop and implement long term long-term strategies, policies and technological advancements to drive efficiency and effectiveness in mortgage default operations. + Monitor performance of default operations to ensure compliance with RESPA, FDCPA, Investor guidelines and other regulatory guidance (ex. CFPB highlights). Proactively manage controls, QA/QC and control oversight to self-identify risk issues and have strong risk and control acumen to drive issues to closure through process, control, procedures, training and monitoring for sustainability. + Develop and implement policies, procedures and standards, which ensure compliance with all current regulatory and legal obligations. Drive risk accountability at every level: identify regulatory, financial, operational, reputational and other risk issues; develop plans for remediation; and execute across teams spanning multiple business areas. + Create strong data systems and analytics to identify root causes of issues with a keen lens on customer and regulatory impact and drive sustainable improvements to remediate identified gaps. + Keep current on industry best practices and guidance from the CFPB, OCC, Investors and industry groups. + Engage in exams and audits with regulators, internal audit and investors to deliver strong audit results and respond effectively to issues noted. Qualifications - External + 15+ years of leadership experience is strongly preferred + Leadership experience with Mortgage Default; core servicing experience is also desirable + 15 – 20 years of experience in the mortgage industry, preferably with significant experience in a consumer bank + Strong interpersonal, organizational, analytical, decision-making, and communication (both written and oral) skills are required + Absolutely passionate focus on developing people, building teams, driving performance culture and building engagement and excitement at all levels with strong connections to every level of colleague + Strong coaching and mentoring focus and skills to build leadership and bench strength. + Exceptional organization and project management skills and ability to manage concurrent deadlines and multiple priorities. Demonstrated experience managing strategic complexity, influencing senior executives, directing and coordinating large and complex initiatives + Flexible/open to change – ability to adapt positively to changing business needs + Experience managing relationships with GSEs (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac) + Working knowledge of common mortgage systems (MSP, Resolve, SMDU, etc.) and collections technology and channels (dialer, interactive messaging, text, etc.) related technologies: dialer, Verint, workflow tools + Understanding of current OCC / CFPB regulatory environment relating to mortgage default and collections + Strong strategic and critical thinking skills to develop a high-level vision complemented with the ability to dive into detail and roll up your sleeves to drive execution and problem solving + Track record of driving transformational change and continuous improvement to manual operations environments to deliver automation, workflow and efficiency + Bachelor’s degree Hours and Work Schedule Location: Richmond, VA; Irving, TX Hours: 40 hrs per week, Mon - Fri 8:00am-5:00pm #LI-Citizens2 Some job boards have started using jobseeker-reported data to estimate salary ranges for roles. If you apply and qualify for this role, a recruiter will discuss accurate pay guidance. Equal Employment Opportunity Citizens, its parent, subsidiaries, and related companies (Citizens) provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all colleagues and applicants for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, citizenship, physical or mental disability, perceived disability or history or record of a disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression, genetic information, genetic characteristic, marital or domestic partner status, victim of domestic violence, family status/parenthood, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, pregnancy/childbirth/lactation, colleague’s or a dependent’s reproductive health decision making, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or any other category protected by federal, state and/or local laws. At Citizens, we are committed to fostering an inclusive culture that enables all colleagues to bring their best selves to work every day and everyone is expected to be treated with respect and professionalism. Employment decisions are based solely on merit, qualifications, performance and capability. Why Work for Us At Citizens, you'll find a customer-centric culture built around helping our customers and giving back to our local communities. When you join our team, you are part of a supportive and collaborative workforce, with access to training and tools to accelerate your potential and maximize your career growth Background Check Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the candidate successfully passing a background check, which may include initial credit, motor vehicle record, public record, prior employment verification, and criminal background checks. Results of the background check are individually reviewed based upon legal requirements imposed by our regulators and with consideration of the nature and gravity of the background history and the job offered. Any offer of employment will include further information. 01/30/2026