Completions Team Leader – 1st Charge Mortgages
Permanent | UK mortgage lender | First charge residential & specialist lending
This is a hands-on leadership role within a 1st charge mortgage completions function, suited to an experienced completions professional who enjoys ownership, technical decision-making, and improving outcomes in a regulated environment.
You’ll lead a completions team responsible for taking cases from offer through to funds release, ensuring every completion is accurate, compliant, and delivered with minimal friction for brokers, solicitors, and customers. The role combines people leadership with senior case oversight, risk control, and process improvement.
Why this role?
* Genuine operational leadership – You are the senior escalation point for complex or high-risk completions, with real authority over decisions and outcomes.
* Technical depth, not volume processing – This is a role for someone who understands completions risk, legal documentation, and regulatory obligations, not just throughput.
* Influence over how things are done – You’ll shape workflows, contribute to policy and procedural updates, and help improve turnaround times without compromising compliance.
* Specialist lending exposure – Ideal for candidates who value complexity and judgement over purely vanilla residential work.
The role
You will be responsible for the end-to-end completions process for 1st charge mortgage cases, ensuring regulatory, legal and internal requirements are met at all times.
Key responsibilities include:
* Leading, coaching and managing the 1st Charge Completions team against agreed SLAs and quality standards
* Allocating workloads, monitoring performance, and supporting capability development within the team
* Acting as the senior escalation point for complex, high-risk, or time-critical completions
* Overseeing completions from offer through to release of funds
* Reviewing and approving Certificates of Title and solicitor requests for funds
* Authorising release of mortgage funds within delegated authority
* Maintaining effective working relationships with solicitors, brokers, valuers and internal stakeholders
* Resolving completion-related issues quickly to avoid delays or customer detriment
* Ensuring adherence to FCA requirements, the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook, and internal policies
* Identifying and managing operational, legal and fraud risks within the completions process
* Supporting audits, QA reviews, and regulatory requests
* Reviewing workflows, tracking KPIs, and implementing process improvements where needed
What we’re looking for
Essential experience:
* Strong, hands‑on experience in 1st charge mortgage completions
* Background in a specialist or complex lending environment preferred
* Previous experience leading a team or operating at senior case manager level
* Detailed understanding of the mortgage completion lifecycle and legal documentation
* Sound knowledge of FCA regulation and mortgage compliance requirements
Desirable:
* Exposure to specialist products such as adverse credit, self‑employed, complex income or buy‑to‑let
* Working knowledge of the UK Finance Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook
* CeMAP or equivalent qualification
What matters in this role
This role suits someone who is:
* Detail‑focused, calm under pressure, and comfortable making risk‑based decisions
* Confident dealing with solicitors and senior internal stakeholders
* Commercially aware, but uncompromising on compliance and customer outcomes
* Organised, proactive, and credible as a people leader
Interested?
If you’re an experienced 1st charge completions professional looking for a role with real responsibility, influence, and technical depth, we’d welcome a confidential conversation.
Reach out to Charlotte Walker at Fintelligent to discuss or share your CV for immediate consideration.
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