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Director, Commercial Loan Administration

Stearns Bank
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At Stearns Bank, we’re helping people, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and local communities nationwide reach their full financial potential. Sound like something you want to be a part of? If so, we’re currently looking for a Director, Commercial Loan Administration. This is a connected mobile role.  

Come see how we’re doing business unusual and charting our own path to reimagine a more inclusive financi​​​​​al services and banking ecosystem for all.

 

Benefits

Stearns Bank understands and respects that everyone is managing unique career, family, and wellness needs. That’s why we offer industry-leading benefits to employees to help them live healthy lives and bring their full selves to work every day. Benefits may vary for part-time positions. Some of those benefits include:

 

  • Employee Stock Ownership Plan & 401k Plan 
  • Healthcare (Medical, Dental, Vision, Telehealth, Life insurance)
  • 12-week Paid Medical Leave
  • Paid Parental Leave: 21-weeks Primary Care Parent, 14-weeks Secondary Care Parent
  • $5,000 Family Care Reimbursement: Childcare, Elder Care, Student Loan Debt, Pet expenses, down payment assistance
  • PTO from 13 to 23 days depending on tenure. Cashout and Carryover options.
  • 10 Days Sick Time
  • 11 Paid Holidays
  • 4 Days Volunteer Time
  • 2 Days Self Allowance Time
    • Tuition Assistance

For this position, we anticipate an annual salary between $100,000 and $180,000. Final employment offers will be dependent upon the selected candidate’s relevant qualifications and experience.

 

JOB SUMMARY:  

The Director of Commercial Loan Administration is accountable for leading and optimizing all aspects of commercial loan workflow – from application to underwriting, approval, documentation, closing, booking, tickler setup and post-close servicing. This role functions as the central operational quarterback ensuring lending, credit, operations and portfolio management teams experience punctual, accurate, responsive and Stearns Gold Standard service that accelerates speed-to-close, impacts and strengthens credit quality, and delivers an exceptional borrower experience.  

The Director of Commercial Loan Administration works in close partnership with lenders, credit, legal, compliance, operations, finance/liquidity, and portfolio managers to coordinate activity, align priorities, eliminate friction, and enforce accountability for timely, disciplined execution on every transaction. The Director also maintains current knowledge of SBA SOP updates, industry notices, regulatory developments, and leads adaptation of process and documentation.

 

RESPONSIBILITIES

Leadership & Strategy

  • Provide discipline, vision and oversight for commercial loan administration ensuring processes are standardized, controlled, transparent and responsive. 
  • Serve as the coordination hub (“operational quarterback”) across lenders, credit, legal, compliance, operations, finance/liquidity and portfolio managers.
  • Partner with lending, credit and portfolio management to establish execution expectations, remove roadblocks, drive continuous improvement, and ensure clarity of ownership.  
  • Build and sustain accountability, urgency, precision, Gold Standard service, financial discipline, and process integrity. 
  • Partner with enterprise leadership to evolve commercial loan administration into a scalable shared-services model supporting multiple lending teams, products, and future growth initiatives.
  • Standardize processes, documentation, and controls across portfolios to reduce variation and operational risk.

 

Workflow & Process Management 

  • Optimize end-to-end loan execution – from application to underwriting, special conditions clearing, documentation, closing, funding, booking, file imaging and post-close exception resolution (and revisit continually). 
  • Establish key performance and key risk indicators to oversee and effectively monitor the process that pinpoint effectiveness and ineffectiveness.
  • Lead pipeline reviews with lenders and credit, identifying bottlenecks and assigning accountability for clearing them. 
  • Collaborate with lenders, credit and portfolio managers to ensure file completeness and closing readiness. 
  • Maintain strong process structure over tickler setup, ensuring accuracy and alignment with loan terms, covenants, collateral requirements, and servicing needs working closely with portfolio management. 
  • Partner with development teams to enhance processes with Salesforce, .Net options etc. where needed.
  • Work with supervisors and leads to conduct trainings timely and regularly on case studies, process changes and/or new guidance that may be released – this includes but is not limited to internal SBA SOP updates and training on the same.
  • Ensure accuracy and uniformity on coding across all loan systems

 

SBA Program & Regulatory Awareness

  • Stay current on SBA SOP, notices guidance and regulatory changes and assess impact to internal workflow, process, etc.
  • Lead implementation of required changes to documentation, processes, controls, core systems, closing conditions and post-funding servicing. 
  • Maintain a working knowledge of all legal and regulatory compliance issues as they pertain to this position. 

 

Approval Support 

  • Partner with lenders and credit analysts to ensure supporting financial information, collateral information, and/or other required information to gain approval, are obtained promptly and accurately by supporting outreach by phone, text, and email and making the information collection efficient and effective. 
  • Process MCFs, Change in Terms, Renewals, and modification on time and accurately to ensure an efficient process for customers. 

 

Closing oversight and Stearns Gold Service Execution

  • Ensure documentation aligns with approval structures, complies with regulatory and policy requirements and supports guaranty eligibility where applicable. 
  • Drive proactive communication with lenders, borrowers, title companies, attorneys, and internal partners to meet timelines and maintain transparency. 
  • Partner with lending leadership to reinforce accountability around closing readiness and borrower responsiveness. 
  • Monitor milestones and escalate risks constructively to prevent delays or degradation of service.

 

Quality, Risk, Compliance, Audit & Exam Coordination

  • Ensure loan files, process discipline, and documentation meet loan policy, regulatory standards, SBA requirements and audit expectations. 
  • Take the lead on fulfilling audit and regulatory exam requests, ensuring responses are accurate, complete and timely. 
  • Own remediation follow-up and closure of issues arising from audits or exam findings. 
  • Maintain post-close file integrity through exception resolution, covenant /tickler monitoring accuracy and strong procedural controls. 

 

Financial Budget Oversight & Fee Discipline

  • Oversee fee management and revenue tracking for loan administration activities (doc fees, SBA fees, third-party charges and others as applicable) ensuring accurate invoicing, collection and reporting. 
  • Monitor budget performance of the loan administration function, controlling expense drivers, vendor costs, workflow efficiency and staffing. 
  • Identify and execute process improvements that reduce cost to originate and increase fee realization or recoverability. 
  • Develop fee dashboards, forecasting models, reporting tools for lending and finance leadership to monitor trends and optimize performance. 

 

Performance Management KPIs and Reporting

  • Develop and own operational KPIs for the function including cycle time, accuracy, backlog, exception rates, fee capture, lender satisfaction, SBA compliance and cost efficiency.
  • Produce dashboards and analysis for lending, credit, portfolio managers and leadership to support decision making.
  • Lead recurring operational and pipeline meetings with credit and lending leadership to reinforce alignment, accountability and continuous improvement. 

 

Team Leadership & Development

  • Hire, mentor, and develop high-performing loan administration professionals.
  • Promote culture of urgency, precision, professional communication, and financial ownership.
  • Model focused partnership level collaboration with internal teams, vendors and customers and reinforce those behaviors across the team. 
  • Continual professional self-improvement mindset through continued training and education.
  • Lead and manage under conditions of ambiguity and uncertainty.        

 

Core Competencies 

  • Highly organized, detailed-focused, financially disciplined, and execution orientated.
  • Service mentality balanced with accountability and risk management perspective.
  • Strong collaborator who aligns with lending, credit, operations, finance/liquidity, legal, compliance and all internal and external teams as necessary.
  • Analytical thinker with a bias for improvement, escalation, and resolution.
  • Excellent communication, influence and leadership skills.
  • Calm under pressure and confident in managing deadlines, findings and change.

 

QUALIFICATIONS

  • Bachelor’s degree in finance, business, banking, or related field required. 
  • 7+ years commercial lending administration or loan operations experience including 3+ years in leadership capacity. 
  • Demonstrated ability to coordinate effectively with lenders, credit, portfolio mangers and all teams to improve throughput, quality, fee performance and overall execution. 
  • Proven experience with workflow optimization, budget ownership, fee process discipline and KPI driven management. 
  • Strong knowledge of SBA loan programs and SOP, commercial loan documentation, tickler/covenant management and regulatory expectations. 

 

REQUIREMENTS

  • Occasionally life and/or move up to 10 lbs.
  • Literacy in English. 
  • Ability to sit for extended periods of time, twist, bend, sit, walk use hands to twist, handle or feel objects, tools or controls, such as computer mouse, computer keyboard, calculator, stapler, telephone, staple puller, etc., reach with hands and arms, balance, stoop, kneel, talk or hear.
  • Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust focus.

 

THE COMPANY

Founded in 1912, Stearns Financial Services Inc. (SFSI) is a $3.2 billion, independently owned financial institution with locations in Minnesota, Florida and Arizona, and over 35,000 small business customers nationwide. Specializing in affordable housing financing, USDA and SBA lending, and small business and equipment financing, Stearns Bank is regularly recognized as one of the country’s top-performing banks and “Best Banks to Work For” by American Banker.

 

As a Star Tribune Top Workplaces award recipient and an award recipient of the Minnesota Business Magazine 100 Best Places to Work in Minnesota, Stearns takes pride in their team and holds their employees in extremely high regard. We offer a competitive salary and benefit package including our Employee Stock Ownership Program-one of the best long-term incentive programs in the nation. To learn more about Stearns Bank, visit www. StearnsBank.com

 

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER /AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PLAN

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, or creed, religion, sex, marital status, familial status, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran’s status, status with regard to public assistance, or any other class protected by Federal, State, local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment.