US Residential Real Estate: Servicing Risk Management | Vice President, Testing and Validation | (Strategy& Analytics, Risk Oversight & Execution)-Hybrid

Citi’s has one of largest US bank owned residential real estate portfolios (US-RRE) comprising more than $100 billion in receivables.  You will be joining the US RRE Servicing Risk team.   

The Vice President-Testing and Validation is an individual contributor risk management position that will be responsible for testing and validation for (1) Collections & Loss Mitigation strategies and Risk oversight of the Mortgage Default Portfolios  (2) Decision sciences in collections and loss-mitigation including segmentation, scorecards, & supporting tools, and related risk execution (3) Oversight of the business unit’s adherence with Citi policies and applicable supervisory and regulatory guidelines.  You will work closely with the stakeholders in risk management, policy, independent risk, mortgage-servicing legal & compliance areas supporting both US Personal Banking and Wealth divisions on an expansive set of portfolio objectives to deliver performance aligned with Citi’s risk-appetite framework.  

The role requires a strong understanding of the US residential real estate industry, mortgage servicing landscape, supervisory guidelines, applicable regulations, and deep expertise in the mortgage default domain including Collections, Loss Mitigation, Foreclosure, Bankruptcy, SCRA, REO etc., risk management in residential real estate (mortgage, home-equity) and solid understanding of Testing Methodologies. In addition, excellent communication skills are required to engage with, influence and persuade key stakeholders internally, often at a senior level. The role may also require some external communication with regulators and sub-servicer.  

The Vice President-Testing and Validation is responsible fordetermining the approach and executing testing and validation strategies that drive a robust Risk and Control environment. Impact reflects strategic influence on the business and interaction with other functions or businesses.  

Responsibilities:

• Performs end-to-end testing and validation in order to assess effectiveness of Credit Risk strategies, risk processes and controls to ensure compliance with Citi policies, applicable regulations and risk oversight procedures, while responding to regulatory inquiries, other audits, and examinations

• Identify and escalate risk and control issues to controls partners and senior leadership within the Risk Organization with transparency, in a timely fashion and in adherence to applicable policies and procedures.

• Engages in activities to provide independent compliance and operation risk oversight of the Credit Risk performance and any third party/vendor relationships in alignments with Global Policies and Standard Operating Procedures

• Promotes a strong risk management culture and discipline.  

• Assists in the development of independent reporting for respective area(s) of coverage

• Develop, track and report on key initiatives, performance results, and emerging trends, analyzing risks, and ensure appropriate escalation and communication is provided to senior leadership.

• Familiar with relevant laws, regulations, and best practices in mortgage servicing 

• Establish cross-functional partnerships and networks in order to support the execution of cross-functional business initiatives.

• Drive compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations, adhere to Policy, apply sound ethical judgment regarding personal behavior, conduct and business practices, and escalate, manage and report control issues with transparency, as well as effectively supervise the activity of others and create accountability with those who fail tomaintain these standards.

Qualifications:

• 6+ years of default strategy and/or risk management experience, ideally with a large bank mortgage portfolio or equivalent consumer credit portfolio management experience at a leading consumer financial institution with knowledge of consumer residential real estate market and regulatory management in the U.S.  

• Knowledge and expertise in holistic risk management (identification, measurement, monitoring) risk analytics, risk oversight in addition to default servicing (ex. foreclosure, bankruptcy) domain experience desired.  

• Ability to navigate complex decisions and situations including engagement with various senior stakeholders (CRO, LOB CEOs, senior business representatives and regulators).  

• Strong, clear, concise written and verbal communication capabilities. (ex. complex issues in concise executive summaries).   

• Experience in leading highly visible, cross line-of- business initiatives across multiple functions. The ability to work with a diverse group of stakeholders to achieve milestones and meet deadlines.  

• Ability to work effectively on virtual teams, including across different geographies and time zones preferred. 

• Demonstrated ability to establish strong relationships with senior stakeholders and partner effectively with peers across functional areas and lines of business.   

• Demonstrated ability to synthesize, prioritize and drive results with urgency. 

• Strong knowledge and extensive experience with testing methodologies including testing plans, risk assessments, processes and controls design assessments, controls operating effectiveness testing, monitoring, transactional access segregation of duties, transactional testing, surveillance systems, and reporting activities

• Excellent skills with common Microsoft productivity tools including Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Visio. Technical capabilities in SAS/Python/SQL considered a plus.