Chief Credit Officer (CCO) at Premier America Credit Union – Chatsworth, California

Title: Chief Credit Officer (CCO)

Overview:

The Chief Credit Officer (CCO) is a senior executive responsible for the overall credit risk management of the organization. This role provides strategic leadership over credit policy, underwriting standards, portfolio risk, collections, and regulatory compliance to ensure safe, sound, and sustainable growth. Additionally, this role will manage lending operations including consumer lending, commercial/business lending and mortgage lending. The CCO serves as a key member of the Senior Leadership Team, balancing growth objectives with disciplined risk governance.

What you will do:

Enterprise Credit Strategy & Governance

• Establish, maintain, and oversee the organization’s credit risk governance framework, including credit policies, risk appetite, concentration limits, and portfolio mix guidelines.
• Partner with executive leadership to align credit strategy with enterprise growth, capital, and liquidity objectives.
• Anticipate and manage credit risk in changing economic and regulatory environments.

Lending Operations Management

• Oversee the overall lending strategy and day-to-day operations, ensuring alignment across all teams involved.
• Develop annual lending targets and monitor progress and adjusts strategies for various markets, as necessary.
• Ensure that lending products are properly managed and executed, keeping both performance and compliance top of mind.

Credit Policy & Underwriting Oversight

• Develop and maintain consistent underwriting standards, credit philosophy, and risk rating methodologies across all lending products and channels.
• Ensure credit decisions are timely, well-documented, and aligned with approved risk tolerances.
• Oversee exception management and escalation processes.

Portfolio & Risk Management

• Monitor credit quality, delinquencies, charge-offs, and concentrations; identify emerging risks and recommend mitigation strategies.
• Provide guidance on portfolio diversification, growth targets, and exposure limits.
• Oversee stress testing, scenario analysis, and credit risk reporting for executive leadership and the Board.

Collections & Loss Mitigation

• Provide executive oversight of collections, recovery, and loss mitigation strategies.
• Review and recommend charge-offs in accordance with policy and governance standards.
• Ensure early-warning indicators and remediation plans are effective and consistently applied.

Regulatory & Compliance Leadership

• Ensure compliance with all applicable lending-related laws and regulations.
• Serve as a primary executive contact for regulators, auditors, and examiners on credit-related matters.
• Oversee timely responses to examination findings and corrective actions.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Lead, mentor, and develop credit and lending leadership teams.
• Serve on executive-level committees such as Asset-Liability, Product & Pricing, or Risk Committees.
• Model organizational values and promote a strong risk-aware culture.

What We Are Looking For:

Experience

• Minimum 10 years of progressively responsible experience in credit, lending, or risk management within a financial institution, including senior or executive leadership roles.
• Demonstrated expertise in consumer and/or commercial credit risk management.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics, or a related field required.
• MBA or advanced degree preferred.

Knowledge & Skills

• Deep understanding of credit risk management, underwriting, portfolio analytics, and regulatory requirements.
• Strong strategic thinking, analytical, and decision-making capabilities.
• Executive-level communication and Board-level presentation skills.
• Proven ability to lead through change and balance growth with risk discipline.

Pay Information:

Pay – Base pay range for this role is: $240k - $300k.