Director, Loan Products (Product Development) at Ascent – San Diego, California

Ascent is a leading provider of innovative financial products and student support services that enable more students to access education and achieve academic and economic success. Everything Ascent offers is designed with the best-in-class teams and technology to increase every student's ability to plan, pay, and succeed in their education and career. Ascent's planning tools and financing resources are co-created by students for those in college, graduate school, and career training programs. Ascent offers financial wellness education, student success services, and one-on-one and digital career coaching that put students' academic and professional goals within reach. Ascent has been widely recognized for its strong culture – named “Best Places to Work” by the San Diego Business Journal for the past 5 years – and as an industry leader – named “Best Student Loan” by NerdWallet for the past 3 years.

What you will be doing: Ascent is built around one guiding principle: Loans should expand possibilities, not limit them. The Director, Loan Products (Product Development) is a key part of the loan program management team that is serves the needs of our school clients and their students.

In this role you would:

• Leverage creativity and expertise in design thinking and/or new product development to develop new lending products and enhancements to existing products across all education lending programs in the organization
• Have ownership over the program guidelines and updates to product specifications, including updates and changs to product features, pricing, school and borrower eligibility for all lending products
• Keep up to date on competition, regulation, marketplace, and internal and external issues related to the consumer leading products
• Incorporate market feedback and product requirements from internal and external stakeholders into product design
• Coordinate cross functional resources and align development and delivery with interdepartmental prioritization schedules
• Support and manage relationships with our partner banks
• Serve as the loan product subject matter expert (SME) as it relates to product features, benefits, requirements, pricing, and services
• Works closely with finance, capital markets, marketing, operations, compliance, development, loan servicing and credit risk areas of the company

Desired Skills & Expertise:

• A Bachelor’s Degree in business, finance, education or a course-of-study that matches the requirements of the position or equivalent experience. Masters Degree in a related field or MBA is a plus
• 7 -10 years of progressive experience in roles that may include: financial product management, project management, student lending, career or vocational training operations management, postsecondary and or vocational training accreditation and/or regulatory compliance
• Strong organizational skills, with an established work history that includes project management that includes internal and external stakeholders
• Strong understanding of unsecured consumer lending products, preferably with a focus on higher education and/or career and vocational training
• Experience and understanding of compliance and regulatory requirements surrounding Fintech and Consumer Finance industry

We Value:

• Strong analytics, strategic and critical thinking.
• Intellectual curiosity and exceptional analytic and strategic thinking skills.
• The ability to thrive in a fast-paced, service-oriented environment.
• Being comfortable with change as the product focus evolves based on business strategy, product priorities, and development of new initiatives.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills that bridge the gap between functional teams
• Capacity to get things done at short notice while collecting information from a variety of internal and external sources.
• A drive to succeed and win, sense of urgency, and passion for the work.

Competitive pay with bonus, and comprehensive benefits package that includes, but not limited to:

• Compensation includes base salary of $140,000 - $170,000 commensurate with experience, plus bonus and options.
• Company Stock Options
• 401(k) + Company Match
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Annual HSA contribution of $1,650
• Life insurance, disability, and critical illness
• 14 Paid Holidays! Eleven (11) + Two (2) Community Days + Your Birthday!
• Snacks and drinks in the office
• Tuition reimbursement program
• Generous paid leave policies
• $2,000 Vacation Incentive Plan after 3 years + $1,000 Sabbatical Day
• Wellness, Work from Home funds, and more!

The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change.