Loan Specialist
Veterans Benefits Administration
Posted: March 3, 2026 (0 days ago)
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Veterans Benefits Administration
Department of Veterans Affairs
Location
Salary
$76,463 - $99,404
per year
Type
Full-Time
More Finance & Accounting jobs →Closes
Base salary range: $62,107 - $80,737
Typical requirements: 1 year specialized experience at GS-10. Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree, or 3 years graduate study.
Note: Actual salary includes locality pay (15-40%+ depending on location).
This job involves leading a team of loan specialists in the Veterans Benefits Administration to help Veterans access home loans through the VA's guaranty program, ensuring everything is done quickly and correctly while safeguarding the government's financial interests.
The role includes planning work, training staff, and setting priorities for loan processing.
It's a good fit for someone with strong experience in loan underwriting and team leadership who wants to support Veterans in Arizona.
The Loan Production Team Lead (LPTL) is in a Loan Guaranty Service (LGY) field location.
The primary purpose of this position is to ensure loan origination services are provided to Veterans and other program stakeholders in a timely and accurate manner protecting the financial interests of VA.
The LPTL performs the functions of directing, planning, training, setting priorities and assignment of work to an assigned team of loan specialist with most of the team at the GS-11 level.
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:03/09/2026.
INDIVIDUAL OCCUPATION REQUIREMENT (IOR): This position does have an IOR (Individual Occupational Requirement) that must be met in addition to the basic Specialized Experience qualifications.
In order to qualify for this position, you must have the education or experience listed below: IOR EDUCATION: This position requires Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- finance, business administration, economics, accounting, insurance, engineering, mathematics, banking and credit, law, real estate operations, statistics, or other fields related to the position, such as agriculture, agricultural economics, farm, livestock or ranch management, or rural sociology.
OR IOR EXPERIENCE: Experience that demonstrated competence in agricultural, commercial, realty, or other types of loans.
Experience may have been gained in such work as reviewing and passing upon applications for agricultural, commercial, bank or mortgage loans; servicing a loan portfolio of a bank or other loan association; performing financial analysis of commercial concerns for investment purposes; appraising real estate to determine property valuation; or similar work.
AND TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENT: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements.
For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11 level. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service.
An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: For the GS-12 you must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.
Specialized Experience is defined as experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the Federal service.
Specialized experience is defined as demonstrating a thorough knowledge and expertise in all phases of the loan guaranty program.
Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Specialized experience which includes (1) applying advanced underwriting practices to income credit and quality borrowers across a variety of employment types to include self-employment for government guaranteed loan program(s); (2) reviewing and making program eligibility recommendations for borrowers is characterized by a thorough knowledge and demonstrated expertise of underwriting practices required of government guaranteed loan program(s); (3) collaborating with a broad range of real estate professionals to include realtors, lenders, servicers, appraisers and other professionals to educate and support access to government guaranteed loan programs(s).
There is no education substitution for this grade level.
Volunteer Experience: Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social).
Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment.
You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week.
Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis; when including part-time employment in your resume you must specify the average hours worked per week.
Physical Requirements: The work is mostly sedentary; however, there may be some walking, standing, and carrying of light items such as papers, books, folders, and files.
For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.
Major Duties:
Specific duties include: Coaches the LP team in the selection and application of appropriate problem-solving methods and techniques, provides advice on work methods, practices and procedures, and assists the team and/or individual members in identifying the parameters of a viable solution Responsible for tracking and monitoring overall LP performance goals established by LGY and reporting any out of line or potential situations to LP management Responsible for all normal case reviews, which include the underwriting of all prior approval loan applications, early payment default reviews, giving technical guidance for more complex and unusual cases including inquiries on disapproved prior approval loans Required to work on special projects for LGY and such assignments may involve liaison with or visits to other LGY locations.
Special projects will require creating and achieving project goals, communicating recommendations and outcomes to LGY leadership and serving as a change management champion for new initiatives or LGY directives To ensure employee decisions and recommendations are accurate, conducts frequent formal and informal reviews of work and analyses of operations to verify work produced complies with law, regulation, manual requirements, local and agency directives and good business practices.
Makes recommendations to the Assistant Loan Production Officer (ALPO) and Loan Production Officer (LPO) founded in program data regarding changes to increase efficiency and economy in the section Responsible for reporting unique problems or out-of-line workflow situations along with recommendations for correction.
Must be familiar with and assist in preparation of the annual Systematic Analysis of Operations (SAO's) and quarterly/monthly briefings.
There must be ongoing interaction, communication, and cooperation between all employees.
Ensures that the organization's strategic plan, mission, vision and values are communicated to the team and integrated into the team's strategies, goals, objectives, work plans and work products and services.
Communicates to the team the assignment, project, problem to be solved, actionable events, milestones, and/or program issues under review, and deadlines and time frames for completion Establishes and maintains complete and accurate Loan Production (LP) section records, both those prescribed by LGY and those created locally to assure that current information is available for timely report preparation and for maintaining proper controls over all work phases Responsible for conducting and maintaining a comprehensive program of training materials for program participants to include Veterans, Lenders, Realtors, and other program stakeholders.
Incumbent must be able to present training to groups of all sizes or conduct training at distance locations Promotion Potential: None Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday 6:00 am - 6:00 pm Compressed/Flexible: Available Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Lead Loan Specialist; PD 39038A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required
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