Director of Operations

Residential Private Lending | Operations Leadership | Lakeland, FL

Build the Operating System Behind One of the Fastest Growing Private Lenders.

At Central Lending, we're not simply growing, we're rebuilding what modern private lending should look like.

This year alone we'll fund more than 800 residential investment loans, and we're entering an exciting stage where operational excellence becomes our greatest competitive advantage.

We're looking for a Director of Operations who doesn't just manage people, they build systems.

Someone who has already solved the problems we're beginning to face.

Someone who's helped scale a private lending platform before and knows exactly what operational excellence looks like.

If you're energized by eliminating bottlenecks, leveraging technology, building scalable processes, and leading high-performing teams, we'd love to meet you.

Why Join Central Lending

Build, don't maintain.

This isn't a role where you'll inherit a mature operation and simply keep it running. You'll help design the next chapter of our company.

Direct access to executive leadership.

Work side-by-side with our Founder & CEO on strategic initiatives, operational improvements, and technology investments.

Make a measurable impact.

Your work will directly improve customer experience, reduce operational costs, shorten closing timelines, and increase company profitability.

Help shape proprietary technology.

Partner closely with our engineering team to improve our internal lending platform and implement AI-powered workflows that transform how lending operations function.

Lead an organization during rapid growth.

We're evolving from a successful entrepreneurial company into a highly scalable lending platform—and operations sits at the center of that transformation.

The Opportunity

As Director of Operations, you'll own the operational engine that powers Central Lending.

You'll oversee the complete lending lifecycle while leading cross-functional operational teams responsible for processing, underwriting support, closing, servicing, and execution.

But this role goes far beyond people management.

You'll constantly ask questions like:

• How can we remove friction?
• How can we automate this?
• How can we close faster without increasing risk?
• How do we create an exceptional borrower experience while lowering operational costs?

This is a builder's role.

You'll report directly to the Founder/CEO and become one of the key leaders responsible for scaling the company over the next several years.

What You'll Do

Lead Lending Operations

• Oversee the operational execution of every loan from submission through funding
• Improve communication and accountability across departments
• Ensure processing, underwriting, closing, and servicing operate as one unified system
• Create visibility into every stage of the loan pipeline

Build Better Systems

• Identify bottlenecks and eliminate unnecessary operational friction
• Design scalable workflows that improve efficiency and customer experience
• Continuously refine SOPs, KPIs, dashboards, and operational reporting
• Drive measurable improvements in speed, quality, and profitability

Partner with Engineering

• Translate operational challenges into software improvements
• Help prioritize new features and workflow enhancements
• Test and implement new functionality
• Drive automation and AI initiatives throughout the organization

Lead High-Performing Teams

• Coach and develop department leaders
• Create accountability through clear KPIs and scorecards
• Foster collaboration across multiple operational departments
• Ensure every team member understands how their work contributes to company goals

What Success Looks Like

Within your first 6–12 months:

• Loan closing timelines are significantly reduced
• Operational costs continue trending downward
• Departments work together with greater clarity and accountability
• Customer experience improves across every stage of the lending process
• AI and automation replace repetitive manual work
• Leadership spends less time solving operational problems and more time growing the business
• Central Lending continues gaining market share through operational excellence

Who We're Looking For

We're looking for someone who's already helped build what we're trying to become.

The ideal candidate brings experience from residential private lending, hard money lending, bridge lending, RTL, mortgage banking, or a similar lending environment and understands how to scale operations without sacrificing quality.

You thrive in fast-moving environments where every improvement matters.

You're highly analytical, detail-oriented, and naturally think in systems.

Most importantly, you're a builder—not a maintainer.

Requirements

Qualifications

Required

• 5+ years leading operations within residential private lending, mortgage banking, bridge lending, hard money, RTL, or similar lending environments
• Experience managing multi-disciplinary operations teams
• Strong understanding of the residential loan lifecycle
• Experience improving operational efficiency through systems, technology, automation, or process redesign
• Comfortable working alongside software engineers to improve internal technology
• Strong leadership, communication, and organizational skills

Preferred

• Experience with proprietary lending platforms
• AI implementation or workflow automation experience
• Strong understanding of APIs, integrations, and operational systems
• Experience leading operational transformation within a high-growth organization
• Advanced experience with Monday.com or similar workflow platforms

Compensation

• $150,000–$175,000 base salary + additional annual bonus 

Benefits

About Central Lending

Central Lending is a technology-driven residential private lender focused on fix-and-flip, bridge, construction, and DSCR financing.

Our mission is simple:

Build the most efficient, technology-enabled lending platform in our industry while delivering an exceptional experience for borrowers, investors, and our team.

We're investing heavily in automation, AI, and proprietary technology—not to replace people, but to empower great operators to accomplish more.

If you're excited about building scalable operations that directly impact the future of private lending, we'd love to meet you.

Ready to Build Something Exceptional?

If you've successfully scaled lending operations, enjoy solving complex operational challenges, and want the opportunity to build systems that will shape the future of a growing company, we'd love to hear from you.

Apply today with your resume and complete the following job fit assessment:
https://TeamArchitects.asmt.io/X6FXPPWH6/DirectorofOperationsJob-Assessment