Community First Bank is one of Australia's leading customer-owned banks, proudly serving members and communities since ****.
With more than 80,000 members, over $2.4 billion in assets, and a solid presence across Sydney, the Illawarra, Sutherland Shire, Western Sydney and the Hunter region, Community First Bank is built on a simple philosophy: people helping people.
As a member-owned organisation, we reinvest in delivering exceptional service, competitive products, and meaningful community support rather than generating profits for external shareholders.
Our purpose is to help our members achieve their financial goals through trusted relationships, innovation, and a genuine commitment to the communities where we live and work.
Position Scope
The Head of First Party Lending leads Community First's Mobile Lending, Contact Centre Lending and Retention departments to deliver responsible, sustainable lending growth and excellent member outcomes.
The role is accountable for first party home and personal lending performance, member retention, service quality, credit submission standards and the conversion of lending opportunities across direct channels.
Reporting to the Chief Customer Officer, the role works across Sales Enablement, Product, Credit Risk, Operations, Compliance, Digital, Finance and frontline teams to simplify lending and retention pathways, strengthen first line risk ownership and support Community First's purpose, values and member-first approach.
Key Responsibilities
Lead the first party lending strategy and operating plan across Mobile Lending, Contact Centre Lending and Retention, aligned to Community First's customer strategy, values and growth priorities.
Deliver quality lending growth through mobile lender activity, contact centre lending enquiries, member retention, refinancing, top-ups and direct member-initiated opportunities.
Set clear performance, service and member experience standards for each department, while ensuring a consistent Community First lending experience across all direct channels.
Build, coach and lead department leaders and lending teams to perform with passion, teamwork, initiative, trust and a focus on success.




Ensure all lending and retention activity meets responsible lending obligations, credit policy, privacy, AML/CTF, hardship, complaints and customer-owned banking commitments.
Lead Mobile Lending to deepen community and member relationships, support quality home lending conversations and maintain disciplined pipeline, conversion and referral practices.
Lead Contact Centre Lending to provide responsive, compliant and needs-based lending support for inbound and outbound member enquiries.
Lead Retention to proactively support members, protect the existing lending portfolio and identify fair, suitable and sustainable options that strengthen member relationships.
Partner with Credit Risk and Operations to improve approval quality, turnaround times, handoffs, settlement outcomes and retention processes.
Use data and insights to manage pipeline health, conversion, retention, productivity, service levels, member satisfaction, portfolio quality and conduct risk.
Key Accountability Measures
Achievement of agreed Mobile Lending, Contact Centre Lending and Retention growth, conversion, retention and productivity targets within risk appetite and budget.
Quality of lending submissions, retention outcomes, documentation, responsible lending assessments and policy adherence.
Member experience outcomes across direct lending channels, including satisfaction, complaints trends, service consistency, responsiveness and time to settlement.
Effective first line risk management across Mobile Lending, Contact Centre Lending and Retention, including controls, audit outcomes, incidents, remediation and regulatory obligations.
Team engagement, capability, accreditation, coaching cadence and succession strength across the three departments.
Capability Requirements
Strategic leadership:




Turns customer and lending strategy into clear priorities and practical plans.
Member and community focus:
Champions Community First's member-first approach and fair outcomes.
Risk discipline:
Embeds responsible lending, strong controls and timely issue escalation.
People leadership:
Builds trust, coaches for success and develops capable, values-led teams.
Commercial acumen:
Understands lending economics, productivity, margin and portfolio quality.
Initiative and change:
Challenges the status quo and leads simplification while maintaining service quality.
Knowledge Areas
Residential mortgage and consumer lending origination across mobile, contact centre and direct member channels.
Member retention strategies, including refinance risk, repricing requests, top-ups, discharge management and proactive portfolio engagement.
Responsible lending, credit licensing, privacy, AML/CTF, hardship, complaints handling and customer-owned banking commitments.
Credit policy, serviceability, security, valuation, fraud, documentation and quality assurance principles.
Pipeline reporting, conversion analysis, retention reporting, workforce capacity, service levels and productivity measures.
Qualifications and Experience
Senior leadership experience in retail banking, mortgage lending, consumer lending or financial services distribution.
Experience leading mobile lending, contact centre lending, retention or comparable direct lending teams to deliver growth, service, quality and compliance outcomes.
Strong knowledge of responsible lending, credit policy, lending operations, retention management and first line risk management.
Ability to influence stakeholders and work collaboratively across customer, product, risk, operations, technology and frontline teams.
Relevant tertiary qualification or equivalent industry experience.
Experience in a mutual bank, credit union, building society or customer-owned banking environment.
Experience with mobile lending models, contact centre lending operations, member retention programs or lending transformation.
Relevant finance, mortgage broking, leadership or risk qualifications.
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📌 Head Of First Party Lending (Sydney)
🏢 Rippling
📍 Sydney