Hybrid Sr. Manager, Ombudsman Office presso MOHELA

POSITION SUMMARY:

Provide excellent leadership skills by overseeing the MOHELA Ombudsman Office.  Develop and oversee procedures, training, and functions of the department. Ensure that all servicing activity and processing procedures are completed accurately and with full compliance of contract, federal and state regulations, adherence to MOHELA policy, and within budget. Develop formal standards for complaint process flows, work plans and forecasts with deadlines set, assigned responsibilities, monitoring, summaries, and progress reporting. Oversee the on-time delivery and accuracy of internal and external deliverables to meet state, federal, and stakeholder expectations and contract requirements. Manage escalated complaint programs and ensure that systems are functionable and effectively maintained. Collaborate with projects teams to build knowledge across multi-functional areas. Lead the implementation of new functional user requirements and specifications to produce successful outcomes. Manage budgets and resources effectively, ensuring that all expenditure is justified and aligned with company goals. Understand the complaint process, servicing activity, and the servicing system to assist team members. Create standard of reporting to monitor complaint trend analysis. Produce Root Cause Analysis of complaints. Ensure complaints are addressed, monitored, resolved, and responded to thoroughly and timely. Identify and monitor implementation of methods to prevent future issues as part of the Root Cause Analysis process. Communicate updates and assist in identifying potential risk with Compliance leadership on an ongoing basis.  

Manage the day-to-day activity and progress towards meeting all contractual, departmental and external request standards. Develop and implement strategies that align with the company's overall goals and objectives; Lead and motivate teams to achieve high levels of productivity and efficiency; Manage key performance indicators for staff and report to management as required; Effective management of staff, managing subordinate supervisors who supervise employees, and directly supervising non-supervisory employees in accordance with MOHELA's policies and applicable laws.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Leadership:

• Administer an environment to advocate on behalf of the borrowers we serve.
• Provide direction, training, and development of team members to assure compliance with regulation and contractual requirements.
• Promote ethical behavior of team members and the adherence of MOHELA policies and procedures.
• Challenge others to develop as leaders while serving as a role model and mentor.
• Manage the development of project teams by ensuring, when possible, that project tasks are in line with each team member’s expertise.
• Inspire coworkers to attain goals and pursue excellence.
• Apply critical thinking and decision making to identify opportunities for improvement and make and implement approved constructive documented recommendations for change.
• Manage the process of innovative change effectively.
• Stay up to date with industry trends and best practices and apply this knowledge to drive innovation and growth.

Compliance 

• Understand, communicate, and implement contractual requirements and regulatory standards for both Federal and State entities as established by MOHELA procedures and policies.
• Assure quality standards of complaints and timeliness of requests are met according to servicing level standards across all entities.
• Develop, implement, document, and evolve processes and structures to ensure effective and compliant business systems and operations including internal controls, quality monitoring, and a risk management framework.
• Work with applicable compliance officers and internal audit and others to ensure that project deliverables are in full compliance with legal and government requirements including but not limited to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), EDARs, and Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA).
• Ensure subcontractors and MOHELA as a subcontractor adhere to the requirements of subcontracting-related contract clauses. This includes monitoring and enforcing compliance with flow-down clauses, subcontracting plans, subcontract reporting, and subcontracting goals.
• Ensure and assume process ownership for tracking, maintaining, and implementing all key department documents including but not limited to policies, procedures, process flows, root cause analysis, quality monitoring, audits, and external requests.
• Monitor and enforce timely and accurate production of department reports, schedules, and related data
• Professionally represent MOHELA’s Compliance Ombudsman Office when communicating with Federal Student Aid, State Federal or other external entities, or internally with executive leadership as needed. 
• Communicate effectively with employees, stakeholders, and customers, both verbally and in writing.
• Respond in an informed and timely fashion to questions and requests for assistance, demonstrating appropriate sense of urgency when answering internal and external requests.
• Effectively communicate with internal entities related to reporting and reconciliation, invoicing, operations, compliance, legal and any other entity necessary to contribute to the overall success of MOHELA.
• Publish, engage, and inform department stakeholders of changes. 

Relationship Management

• Serve as the primary point of contact for all external complaints within the MOHELA Ombudsman Office.
• Develop and maintain positive relationships with all program participants including FSA: clients; State, Federal and other external entities; and other stakeholders.
• Develop and maintain relationships with key internal and external contract stakeholders including but not limited to conferences, training, meetings, and presentations.
• Be prepared and on camera for all external interactions.

Senior Management

• As a member of the senior management team, recommend and direct the development and implementation of MOHELA’s policies and the establishment of procedures in compliance with applicable Federal and State law regulations and contractual requirements.
• Positively represent the organization at external events which may include attending local, state, regional, or national conferences as well as communication with various vendors and customers.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor's degree in business or equivalent. Additional equivalent experience may substitute for the degree
• 5+ years of student loan experience
• 2+ years of supervisory/management experience
• Must have prior experience investigating complaints, mediating disputes and resolving issues and improving systems and practices based on the complaints
• Must have proven strong negotiation and analytical skills to advocate for fairness and accountability
• Written communication experience required.
• Must have prior experience identifying systematic issues and functional advocacy
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Department of Education 6C security clearance Advanced proficiency with desktop applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project etc.).
• Some travel may be required.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience with the Federal Student Aid systems and Fiserv System
• Government Contracting Relationship Management
• Project Management certification