A mortgage underwriter determines whether to approve or decline a request for a loan based on the credit, collateral, and capacity of the borrower. As a mortgage underwriter, you typically work on both commercial and residential transactions. Your responsibilities include managing the risk for the lender and verifying the information on applications. Your duties also include working with specially designed software to help make financially sound decisions. Some positions involve a sales component where you actively solicit new business or form partnerships with realtors. A mortgage underwriting job is usually full-time and may require frequent travel to meet with clients onsite.