Rocktop Technologies has hired Two Harbors' chief operating officer as the latter company's hard-won sale to CrossCounty Mortgage heads toward closure.

Jason Vinar, who led the integration of RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing division into Two Harbors when that company acquired it, joins Rocktop as chief investment officer. 

Rocktop described the move as part of its growing investment in its capital markets unit. Vinar said the combination of that unit, which has traded more than $2 trillion in mortgage servicing rights since 2016, and Rocktop's focus on technology are what drew him to the company.

"Most firms can price an MSR or service the loans behind it. Very few can do both and fewer still can connect what the data says to what actually happens inside of an operator," he said in a press release. "My focus is on growing Rocktop Capital Advisors into a business that institutional counterparties rely on across the full life of the asset, not just at the point of trade."

Rocktop CEO Jason Pinson, who also is the company's founder and president, said Vinar was hired because of his multifaceted experience in the MSR market. 

"Jason has lived on every side of the MSR trade — investor, operator, and executive," Pinson said in a press statement. "He has run investment strategy for a conventional MSR book, run the subservicing strategy and oversight underneath it, and then acquired an operator to bring operations in-house while expanding the firm's opportunity set. That combination is rare."

In addition to managing the integration of RoundPoint and its ongoing MSR operations, Vinar previously worked for Pine River Capital, which served as the real estate investment trust's external manager prior to a decision to bring those responsibilities in-house.