ABL National Underwriting Managing Director and Team Lead — Chicago, IL

Description

Position Summary

The Managing Director and Team Lead of Asset-Based Lending (“ABL”) Underwriting manages and develops a team of nationally based underwriters responsible for structuring and due diligence of Sole Bank, Admin Agency, Club, and participation ABL facilities for private and sponsor owned and public companies. delivering high‐quality credit recommendations, disciplined risk management, and timely execution aligned to credit policy, regulatory expectations, and service‐level commitments. The role partners closely with ABL Business Development and Relationship & Portfolio Management, Internal Sponsor, Industry, and Geographic Coverage Partners, Collateral/Field Exam, Credit Partners, and Internal and Third Party Legal Advisors to drive prudent growth and sound portfolio performance.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & People Management

• Set team strategy and capacity plan; assign and review work, calibrate credit judgment, and coach underwriters to elevate structuring quality and speed to decision.
• Build talent through hiring, mentoring, performance management, and upskilling on ABL structures, sponsor financing nuances, and regulatory expectations.
• Foster a culture of accountability, data‐driven decisions, and continuous improvement.
• Credit Underwriting & Approval
• Lead underwriting of new money, amendments, and renewals across revolvers, term loans (including FILO), and seasonal lines; provide clear recommendations, terms, and risk‐mitigation actions.
• Partner with ABL Business Development Team on preparation, review, and refinement of prescreens and proposals including structuring of the ABL facility
• present complex credits to senior credit forums with crisp risk‐reward articulation and stress case analysis.
• Ensure underwrites address borrowing‐base mechanics, advance rates, collateral controls, springing dominion/cash management, intercreditor terms, covenants, availability blocks, and liquidation analysis, consistent with OCC ABL guidance.
• Provide underwriting leadership perspective on risk trends, early warning indicators, and industry sector concerns; proactively recommend risk mitigation strategies and underwriting posture adjustments.
• Complex Capital Structure Expertise
• Underwrite ABL solutions for complex capital structures including private‐equity‐backed companies (e.g., buyouts, add‐ons, recapitalizations), including ABL only, ABL and Split Lien Term Loans (private credit and syndicated markets), ABL and Bond, ABL and Junior Capital and ABL First Out in a Uni-Tranche structure; evaluate sponsor equity contribution, track record, governance, and support.
• Apply ABL best practices: sound underwriting standards, portfolio limits, pipeline management, enterprise‐value considerations where relevant, and stress testing; maintain safe‐and‐sound practices as supervisory expectations evolve.
• Serve as escalation point for complex, policy exception, or challenged credits; ensure appropriate transparency and alignment with senior credit leadership.
• Provide market intelligence on competitive structuring trends, pricing, and documentation standards.
• Experience underwriting or managing stressed/distressed ABL credits, including restructuring, liquidity management, and amendment negotiations.
• Collateral & Borrowing‐Base Discipline
• Oversee quality of collateral diligence and field exams; ensure eligibility criteria, reserves, concentration limits, and appraisal inputs are appropriately set and reassessed.
• Drive cadence and quality for Borrowing Base Certificate reporting, variance analysis, and availability reporting; adjust advance rates/controls as conditions change.
• Governance, Policy & Process
• Interpret and operationalize credit policy, underwriting standards, and control frameworks specific to ABL (e.g., dominion, collateral audits, ineligibles, dilution tests, inventory obsolescence).
• Deep familiarity with OCC leveraged lending and ABL supervisory guidance, including expectations around collateral controls, underwriting discipline, and enterprise risk management.
• Partner with Credit Policy, ERM, and Audit to close gaps identified through QA, internal audit, or regulatory exams; maintain SLAs and model/documentation expectations.
• Support regulatory examinations and horizontal reviews specific to ABL; ensure underwriting practices are defensible, well-documented, and aligned with supervisory expectations and translate evolving regulatory guidance into actionable underwriting standards.
• Cross‐Functional & Market Partnership
• Collaborate with Coverage/Originations to shape bankable structures and set realistic timelines; provide coaching on ABL fit and sponsor dynamics.
• Work with Legal on definitive documentation; with Operations/TM to implement cash management controls; and with Collateral Ops/Field Exam vendors to schedule exams and resolve findings aligned to OCC guidance.
• Systems, Data & Continuous Improvement
• Use analytics to track cycle time, approval quality, and exceptions; lead process improvements that reduce rework and elevate credit quality.
• Champion technology adoption for collateral analysis and underwriting workflow.
• Familiarity with ABL systems (e.g., borrowing base platforms, collateral monitoring tools) and workflow automation to enhance underwriting scalability.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, business, or related field; advanced degree or CFA/FRM a plus.
• 10+ years in ABL underwriting;
• 2+ years leading underwriters or a formal team lead role.

Preferred Qualifications

• 15+ years in commercial credit
• Prior experience coordinating field exams and collateral appraisals; working knowledge of eligibility tests, dilution, and inventory obsolescence reviews.
• Knowledge of pipeline management, stress testing, and portfolio concentration frameworks for complex capital structure.
• Familiarity with treasury management controls for ABL (lockbox, cash dominion) and operationalizing borrowing‐base systems.
• Demonstrated expertise in ABL structures (AR/inventory borrowing bases, availability blocks, reserves, dominion) and collateral monitoring consistent with OCC ABL expectations.
• Strong financial statement analysis, modeling, cash‐flow and liquidation analysis; excellent credit memo writing and presentation skills.
• Experience managing distributed teams and high-volume, complex deal pipelines with multiple concurrent transactions.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders including Credit Risk, Coverage, and Executive Leadership.

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#CML

Yes

Workplace Type:

Office

Our Approach to Office Workplace Type

Compensation Range:

$125,000 - $255,000 Annual Salary