Director Community Development Underwriting

About the Organization

 The Momentus Capital branded family of organizations - which includes Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance and Momentus Securities (an SEC-registered broker-dealer, MSRB-registered municipal advisor, a FINRA-approved municipal advisor and municipal securities broker-dealer, FINRA/SIPC member)- are transforming how capital and investments flow into communities to provide people access to the capital and opportunities they deserve. 

 We are working to reinvent traditional financial systems and advance locally-led solutions that create economic mobility and generational wealth. Through our continuum of financial, knowledge, and social capital, we offer a comprehensive package of loan products, impact investment opportunities, training and business advising programs, and technology solutions.

 Our holistic and streamlined approach offers comprehensive solutions for small business entrepreneurs, real estate developers, community-based organizations, and local leaders at every stage of growth, from inception to expansion. When these leaders have the opportunity to succeed, their communities, their residents – and our country – thrive.

 Position Summary

The Director Community Development Underwriting is responsible for overseeing loan underwriting functions and for the full lifecycle of new originations and guiding the restructuring and workout analysis for existing borrowers in alignment with the organizational risk appetite. The Director of Community Development Underwriting reports to the Head of Small Business and Community Development Credit within the Risk Team.  This position manages a team of commercial underwriters to support Community Development Lending (CDL) originations and supports existing borrowers in the portfolio.

Essential Responsibilities

 Loan Origination Production

●        Lead a team of underwriters to underwrite complex transactions by ensuring comprehensive analysis, eligibility and conformance with  underwriting and credit guidelines such as assessment of historical and projected financial performance, cash flow, debt service, repayment and takeout analysis, sponsor/management capacity, leverage, liquidity, collateral, guarantor analysis, sensitivity and stress testing analysis, evaluating industry, funding sources and market conditions, repayment sources and key credit and underwriting risks  from screening to closing.

●        Exercise sound independent judgement in evaluating transaction structure, risk/return considerations, policy exceptions, mitigants and overall creditworthiness and provide clear recommendations regarding approval, modification, escalation, or decline.

●        Recommend appropriate strategies and guidance in collaboration with credit on risk mitigants, covenants, reserves, conditions and other structural guidance, including delivering advanced level underwriting judgements on transactions requiring escalation due to complexity, policy exceptions or other material considerations.

●        Serve as the primary interface for the underwriting processes, actively participate in deal discussions by providing recommendations and technical structuring guidance, attend and deliver guidance during pipeline meetings, co-lead credit office hours, manage internal workflow and due diligence with the teams to close loans.

Leadership and Planning

●        Provide input to the CDL Origination and the Credit, Risk teams with strategic and tactical planning in conjunction with organizational goals/objectives and new opportunities.

●        Collaborate with internal stakeholders, including CDL loan originations, credit, portfolio and special assets to recommend training topics, conduct training where applicable and attend organized trainings for shared learning, discussing lessons learned and growing knowledge on key topics, including attending conferences/trainings.

●        Conduct regular 1:1 meetings with direct reports to manage all aspects of building and lead a highly effective team. Oversee and manage staff development activities; coaching, training, monitor team performance by goal setting, assessing performance and communicating performance objectives.

●        Responsible for hirings, and completion of justification for backfill and providing input on staffing needs for workforce development and planning.

●        Partner with the portfolio and special assets teams, and other departments to improve handoffs and coordination, training on new products, and the release of policies and procedures to ensure alignment.

●        Participate in meetings with CDL originations and other stakeholders to represent underwriting functions.

●        Ensure good communication and sharing of information within the CDL loan origination team and other stakeholders.

●        Collaborate with external partners such as peer CDFIs on industry updates and best practices to incorporate in the CDL processes and procedures.

Lifecycle Credit Underwriting, Origination and Portfolio and Workout Management

●        Responsible for quality of underwriting of work products by the underwriting team and other members of the CDL originations teams during structuring such as eligibility, compliance with policies and procedures, including external guarantees, credit enhancements, and other lending tools by identifying strengths, weaknesses, recommend strategies and mitigants to minimize underwriting and credit exceptions to manage credit and underwriting risks.

●        Deliver technical support and oversee the financial analysis for (historical, projections, collateral value, guarantor capacity for existing and distressed borrowers to develop and evaluate downside, stress, and exit, and recovery scenarios, including estimated loss exposure, recovery timing, collateral disposition, and other potential strategies in collaboration with other stakeholders to senior management for consideration.

●        Review post-closing amendment memos, assess the quality of the financial analysis and other supporting documentation to ensure thorough underwriting to stabilize borrower performance and reduce the frequency of future extensions and modifications.

●        Challenge assumptions and identify emerging risks in underwriting analyses, financial projections, valuations, borrower business plans and proposed transaction structures. Review and challenge the proposed workout strategies prepared by designated staff to ensure supporting financial and credit analysis is sufficient to support organizational decision making.

●        Collaborate with stakeholders such as credit, originations, portfolio management and special assets teams to deliver technical underwriting guidance, including identifying early warning indicators and recommending strategies to improve borrower performance, address covenant compliance, strengthen liquidity, preserve collateral value, and evaluate alternative repayment options.

●        Maintain compliance with appropriate application of credit and underwriting guidelines as well as other supplementary policies and procedures during the analysis and address escalations to appropriate party.

●        Apply experience with distressed and underperforming credits to new originations by identifying potential risks in transaction assumptions, borrower projections, repayment and takeout strategies, collateral  support, and proposed structures and recommend appropriate risk mitigants to strengthen credit quality.

●        Use portfolio performance, delinquency trends, modifications, restructuring and charge offs and workout outcomes to identify underwriting trends, incorporate lessons learned into underwriting guidelines, and transaction structuring.

●        Attend special assets and other portfolio risk meetings by delivering technical guidance and recommending strategies to support decision making and mitigating organizational financial exposure. Oversight of the underwriting checklist to ensure underwriting tasks completed by underwriters and loan officers, monitoring progress against the closing deadline and ensuring pipeline loans are actively managed in accordance with the underwriting guidelines.

●        Review credit memos and credit analysis to ensure thorough and complete underwriting prior to submission to appropriate party. Provide frequent input to the lending team assigned to the transaction in structuring the transaction.

●        Provide underwriting support and or backup as a reviewer and co-approver for credit and amendment memos for Commercial Real Estate (CRE) loans to ensure compliance with guidelines and policies.

●        Ensure compliance with all applicable laws, regulatory changes, and internal policies within the organization.

Underwriting Process Management and Data Integrity

●        Partner with technology on system design/automation, as well working with the operations excellence team on template design/updates, process mapping, testing, and to improve processes.

●        Assign and manage workload team in conjunction with Credit, CDL Originations management and other stakeholders as appropriate for new origination as well as supporting existing borrowers in the portfolio

●        Provide guidance to originations and other teams such input on templates, forms and other documents that capture underwriting requirements.

●        Ensure team is meeting all established service level agreements and deadlines to manage the underwriting process to support CDL originations with loan closings, including portfolio and special assets portfolios

●        Serve as lead to update and maintain updates to the underwriting guidelines for approval to Credit and Risk, continuous review of procedures, processes, and guidelines with a keen focus on process improvement and efficiency.

●        Support credit and risk with special projects, including using portfolio performance to identify emerging risks, recurring underwriting exceptions, process gaps, and opportunity to improve loan quality.

●        Support the Credit and Risk team with input on credit guidelines and other policies and procedures.

●        Support Head of Small Business and Community Development with other functions as identified, including serving as backup for other members of the Credit team.

●        Leverage workload management tools/reports for appropriate coaching to CDL for production & quality metrics.

●        Provide input to stakeholders with developing new lending products, drafting guidelines and other materials to grow impact and loan production.

●        Understand and support data integrity in accordance with organizational policies.

This job description outlines the primary responsibilities and essential functions of the role; however, additional duties may be assigned as needed to support business operations.

Professional Skills, Education and Experience

●        Bachelor’s degree or advanced degree in business or public administration, finance or related field preferred. Education level will be considered on a holistic basis considering both education and work experience.

●        10 years of advanced commercial and community development lending underwriting and/or lending experience, cash flow analysis, sensitivity analysis, stress testing, leverage and liquidity analysis, collateral and guarantor evaluation, risk ratings, debt service capacity assessment, collateral valuation, loan structuring and risk mitigations.

●        Demonstrated experience exercising credit judgment and making or presenting recommendations on complex transactions, policy exceptions, restructuring and other significant amendments and modifications.

●        Prior leadership experience with a minimum of three (3) years managing direct reports.

●        Successful incumbent will possess strong underwriting, credit risk management and impact area expertise, have excellent written and verbal communication skills, strong management/coaching skills, superior process management and operational effectiveness skills, strong decision-making skills and are a result-oriented team player.

●        Ability to maintain big picture focus while attending detailed work and providing thorough documentation.

●        Demonstrated ability to work productively and accurately in a fast-paced environment with multiple projects and stringent deadlines.

●        Strong proficiency in a PC environment using Google, Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, and Salesforce and other loan origination systems is required. The ability to learn and adapt to a changing IT environment is required.  

●        Demonstrates professionalism, diplomacy and composure and is flexible and able to adapt to a variety of situations.

●        Excellent communication and collaboration skills with team members across all levels of the organization.

●        Strong analytical, loan compliance, risk management, sound judgement, manage ambiguity, complexity and ability to manage underwriting and credit risk to manage organizational financial exposure.

●        Candidates should have demonstrated strong commitment to the Momentus mission.

●        Previous experience with Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) is a plus.

The salary range for this position is $118,536 – $182,000 and may be eligible for an annual discretionary incentive.

• Structure A: $118,536 - $158,246 All locations except Structures B and C
• Structure B: $131,707- $175,829 Washington, D.C.; Maryland; Virginia (DMV); non-Bay Area California markets; and Massachusetts
• Structure C: $144,482- $182,000 New York; New Jersey; and the California Bay Area

All employees must be legally authorized to work in the United States. The company will not sponsor applicants for work visas.