Specialty Lending Director

Director, Specialty Lending Underwriting & Operations

Role Overview

As Director, you will hold underwriting authority across all Specialty Lending products—Custom Credit, Securities-Based Lending (SBL), and Partner Lending—while overseeing origination operations, servicing, and program-level legal negotiations for Partner Lending programs. This senior leadership role is pivotal in delivering bespoke liquidity solutions for high-net-worth clients and ensuring operational excellence across the platform.

Primary Responsibilities

Underwriting Leadership

• Act as final credit authority for all Specialty Lending transactions, including highly complex, bespoke credit structures.
• Review and approve transactions within delegated authority; escalate and present cases to credit approvers as needed.
• Partner with product leaders to design competitive structures that align with market-leading private credit offerings.
• Maintain rigorous adherence to credit policy and regulatory requirements while enabling business growth.

Origination Operations & Servicing

• Oversee end-to-end origination workflows for all Specialty Lending products, ensuring efficiency and accuracy from application through funding.
• Manage servicing processes, including collateral monitoring, margin calls, and release procedures for SBL.
• Establish and monitor SLAs across all operational touchpoints; implement corrective actions where needed.
• Drive continuous improvement in processes to enhance speed, accuracy, and client experience.

Program-Level Legal Negotiations

• Lead negotiations for Partner Lending program agreements with external partners, ensuring terms align with Citizens’ risk appetite and compliance standards.
• Collaborate with internal legal, compliance, and risk teams to finalize agreements and maintain ongoing governance.

Risk & Controls

• Design and maintain robust operational and credit controls across all Specialty Lending products.
• Partner with risk and audit teams to ensure full compliance and readiness for internal and external reviews.
• Develop and update policies and procedures to reflect evolving regulatory and business requirements.

Client Experience

• Champion a white-glove client experience throughout underwriting, origination, and servicing processes.
• Oversee client transitions between platforms or processes, ensuring seamless execution and proactive communication.

Team Leadership

• Lead a team of 3 managers and 15–20 colleagues, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and excellence.
• Define role profiles, career paths, and training programs to build expertise and support future growth.
• Develop capacity models and resource plans to meet increasing demand and evolving product complexity.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in financial services underwriting and operations for high-net-worth clients.
• Expertise in complex credit structures across Custom Credit, SBL, and Partner Lending.
• Proven ability to lead large teams and manage multi-faceted processes.
• Strong negotiation skills for program-level agreements.
• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.

Pay Transparency 

The salary range for this position is $250,000 - $275,000 per year, plus an opportunity to earn an annual discretionary bonus. Actual pay is based on various factors including but not limited to the work location, and relevant skills and experience.   

We offer competitive pay, comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, maternity/paternity leave, flexible work arrangements, education reimbursement, wellness programs and more. Note, Citizens’ paid time off policy exceeds the mandatory, paid sick or paid time-away policy of every local and state jurisdiction in the United States. For an overview of our benefits, visit https://jobs.citizensbank.com/benefits.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Citizens, its parent, subsidiaries, and related companies (Citizens) provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all colleagues and applicants for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, citizenship, physical or mental disability, perceived disability or history or record of a disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression, genetic information, genetic characteristic, marital or domestic partner status, victim of domestic violence, family status/parenthood, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, pregnancy/childbirth/lactation, colleague’s or a dependent’s reproductive health decision making, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or any other category protected by federal, state and/or local laws. At Citizens, we are committed to fostering an inclusive culture that enables all colleagues to bring their best selves to work every day and everyone is expected to be treated with respect and professionalism. Employment decisions are based solely on merit, qualifications, performance and capability.

Equal Employment and Opportunity Employer

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Background Check

Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the candidate successfully passing a background check, which may include initial credit, motor vehicle record, public record, prior employment verification, and criminal background checks. Results of the background check are individually reviewed based upon legal requirements imposed by our regulators and with consideration of the nature and gravity of the background history and the job offered. Any offer of employment will include further information.