Graduate Analyst - Puma Property Finance

Why Puma Property Finance?

At Puma Property Finance, you'll gain exposure to real deals, real decisions and have the opportunity to make a real impact from day one.

We are an award-winning real estate alternative lender with an existing loan book of more than £1 billion and a specialism in supporting the construction of multi-million pound residential and commercial developments across the UK. But despite those big numbers, we are a team of only 30 people. That means every individual matters, every voice is heard and everyone can make a difference.

Unlike many larger organisations, our size means you'll gain meaningful exposure, take on genuine responsibility early in your career, and work directly alongside experienced professionals and senior leaders. We are proud of our people-first approach, our culture and our way of doing business. Together, we believe it sets us apart in the UK property finance market.

Puma Property Finance is part of Puma Capital Group, an award-winning investment manager with more than £1 billion of assets under management, supporting over 14,000 investors and providing funding to growing UK businesses and property developments nationwide.

Join Us

We are a business in growth mode. With a tight-knit and growing team of 30 in Puma Property Finance, and as part of the wider Puma Capital Group which employs approximately 140 employees across London, Manchester and Edinburgh, we're large enough to offer exciting opportunities and small enough for every individual to make a genuine contribution.

If you're looking for a graduate career where you'll learn quickly, take responsibility early and be part of a supportive, high-performing team, we'd love to hear from you.

Our Business

Puma Property Finance is a provider of secured loans from £10 million to £100 million to finance the construction, redevelopment and retrofit of large residential and commercial developments across the UK.

We have been lending for 14 years and have built a deep knowledge of the UK property market, and property development in particular. The projects that we support stretch from Cornwall to the north of Scotland, from London and the Home Counties to Wales and Northern Ireland. We fund the development of homes, offices, hotels, student accommodation, care homes and more.

Over our lifetime, we have provided nearly £2.5bn of funding to support hundreds of projects. The capital that we lend comes from a variety of sources, including private individuals investing through our sister company Puma Investment as well as global private equity and asset management firms such as KKR.

We are majority owned by our own management team, so the people who run the business have a deep, personal interest in its success. That has helped to drive an enviable track record in our industry, with strong loan book performance over many years; a sophisticated suite of clients who have borrowed from us on multiple occasions; a very low staff turnover rate; and external recognition through a number of industry awards.

Our Graduate Programme

Our two-year programme has been designed as a launchpad into the world of real estate lending. Based in our London HQ on St James’s Street, you will gain exposure to all facets of our business on a structured rotation basis that will see you spend one year in our Lending and Origination Team, and one year in our Portfolio and Loan Management Team. During the programme, you will also have the opportunity to gain exposure to the wider Puma business.

What to Expect

The programme has been designed to build confidence, capability and long term careers. Throughout your time on the programme, you will gain hands-on experience within the team, learning from our Real Estate Credit professionals. At Puma, you will have the chance to have a tangible impact.

During the course of the programme, you will spend time within our lending and origination team, and our portfolio and loan management team.

Responsibilities might include:

Lending and Origination

• Supporting origination activity for new lending opportunities, including target mapping and early‑stage opportunity assessment

• Assisting with reviewing information memoranda for lending opportunities

• Building and maintaining cashflow models

• Participating in deal structuring discussions, providing analytical and commercial input

• Conducting borrower, sector and project research to inform underwriting decisions

• Supporting with the preparation of internal credit papers

• Coordinating transaction execution with external professionals, including valuers and project monitors

• Liaising with borrowers to progress information requests and closing conditions

Portfolio and Loan Management

• Conducting loan monitoring activities for live development projects

• Reviewing project monitor reports, reporting on development progress and highlighting red flags

• Supporting the processing of loan drawdowns to fund development works

• Attending site visits to understand project progress and risk considerations

• Completing internal progress reporting and support portfolio oversight

• Maintaining up-to-date market intelligence, through news monitoring, research and event attendance

• Attending and reporting at monthly portfolio monitoring meetings

• Supporting loan servicing activities such as covenant compliance checks and insurance renewals

You will join as part of the Investment20/20 programme and benefit from a wide range of technical and soft skills training, insight and networking events along with over 300 trainees across the industry.

About You

We are looking for someone who is:

• Kind

• Values-driven

• Passionate about working in the real estate credit sector

• A team player who enjoys the company of colleagues and working collaboratively

• An excellent communicator with demonstrable interpersonal skills

• Driven by the opportunity to excel in a high performing environment

• Intellectually curious and commercially aware

• Verbally and numerically strong (a good working knowledge of Excel would be advantageous)

Eligibility Criteria

• An undergraduate degree in any subject area

• The permanent right to work in the UK

Benefits

• The starting salary for the programme is £45,000

• Learning and development opportunities, including professional qualifications

• Buddy scheme

• Enhanced pension scheme

• Mental wellbeing support

• Employee Assistance Programme

• Private medical insurance

• Cycle to work scheme

The Recruitment Process

1. Application form: This includes basic questions such as personal details and education history, alongside questions designed to understand your interest and motivation. Applications close on Monday 30th November 2026 and will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so may close earlier than anticipated. We strongly encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible to ensure that you don’t miss out on being considered for the programme.

2. Online assessment: Following a review of your application form, we may invite you to complete an online assessment. This is an opportunity to show us more than your academic achievements. Through realistic workplace scenarios and reasoning exercises, we’ll explore how you analyse information, communicate, collaborate and approach challenges, alongside numerical, critical and diagrammatic reasoning skills.

3. Video interview: The video interviews will be held in early-2027, and are an opportunity to meet a business representative from Puma, alongside a member of our People Team. They will be looking to understand your motivations for applying in further detail, and will utilise scenario and competency-based questions to assess suitability.

4. Assessment Centre: The assessment centre will be held in-person in our London HQ on St James’s Street in February 2027. The day will include several exercises, and is designed to assess both your technical skills and knowledge, as well as your motivations for applying to Puma. This is an opportunity for us to learn more about your skills, interests and motivations, as well as your understanding of Puma and our graduate programme, while giving you the chance to meet our people, experience our culture and get a better feel for what a career with us could look like.

5. Offer: Following the assessment centre, you will be notified within one week whether you have been successful in securing a position on the graduate programme. The programme will start on Monday 6th September 2027.

Whilst we are an organisation embracing the use of AI, to ensure fairness and authenticity, we strongly discourage the use of AI tools during our recruitment process. Candidates found to be using AI-generated responses will be automatically withdrawn from the process. We want you to be authentic and get to know the real you, your motivations and interest in our programme.