Special Assets Officer II - CRE Underwriting

This is a hybrid role with the expectation to work 3 days a week in office at 11 West 42nd Street New York NY 10036.

At First Citizens Bank, we believe meaningful careers are built through meaningful relationships. For more than 125 years, we've supported our clients, communities and colleagues through a culture rooted in connection, collaboration and long-term success.

This position will support senior team members in the management of distressed and stressed CRE loans and OREO assets. This role will largely focus on financial analysis, underwriting, and credit assessment of distressed CRE transactions with an emphasis on evaluating collateral performance, borrower creditworthiness, repayment capacity, and potential resolution strategies.

The ideal candidate will have a strong foundation in CRE credit underwriting and financial analysis, with the ability to independently analyze complex loan situations, identify emerging credit risks, and develop well-supported recommendations. Experience in loan workouts is preferred but not required for candidates with strong CRE underwriting experience.

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Credit Underwriting & Financial Analysis: Perform detailed underwriting of distressed and underperforming CRE loans, including analysis of property-level operating statements, rent rolls, lease expirations, tenant credit, net operating income, debt service coverage ratios (DSCR), loan-to-value (LTV), debt yield, and debt repayment capacity.
• Collateral Evaluation: Assess collateral quality, market fundamentals, leasing assumptions, capital expenditure requirements, property valuations, and projected cash flows to determine current and prospective recovery values.
• Credit Risk Assessment: Identify and evaluate deteriorating credit trends, borrower and guarantor financial capacity, covenant breaches, maturity risks, and other factors that may affect loan performance and ultimate recovery.
• Resolution Strategy Analysis: Evaluate potential loan resolution alternatives, including loan modifications, extensions, restructurings, discounted payoffs, note sales, foreclosure, and disposition of OREO.
• Financial Modeling & Scenario Analysis: Build and maintain financial models to evaluate downside scenarios, projected recoveries, collateral liquidation timelines, and the relative economics of alternative resolution strategies.
• Credit Memoranda & Recommendations: Prepare detailed credit analyses, approval memoranda, portfolio updates, and recommendations for senior management and credit committees.
• Portfolio Management: Monitor assigned loans and identify changes in property performance, market conditions, borrower behavior, and credit risk that may warrant changes in strategy or escalation.
• Workout Execution: Support the implementation of approved workout strategies, including coordination with borrowers, legal counsel, brokers, asset managers, and other internal and external stakeholders.
• Due Diligence & Documentation: Review loan documents, financial reporting, appraisals, broker opinions of value, environmental reports, and other diligence materials to inform credit decisions and resolution strategies.

Position Specific Skills:

• Risk Mitigation
• Critical Thinking Skills
• Credit Portfolio Monitoring
• Financial Analysis
• Negotiating

Qualifications:
Minimum Required Education and Experience: Bachelor's Degree and 4 years' experience OR High School Diploma or GED/Equivalent and 8 years' experience in commercial real estate lending, credit underwriting, portfolio management, or related CRE finance experience

• Strong foundational knowledge of CRE credit analysis, including property cash flow underwriting, DSCR, LTV, debt yield, capitalization rates, and collateral valuation.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze financial statements, rent rolls, leases, borrower financials, and property operating performance.
• Experience building or reviewing financial models and performing sensitivity and downside scenario analyses.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to clearly articulate credit risks and support recommendations with quantitative analysis.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
• Familiarity with loan documents
• CoStar experience
• Strong attention to detail, organizational skills, and ability to manage multiple assignments in a deadline-driven environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with distressed CRE credits or loan workouts

Benefits are an integral part of total rewards and First Citizens Bank is committed to providing a competitive, thoughtfully designed and quality benefits program to meet the needs of our associates. More information can be found at https://jobs.firstcitizens.com/benefits.

The base pay for this position is generally between $150,000 and $180,000. Actual starting base pay will be determined based on skills, experience, location, and other non-discriminatory factors permitted by law. For some roles, total compensation may also include variable incentives, bonuses, benefits, and/or other awards as outlined in the offer of employment.