Director, Special Assets

Location: McLean, VA — Onsite
Job Type: Full-Time

Job Overview

We are seeking a Director, Special Assets / Commercial Workout professional to lead the management and resolution of a portfolio of distressed, criticized, and classified commercial loans within Middle Market Banking.

This role is responsible for developing and executing loan workout, restructuring, credit risk, and loss mitigation strategies for complex commercial relationships. The ideal candidate will have deep experience in commercial lending, commercial credit, loan underwriting, loan restructuring, Special Assets, and distressed credit, with the ability to independently manage complex relationships and communicate recommendations to senior leadership.

The portfolio includes a significant concentration of leveraged loans and private-equity-backed borrowers across industries including Food & Beverage, Healthcare, TMT, Industrials, Services, and Government Contracting.

Key Responsibilities

• Independently manage a portfolio of distressed, criticized, classified, and higher-risk commercial loans.
• Develop and execute comprehensive loan workout and restructuring strategies focused on loss mitigation and maximizing recovery.
• Evaluate alternatives including restructuring, amendments, covenant modifications, retention, divestiture, liquidation, and other resolution strategies.
• Perform detailed commercial credit analysis, financial analysis, cash-flow analysis, collateral analysis, valuation, and recovery analysis.
• Build and use financial models, forecasts, sensitivity analyses, and downside scenarios to evaluate potential outcomes and loss exposure.
• Review borrower financial information, collateral, credit documentation, loan agreements, covenants, and other relevant information.
• Identify deficiencies in credit approval memos (CAMs), covenant packages, loan documentation, and credit structures, and recommend appropriate solutions.
• Negotiate loan restructurings, amendments, covenants, and workout solutions with borrowers and external/internal stakeholders.
• Work closely with legal counsel, attorneys, appraisers, brokers, relationship managers, credit teams, and senior risk/business leaders.
• Evaluate default, bankruptcy, receivership, and other distressed-credit scenarios and determine appropriate rights, remedies, and resolution strategies.
• Establish and maintain appropriate credit risk ratings based on financial, operational, collateral, and other risk factors.
• Lead Watch and Criticized (WAC) / watch-list processes and restructuring action plans for assigned relationships.
• Lead the loan impairment process, including review of analysis, conclusions, and internal communications.
• Clearly communicate credit positions, workout recommendations, risk assessments, and expected outcomes to senior leadership.
• Act as a senior subject matter expert and provide guidance to junior team members and deal teams.
• Identify process improvements and share workout, restructuring, credit, and risk-management best practices across the organization.

Required Skills & Experience

Candidates should have strong experience in the following areas:

• Commercial Lending / Commercial Banking
• Commercial Credit
• Special Assets
• Loan Workout / Commercial Workout
• Loan Restructuring / Commercial Restructuring
• Distressed, Criticized, or Classified Commercial Loans
• Commercial Loan Underwriting
• Credit Risk Management
• Financial Analysis and Credit Analysis
• Loss Mitigation and Recovery Strategy
• Collateral Analysis and Valuation
• Loan Covenants and Credit Documentation
• Risk Rating / Credit Risk Rating
• Watch List / Criticized Loan Management
• Workout Negotiation
• Leveraged Lending / Leveraged Loans

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or military experience.
• 7+ years of relevant experience in commercial lending, commercial credit, asset management, Special Assets, loan workout, or related credit functions.
• 5+ years of experience in commercial loan underwriting OR loan restructuring/workout.
• Demonstrated experience independently managing complex commercial credit relationships or distressed loan portfolios.
• Strong financial analysis and credit judgment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• 10+ years of commercial lending experience.
• Direct experience with commercial loan restructuring and workout.
• Experience with leveraged loans and/or private-equity-backed borrowers.
• Experience with bankruptcy, receivership, defaults, loan remedies, or other distressed-credit situations.
• Master's degree or Juris Doctor (JD).
• Experience negotiating loan documents, amendments, covenants, and restructuring agreements.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The strongest candidate will typically come from a Special Assets, Commercial Workout, Commercial Restructuring, Senior Credit Officer, or Commercial Credit background and will have personally managed complex distressed commercial loans from initial identification of risk through restructuring, recovery, or resolution.

This is a senior-level position requiring strong credit judgment, financial analysis, workout expertise, negotiation skills, and portfolio ownership.