Senior Director, Portfolio Monitoring - Real Estate

ABOUT US
At OakNorth, we're on a mission to empower the UK's most ambitious businesses. Since 2015, we've lent over $21 billion across the UK and US, helped create more than 58,000 new homes and 36,000 new jobs, and supported hundreds of thousands of personal savers — all while fuelling the UK economy. This is an exciting opportunity to join a dynamic, fast-growing bank known for challenging the status quo. We're not looking for just another cog in the wheel — we want bold thinkers and proactive self-starters who are eager to shape their own careers while supporting the UK's most driven business leaders.
The role:
You will manage a book of complex real estate and property-backed loans, owning both the customer relationship and the post-origination credit risk, including customers showing early signs of financial distress. You will work with an analyst team based in India.

The portfolio:

Sectors: residential and commercial real estate (investment and development), student accommodation, co-living and retirement living, and property-backed hotel and healthcare loans

Facilities: investment, transitional, development and buy-to-let loans, and lender finance, including revolving credit facilities (RCFs) and loan-on-loan facilities to real estate lenders

Loan sizes: typically £1m to £50m

What you’ll do

• Monitor the book: annual reviews, quarterly covenant testing, early warning signs and forward-looking stress testing. On investment loans, track rent, occupancy, interest cover, valuation and refinance risk; on development loans, assess drawdowns against monthly monitoring surveyor reports, cost to complete, programme and exit.

• Manage RCFs and loan-on-loan facilities: approve new underlying loans against agreed criteria and monitor look-through LTV and interest cover, arrears and defaults across the underlying book, and the Bank’s security over the underlying real estate.

• Make in-life credit decisions: approve drawdowns, annual reviews, valuations, waivers consents and extensions within your delegated authority and recommend those above it.

• Manage distress: spot underperformance early, agree a clear strategy and lead negotiations with borrowers, sponsors and advisers on waivers, amendments, extensions and restructures, returning loans to standard or exiting without impairment.

• Present to credit committee: review and recommend credit papers and present them verbally, defending recommendations under challenge.

• Lead the team: manage, develop and coach a team of Directors, allocating the book, reviewing credit decisions and building capability across the team.

• Work with the India analyst team: direct day-to-day work, review outputs ,coach analysts and work across time zones/georgaphies.

• Professional engagement: Hands on engagement with external professional advisors legal, valuers, PMS etc.

• Work with AI: use the Bank’s approved AI tools day to day and help find step changes in how the book is managed.
  

What you’ll bring

• Extensive (10-15 Years) UK real estate lending or portfolio management experience across investment and development, ideally at a bank or specialist lender and in more than one sector.

• Experience of revolving credit, loan-on-loan or lender finance facilities, or a strong working understanding of how they are structured and monitored.

• Strong credit appraisal, financial analysis and modelling skills; comfortable with LMA documentation.

• Experience of managing underperforming and distressed credits, with a working knowledge of restructuring and insolvency.

• A track record of negotiating confidently and presenting clearly, both verbally and in writing, to senior stakeholders and credit committees.

• Actively looking for opportunities to grow back book; cross selling bank offering

• Openness to AI and new ways of working.

What we Offer

• Equity — we want everyone to have a stake in the business so our interests are aligned

• 25 days holiday plus personalised benefits — opt in to what matters to you

• Subsidised private medical insurance with Bupa

• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave

• Wellbeing and social events, plus in-house Barista Bar in the London office

• Volunteering time off to support causes that matter to you

• Salary sacrifice schemes — cycle to work, nursery, gym, and electric car scheme