Analyst, Underwriter

Principal Financial Group • Chicago, IL

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

Principal Alternative Credit (Direct Lending) launched in 2020 and our team is still growing! Our success depends on the unique experiences, backgrounds, and talents of our employees – individually and all of us together. The Direct Lending team has a growth mindset that believes in developing the talents of all our employees. We welcome fresh perspectives and are looking for someone with the skills, work ethic and positive attitude to inspire change and help us through our next phase of growth. You will gain a ton of meaningful experience with a team that’s invested in your personal success. We’ll help you build a successful career through: Coaching from senior team members who are invested in your success. Promoting training and development opportunities that help you build new skills or take on additional responsibility. Providing resources and technology to help you work smarter, not harder. Providing you opportunities to volunteer, attend targeted networking events and through strategic introductions to expand your network inside and outside of Principal.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in a technical field (i.e. finance, accounting, economics, statistics, engineering, data science, business analytics).
• Undergraduate GPA of 3.5 or above
• Must be able to understand basic accounting principles and economic theory, interpret financial statements, and efficiently and effectively research, compile and analyze information.
• Excellent abilities in the areas of communication (verbal and written), time management, analytics and use of Excel required.
• Must be collaborative, able to build and maintain strong relationships, manage expectations, attend to details, multi-task and prioritize effectively.
• Keen sense of curiosity and open-minded thought process desired.
• This position may be subject to SEC restrictions on personal political contributions.

Nice To Haves

• progress towards CFA preferred.
• Background or experience in investment banking, leveraged finance, private debt or equity, and/or related transactional experience, preferred.
• Previous experience with Bloomberg preferred.
• Knowledge of financial markets and fixed income strategies, including general knowledge of bond mechanics and pricing calculations is preferred.
• Familiarity with database structures, big data techniques (i.e. Cassandra, Spark and Hadoop), and programming languages (i.e. Python, MATLAB, R) a plus.
• Previous internship in finance preferred.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for assisting in the due diligence, credit underwriting, execution, and portfolio monitoring of private debt investments.
• Assist in providing research insights and credit rating recommendations to support team members in making informed investment decisions.
• Analyst will assist underwriting team in their evaluation of new transactions and investment opportunities, aid in the development of detailed financial models and sensitivity analyses of borrowers and provide analytical support for investment committee materials.
• Analyst will aid in monitoring the active investment pipeline, preparing for weekly investment team meetings, assisting with marketing material preparation, and tracking business development activities.
• Work with assigned Underwriter and/or Sr. Underwriter on all transactions in assigned sector.
• Evaluate new transactions and investment opportunities, attend management presentations, review deal terms and credit agreements.
• Prepare written investment committee memorandum and presentations.
• Participate in key areas of due diligence, including business and quantitative analysis as well as industry and competitive research.
• Assist with development of detailed financial models and sensitivity analyses to assess performance scenarios and capital structure alternatives.
• Provide responses to basic inquiries from back office, origination, and marketing.
• Actively monitor portfolio company performance and report concerns related to underwriter/senior underwriter.
• Collaborate and consult with peers, colleagues, and managers to resolve issues as they arise and achieve goals.
• Participate in internal initiatives to ensure the business is well-managed and operates efficiently.

Benefits

• Flexible Time Off (FTO) is provided to salaried (exempt) employees and provides the opportunity to take time away from the office with pay for vacation, personal or short-term illness.
• Pension Eligible

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level