Asset Quality Risk Manager

Ascend Bank•Wallingford, CT

About The Position

The Asset Quality Risk Manager is an experienced leader with end‑to‑end responsibility for the Bank’s problem asset portfolio, accountable for reducing non‑performing loans, nonaccrual assets, and credit losses while maximizing recoveries and ensuring regulatory compliance. The role drives proactive identification of credit deterioration, execution of remediation and recovery strategies, and continuous improvement in portfolio performance to minimize losses and optimize recoveries. In partnership with Credit, Lending, Finance, and Operations, the role ensures strong asset quality outcomes, regulatory compliance, and clear reporting to Executive Management and the Board, supporting CAMELS ratings and overall risk governance.

Requirements

Strong credit judgment and analytical skills
Experience in commercial and consumer lending and workouts and demonstrated competencies in complex workouts
Strong negotiation and decision-making capability; ability to manage complex negotiations and distressed situations
Executive-level communication and Board reporting capability
Strong leadership, accountability, and decision-making skills
Ability to leverage portfolio analytics, trend reporting, and technology tools to proactively manage risk.
Proficiency with bank systems, reporting platforms, and emerging technology relevant to credit risk and asset quality.
Minimum 5-8 eight years of progressive experience in consumer lending, commercial lending, workouts, collections, special assets, or credit risk management, with demonstrated responsibility for resolving non-performing loans.

Responsibilities

Owns lifecycle management of criticized, classified, and non-performing loans
Provides end‑to‑end leadership and accountability for the Bank’s non‑performing, classified, criticized, substandard, and doubtful asset portfolio, including commercial, consumer, residential and loans serviced or resolved under secondary market / agency guidelines (e.g. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae) where applicable.
Develops and maintains enhanced procedures to ensure consistent execution.
Manages risk with appropriate controls. Monitors control design and effectiveness to ensure safe and sound execution.
Proactively identifies emerging credit deterioration in partnership with the CRO, CLO, Senior Credit Risk Manager, Finance, Operations and intervenes early to limit losses.
Develops forward‑looking strategies to reduce inflows into non‑performing status and improve migration trends.
Leads workouts, restructures, and recovery strategies
Defines, executes, and adjusts portfolio‑level and loan‑specific remediation strategies to reduce NPL balances, days in nonaccrual, and loss severity.
Establishes standardized workout frameworks, decision trees, approval thresholds, exception tracking and escalation protocols to ensure consistent, timely, and well‑documented problem loan resolutions.
Evaluates borrower viability and determines appropriate remediation strategies in alignment with regulatory guidance.
Considers borrower assistance programs and investor/agency loss mitigation waterfalls (repayment plans, forbearance, modifications, liquidation pathways) as appropriate.
Leads and negotiates loan workouts, restructurings, repayment plans, settlements, and exit strategies, coordinating with borrowers, legal counsel, and external stakeholders as needed.
Ensures strategies align with investor/agency workout requirements, servicing timelines and documentation where applicable.
Oversees collections, foreclosures, repossessions, and OREO
Directs complex recovery activities, including collateral realization, foreclosures, repossessions, and OREO management and disposition.
Partners across business lines to improve asset quality performance. Oversee QC of commercial loan documentation.
Ensures accurate risk ratings and regulatory classifications.
Oversees collateral valuation, appraisal, and insurance processes and condition monitoring, and third‑party reviews to support informed resolution and recovery decisions.
Provides clear, concise insights to support Board oversight, regulatory exam readiness, loan reviews, and audit activities. Owns and manages key performance indicators related to asset quality, resolution timeliness, recoveries, and regulatory outcomes.
Ensures compliance with regulatory and policy requirements and supports audits, loan reviews, and regulatory exams.
Partners with Loan Servicing/Insurance Tracking functions to confirm adequacy and enforceability of insurance coverage supporting loss recovery.
Monitors asset quality trends, NPL ratios, charge‑offs and recoveries, top exposures, and progress on action plans. Reports asset quality performance, including delinquency trends, non‑accrual loans, charge‑offs, recoveries, recovery rates, and loss severity including investor/agency status reporting, remittance/reconciliation, and exception resolution (e.g., reporting mismatches, curtailment risk, suspense/clearing items) where applicable.
Partners with Credit on Watched Asset and Impaired Loan documentation/reporting.
Evaluate opportunity to leverage outsourced collection partner. Develop performance criteria and vendor performance monitoring process.