Commercial Real Estate Underwriting Manager

U.S. Bank • Minneapolis, MN

3d • $139,230 - $163,800 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Commercial Real Estate Underwriting Manager is responsible for leading and developing a team of CRE underwriting professionals while maintaining strong oversight of credit quality, underwriting standards, and workflow execution. The role serves as a key interface between Relationship Management, Credit, and Loan Administration, ensuring credit actions and deliverables are accurate, timely, consistent with policy, and audit-ready. This position combines hands-on credit leadership with direct people management and core HR responsibilities, supporting team development while ensuring adherence to commercial lending policies, regulatory requirements, and in-office expectations. The team underwrites and supports a broad range of CRE asset classes across the U.S. for regional and local developers and investors.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree, or equivalent work experience
• Eight or more years of commercial banking/lending experience
• Two or more years of management experience in a commercial credit environment

Nice To Haves

• 8+ years of commercial real estate lending experience, including hands-on involvement with underwriting, credit approvals, and portfolio management activities.
• 5+ years of direct commercial real estate underwriting experience; strong working knowledge of CRE lending products and structures (e.g., term loans, construction loans, bridge financing, agency executions, participation/syndication fundamentals, covenant frameworks).
• 3+ years of team leadership/management experience, including coaching or overseeing junior staff in a fast-paced execution environment. Absent direct management experience, strong deal management skills and the ability to manage a process are critical.
• Strong leadership presence and a coaching mindset, with a track record of developing talent and promoting consistent execution standards.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills; ability to produce clear, concise credit narratives and executive-ready summaries with appropriate tact and diplomacy.
• Experience improving processes and controls (e.g., templates, checklists, pipeline tracking) and managing credit workflows in a controlled environment, including regulatory compliance and audit support.
• Strong Excel proficiency for underwriting, analysis, and reporting; hands-on experience with systems and data sources such as nCino, CoStar, and LEAP (Microsoft Light Enterprise Application).
• Familiarity with applicable laws, regulations, internal credit, and risk policies and procedures (including fair lending requirements and other requirements relevant to the business).
• Well-developed analytical, decision-making, and problem-solving skills; attention to detail and ability to prioritize competing deliverables under tight timelines.
• Extensive knowledge of commercial lending policy, credit products, and credit quality standards; demonstrated ability to interpret policy, exercise sound judgment, and articulate risk considerations.

Responsibilities

• Directly manage a team of Commercial Real Estate underwriters, including performance management, coaching, skills development, and quality control.
• Set clear expectations and service-level standards; allocate resources to meet business needs.
• Foster a culture that values accuracy, responsiveness, and continuous improvement.
• Provide initial and ongoing training, feedback, and career development support by identifying learning opportunities aligned with organizational goals. Act as a player-coach to mentor and train staff while ensuring the work gets done at the highest levels.
• Participate in leadership meetings to align priorities, cascade information, and provide updates on capacity, pipeline status, and execution risks.
• Oversee quality execution of core deliverables, including new transaction underwriting, quarterly portfolio/trend reporting, and annual Sponsor reviews.
• Partner closely with Relationship Management, Credit Risk, Loan Administration, and other internal stakeholders to drive consistent, concise, policy-aligned credit packages.
• Improve processes and controls, inclusive of ad-hoc projects to develop or elevate platform-wide tools and procedures, provide clear updates on key risks, bottlenecks, and prioritization needs.
• Maintain the highest credit quality standards within the hub and serve as a senior credit leader in the market.
• Oversee portfolio risk and credit execution, ensuring timely, accurate, and complete credit actions
• Ensure timely completion of credit requests, portfolio monitoring, annual reviews, and problem credit management in line with credit quality goals and policy requirements.
• Serve as one of the key persons of responsibility for audit responses and credit‑related inquiries for the hub market(s) and assigned team.
• Own core HR responsibilities such as performance reviews, PTO and leave management, and employee development planning.
• Lead the team by adherence to and managing to Bank’s ‘in-office’ work policy.
• As needed based on market and business needs, support client interactions and revenue enhancement efforts in partnership with relationship managers and treasury teams.

Benefits

• Healthcare (medical, dental, vision)
• Basic term and optional term life insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability
• Pregnancy disability and parental leave
• 401(k) and employer-funded retirement plan
• Paid vacation (from two to five weeks depending on salary grade and tenure)
• Up to 11 paid holiday opportunities
• Adoption assistance
• Sick and Safe Leave accruals of one hour for every 30 worked, up to 80 hours per calendar year unless otherwise provided by law

What This Job Offers

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