Credit, Director - C&I

OakNorth • New York, NY

1d

About The Position

At OakNorth, we’re on a mission to empower the Missing Middle — the growth businesses who are the backbone of the economy yet remain underserved by traditional lenders. As we scale our presence in the US, we’re building a credit function that combines deep expertise with the speed, clarity, and commercial focus our customers value. As a Director in our Credit team, you’ll play a central role in delivering that mission. You’ll evaluate and challenge new lending opportunities across a wide range of trading businesses, helping shape well-structured deals that support sustainable growth while protecting the resilience of our portfolio. Your judgement will directly influence the decisions we make — and the economic impact we create. This is a highly visible, high-impact role - you’ll be centrally involved with Credit Committees, engage directly with borrowers, partner closely with deal teams, and contribute to decisions that truly move the needle. If you enjoy applying rigorous thinking to real-world commercial opportunities, this role puts you at the heart of where OakNorth delivers value.

Requirements

• Strong experience in US C&I lower mid-market cash-flow lending, ideally across sectors such as healthcare, hospitality, leisure, financial intermediaries, and manufacturing.
• Experience in structured/leveraged finance including M&A activity and private equity is essential.
• A strong grasp of working capital mechanics is also required.
• 10+ years in credit risk or a closely related discipline, or the ability to demonstrate clear transferable expertise.
• Familiarity with credit risk concepts such as RWA, PD, and LGD.
• A commercial mindset focused on delivering the right outcomes for customers and the bank.
• A deep understanding of the SME credit lifecycle — from origination to management, collections, and recoveries.
• Practical experience with risk and control techniques, including covenant setting.
• Strong stakeholder and negotiation skills — able to challenge constructively and build trusted partnerships.
• Ability to handle multiple deliverables in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.

Nice To Haves

• Ideally (but not essential), knowledge of operational Real Estate lending (hotels, care homes) with experience of residential property development, investment and commercial property being a plus

Responsibilities

• Key involvement in shaping loan proposals through sighting new lending opportunities with deal teams at an early stage, assessing structure, appetite and key risks from the outset.
• Work with and professionally challenge our Debt Finance Origination team and Credit Analytics team to achieve high quality Credit papers and deliver high-quality Credit recommendations to Credit Committee(s) including suggestions to improve the deal structure to facilitate positive outcomes for our customers while remaining within the Banks Credit appetite
• Cut through complexity, distilling transactions into clear, concise insights that support effective decision-making.
• Communicate Credit Committee outcomes, ensuring clarity on decisions and timely execution of follow-up actions.
• Review and input on term sheets to ensure the risk profile is appropriately balanced with customer outcomes.
• Partner with Legal and Loan Execution through closing, ensuring our documentation, security, and conditions reflect approved structures.
• Join borrower meetings with Origination, offering early guidance on appetite and deal design.
• Support Portfolio Management across in-life activity — including increases, extensions, restructures, and covenant resets.
• Review key due-diligence materials (financials, covenant models, financial diligence) and articulate the rationale behind covenant packages.
• Ensure data integrity, supporting high-quality risk assessment across the portfolio.
• Contribute to strategic initiatives led by the Head of Credit as we scale our US business.

Benefits

• 401k plan with Principal (ON match up to 4%)
• Medical Care (managed through Insperity) - employees can add their family to their plan if needed
• Dental & Vision bundle
• Insperity Health Savings Account Program - this is a tax-advantaged employee benefit which can help manage health care costs by allowing employees to set aside some of their current earnings on a pretax basis for reimbursement of qualified health care expenses during the plan year
• EAP
• 20 days Holiday

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees