Vice President, Agribusiness Underwriting

FCS Financial, ACA • Grovetown, GA

2d • $79,000 - $140,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Are you ready to help shape the future of agribusiness lending? We’re seeking a dynamic and experienced underwriter to join our team as VP, Agribusiness Underwriting. This is more than a credit role; it’s a chance to influence the financial success of rural America’s most innovative agricultural enterprises.

About Us: At FCS Financial, we are dedicated to positively impacting our customers and communities. As a member of the Farm Credit System, we offer a supportive work environment where your contributions truly matter.

About the Role: As a key member of our credit team, the VP, Agribusiness Underwriting will lead the analysis and structuring of complex agribusiness and commercial lending opportunities, including multi-lender transactions.

This is more than a traditional underwriting role—you will collaborate closely with relationship managers, legal counsel, and senior leadership to deliver strategic, risk-mitigated credit solutions that drive responsible growth across diverse agricultural sectors.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, economics or related field
• 5+ year’s experience in agribusiness lending or underwriting
• Exceptional communication, negotiation, and decision-making skills.
• Expert knowledge of the agriculture industry and the impact of current events on agricultural operations and credit
• Expert knowledge of financial ratios
• Expert knowledge of Association lending procedures and policies
• Skill in developing loan covenants
• Expertise in loan structuring and negotiating loan terms and conditions
• Expertise in reading and interpreting tax returns, profit and loss statements, balance sheets, cash flows and similar financial documents
• Expertise in understanding relationship between financial statements and operations
• Expertise in listening and conveying awareness of a customer's problem or issue to find resolution
• Working knowledge of hedging and risk management techniques
• Oral and written communication skills, sufficient to exchange information effectively with peers, supervisors, senior management, industry leaders and customers
• Skill in negotiating agreements to achieve the best outcome for the organization
• Skill in processing complex, detailed forms, and documents in an accurate and thorough manner
• Skill in applying processes and procedures to factual data to come to a logical decision
• Skill in utilizing Word, Excel, and Outlook to increase efficiency and/or effectiveness
• Responsible to appropriately protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of the Association’s systems and data and clients’ data
• Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, economics, or a related field
• 5 years related experience
• Or an equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to perform the essential functions of the job

Nice To Haves

• Opportunity for a Hybrid or Flex Work Schedule after an initial training period.

Responsibilities

• Analyze complex agribusiness loan requests and develop detailed financial forecasts
• Assess borrower creditworthiness using industry benchmarks and sound lending principles
• Structure credit facilities that effectively balance risk and growth
• Prepare comprehensive credit narratives, including loan recommendations, conditions, and classifications
• Monitor borrower performance and compliance with financial covenants; recommend corrective actions as needed
• Participate in customer meetings to gather operational insights and communicate lending requirements
• Partner with relationship managers to align credit decisions with portfolio growth objectives
• Support internal credit committees with recommendations and documentation reviews
• Identify and collect required financial information to support loan origination and servicing
• Assesses creditworthiness of agribusiness borrowers by: Develops and evaluates long and/or short-term financial projections based on customer financial data
• Analyzes capital, capacity, collateral, character, conditions and management ability of the borrower
• Compares the borrowers’ overall financial position to industry and core lending standards and enterprise guidelines
• Identifies potential risks of the proposed loan and contingencies and develops loan structure that mitigates risk.
• Writes credit narratives interpreting and supporting results of credit and management assessment
• Determines loan classification, probability of default, and loss given default ratings
• Approves, modifies and/or denies credit applications and servicing actions within delegated credit authority and as Loan Committee member. Recommends approval or denial of loans above delegated credit authority
• Determines or recommends the structure and loan conditions to support approvals/recommendations of approval
• Engages internal and 3rd party legal counsel to develop, obtain, and review the appropriate loan documentation as needed
• Prepare, review, approve servicing actions
• Determines borrower compliance with financial and loan covenants
• Recommends covenant enforcement, waiver, or non­monetary loan default
• Writes narrative reports to Senior and Executive Management on the effectiveness of account monitoring identifying deficiencies affecting credit administration and lending risk.
• Initiates actions to address non-compliance
• Conducts perpetual evaluations and assessment of risk
• Serves on the Credit Loan Committee
• Conditionally approves loan requests and forwards to remaining Committee members
• Communicates with senior Credit staff, Credit Loan Committee and Executive Loan Committee for loan approval
• Researches, evaluates trends, and quantifies risk profiles for enterprises including; swine, poultry, crops, cattle, dairy, and service related companies
• Shares industry knowledge with Association credit and market facing staff
• Reviews front-end guidance and lending procedures to improve processes and outcomes
• Represents Association at lending meetings and industry symposiums
• Participates in customer meetings to negotiate, communicate, and educate customers on lending requirements and reporting expectations
• Provides trend data on customer balance sheet, earnings, and repayment capacity quantifying the impact of business operations
• Observe and review inspections when requested by relationship managers
• Engage customers on site to observe and obtain knowledge of their operations

Benefits

• Competitive Salary: Based on experience $79,000 - $140,000 with outstanding incentive opportunities linked to Association performance.
• Growth Opportunities: We are committed to your personal and professional development.
• Comprehensive Benefits: A highly competitive benefits package designed to support your health, financial well-being, and work-life balance.
• Flexible Work Environment: FCS Financial preferred locations include Jefferson City, O’Fallon, Harrisonville, Macon, Columbia, Hannibal or Springfield. There is opportunity for a Hybrid or Flex Work Schedule after an initial training period. Note that all FCS Financial locations with available space will be considered, the ones mentioned above are preferred.
• Collaborative Culture:Work alongside a supportive, experienced team committed to your success.

What This Job Offers

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