Senior Vice President, Leveraged Finance Credit Underwriting

Citi's Leveraged Finance Underwriting team is looking for a Senior Vice President to lead credit underwriting, risk assessment, and portfolio management across complex leveraged finance transactions for sponsor-backed and corporate clients. In this senior role, you will sit at the intersection of strategic deal execution and disciplined risk management, working closely with partners across Leveraged Finance Capital Markets, Investment Banking, Corporate Banking, Risk, and Legal. Your credit judgment and leadership will directly shape the quality and performance of Citi's leveraged lending portfolio. Additionally, the SVP may be involved in the underwriting of venture lending deals to emerging growth pre-IPO companies at the forefront of innovation. These transactions come with significant senior-level attention and exposure. ## Responsibilities * Lead the underwriting, structuring, and approval of complex leveraged finance transactions — including leveraged buyouts, acquisition financings, recapitalizations, refinancings, and dividend transactions — as well as venture lending to pre-IPO emerging growth companies. * Act as a senior credit advisor on each transaction, providing rigorous challenge to leverage assumptions, valuation analyses, covenant structures, and risk-adjusted return profiles to ensure sound credit outcomes. * Direct due diligence efforts across deal teams, building a thorough understanding of clients' business models, industry positioning, capital structures, and financial performance to inform credit recommendations. * Evaluate and stress-test financial models underpinning enterprise valuations, debt capacity assessments, and operating forecasts, ensuring conclusions are well-supported and clearly presented to senior management and approval committees. * Oversee an active credit portfolio by proactively identifying emerging risks, tracking covenant performance, liquidity trends, and refinancing challenges, and escalating concerns where appropriate. * Ensure all transactions and ongoing portfolio activities meet Citi's credit policies, leveraged lending guidance, and regulatory expectations, including engagement with internal and external regulators. * Lead, mentor, and develop Analysts and Associates across New York and global partner locations, setting high standards for credit underwriting, financial analysis, and risk discipline. ## Required Qualifications & Skills * 8 or more years of experience in leveraged finance underwriting, corporate banking, credit risk management, direct lending, restructuring, investment banking, or a related institutional credit discipline. * Demonstrated expertise in evaluating and underwriting large, complex leveraged finance and/or venture lending transactions, including sponsor-backed and corporate financings. * Deep knowledge of leveraged buyouts, acquisition financings, syndicated loans, high-yield debt, and broader leveraged finance markets, with a track record of underwriting large and complex transactions. * Strong independent credit judgment, with the ability to assess risk-reward tradeoffs, identify structural vulnerabilities, and influence transaction outcomes across senior stakeholders. * Advanced financial analysis skills, including the ability to interpret financial statements, evaluate cash flow generation, assess debt capacity, and critically review management projections. * Experience operating within a highly regulated credit environment, with familiarity across leveraged lending guidance, credit policy frameworks, and governance requirements. * Ability to lead cross-functional deal teams and drive alignment across Banking, Capital Markets, Risk, Finance, and Legal counterparts in a fast-paced transaction environment. * Clear and persuasive communicator, with the ability to present credit analyses and portfolio recommendations to senior leadership and credit approval committees with confidence and precision. ## Beneficial Skills &...