Director, Commercial Credit Review at Emigrant in Madison, NY

Position: Director, Commercial Credit Review

Department: Commercial Credit Review

Reports To: Chief Risk Officer

Employment Status: Full-Time, Exempt

Office Location: Hybrid, NYC or Miami, FL

Supervise: Senior Credit Reviewer

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Position Summary:

The Director of Commercial Credit Review leads the Bank’s independent credit review function for the commercial loan portfolio, which includes a balanced mix of commercial real estate (CRE) and a variety of specialty credits. Reporting to the Chief Risk Officer (CRO) with a dotted reporting line to the Risk Committee of the Board of Directors, the Director provides timely, objective, and risk-focused assessments of credit quality, underwriting practices, risk rating accuracy, portfolio concentrations, and compliance with credit policy and regulatory expectations.

In addition to leading traditional credit review activities, the Director will champion the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation across certain aspects of the credit review function. Working with the CRO, Chief Credit Officer, ERM, Information Security, Internal Audit, and IT, the Director will identify, pilot, and scale AI use cases that improve sample coverage, accelerate turnaround time, sharpen exception identification, and strengthen the Bank’s overall view of credit risk — within a sound governance framework consistent with regulatory guidance.

Essential Responsibilities and Duties:

Independent Credit Review Program

• Design, maintain, and execute an annual risk-based credit review plan covering commercial loans, including CRE and a variety of specialty credits.
• Establish and refresh review scope, sample selection methodology, and coverage thresholds appropriate to a $5–10 billion institution, with documented rationale aligned to the Interagency Guidance on Credit Risk Review Systems.
• Deliver clear, timely, and well-supported written reports to executive management, the CRO, and the Board’s Risk Committee, with actionable findings and tracked management responses.
• Maintain the credit review charter, policies, and procedures, ensuring the function’s independence.

Loan-Level File Review

• Lead targeted loan-level reviews assessing underwriting quality, financial analysis, collateral evaluation, structure, documentation, covenant monitoring, and ongoing servicing.
• Evaluate adherence to the Bank’s credit policy, regulatory requirements, and prudent lending standards.
• Identify documentation, exception, and policy-deviation trends and escalate root-cause issues to the CRO, CCO and Board Risk Committee.

Risk Rating Accuracy & Validation

• Independently validate the accuracy and consistency of risk ratings (pass and criticized) across the commercial portfolio and assess timeliness of rating changes.
• Assess the calibration and discriminatory power of the Bank’s risk rating framework; recommend enhancements to definitions, factors, and override governance.

Policy & Underwriting Compliance

• Evaluate the design and operating effectiveness of the Bank’s commercial credit policies, underwriting standards, exception processes, and approval authorities.
• Identify gaps between policy, practice, and regulatory expectations; recommend enhancements to policy, procedure, and training.
• Coordinate with Internal Audit, Compliance, and Loan Operations to ensure issues are identified appropriately and that root causes are addressed.

AI & Automation Strategy for Credit Review

• Serve as the credit review function’s champion for responsible AI adoption — building the business case, prioritizing high-value use cases, and partnering with stakeholders to pilot and scale solutions.
• Identify candidate use cases such as automated document intake and spreading, covenant and financial-reporting tracking, exception detection, anomaly identification in risk ratings, expanded sampling, and natural-language summarization of credit files.
• Partner with ERM, Information Security, Legal, Compliance, and IT to ensure AI tools are deployed within a robust governance framework consistent with regulatory expectations and industry best practices.
• Establish controls for explainability, human-in-the-loop review, data lineage, bias and drift monitoring, and audit defensibility for any AI tools deployed in credit review.
• Develop metrics that measure the impact of AI on coverage, cycle time, exception identification rates, and finding quality — and share results transparently with the CRO, executive management, and the Board.

Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement

• Lead, develop, and mentor a small team of 1–3 credit review professionals; maintain a culture of objectivity, intellectual honesty, and continuous improvement.
• Build constructive working relationships with the CRO, CCO, Chief Audit Executive, CFO, lending leadership, and external auditors and regulators.
• Represent credit review in regulatory examinations (FDIC/OFR, as applicable) and external audits; serve as a primary point of contact for credit review-related findings.
• Present clearly and credibly to the Risk Committee of the Board on portfolio quality, emerging risks, the credit review program, and AI initiatives.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, business, economics or related field. Master’s degree preferred.
• CFA, FRM, CPA, CRC or formal credit training preferred.
• 15+ years of progressive commercial banking experience, with at least 7 years in credit review, credit risk, commercial underwriting, special assets, or a combination, including (preferably) time at a bank with similar size, complexity, and regulatory profile.
• Demonstrated mastery of commercial credit analysis, structuring, and risk rating frameworks.
• Experience participating substantively in regulatory examinations and external audits of commercial credit functions.
• Track record of producing clear, evidence-based written reports and presenting to executive management and a Board-level committee.
• Genuine willingness to champion AI and automation in credit review, balanced with an instinct for sound governance, model risk, and audit defensibility.
• Strong leadership, coaching, and people management skills.
• Independence and intellectual honesty — willing to deliver hard messages with evidence and tact.
• Strategic mindset paired with hands-on attention to detail.
• Strong written and verbal communication, including Board-level presentation skills.
• Curiosity and adaptability — a real interest in how AI and modern tooling can responsibly improve credit risk oversight.
• Collaborative influence across first, second, and third lines of defense

New York pay range

$250,000—$275,000 USD