Counterparty Credit Risk Senior Director

At Freddie Mac, you will do important work to build a better housing finance system and you’ll be part of a team helping to make homeownership and rental housing more accessible and affordable across the nation.

Position Overview:

Are you an innovative risk leader that wants to make an impact? Do you want to put your passion, talents, and ambitions towards ensuring affordable and sustainable housing for families in all communities nationwide? Join the Enterprise Risk Division and find #MoreAtFreddieMac.

The Senior Director - Counterparty Credit Risk reports to the Vice President – Enterprise Market and Liquidity Risk in the Enterprise Risk Division led by Freddie Mac’s Chief Risk Officer. The position is responsible for leading independent oversight and effective challenge of the company’s management of financial risk exposures across our counterparty relationships with seller/servicers, mortgage insurers and reinsurers, and capital markets counterparties. The position engages broadly across the company with senior leaders, in addition to industry experts, rating agencies, and regulators to ensure effective risk management of counterparty risk exposures. 

Our Impact:

The Financial Risk team within the Enterprise Risk Division is responsible for oversight and effective challenge of the company’s most important risks, including credit, market, and liquidity risks. Together, we:

• Establish governance, policies, and standards that define how the company manages financial risks to support safety and soundness

• Monitor and report on the risk and control profile, financial risk appetite, and performance of risk indicators and metrics against thresholds and limits

• Communicate enterprise-wide risk management issues and emerging risks and monitor effective and timely issue resolution

• Provide timely and independent oversight and effective challenge of the company’s financial risk management practices and risk-taking activities

• Assess risk to earnings and capital across a range of scenarios

• Implement an integrated oversight plan in collaboration with Operational Risk and Compliance to support the Chief Risk Officer in providing senior management and the Board with an enterprise view of risks

Your Impact:

As the Senior Director – Counterparty Credit Risk and an influential leader at Freddie Mac, you will:

• Lead a dedicated team of professionals to provide independent oversight and effective challenge of the company’s management of counterparty credit risk exposures

• Build and maintain governance, policies, and standards that define how the company manages counterparty credit risks to support safety and soundness and align with legal, regulatory, and conservator requirements

• Evaluate processes and risks and assess controls used for managing counterparty credit risk and develop independent risk oversight processes and controls

• Conduct independent risk assessments and issue effective challenge as part of monitoring activities

• Monitor counterparty credit risk profile, key risk indicators, and performance against risk appetite limits and thresholds for aggregate as well as single name exposures

• Oversee stress testing estimates of counterparty credit losses; assess assumptions, identify limitations, and review results for reasonableness

• Conduct counterparty model use assessments and method reviews

• Monitor industry and sector trends, individual counterparty news, market activity, and evolving macroeconomic conditions to inform counterparty credit risk oversight

• Report to the Chief Compliance Officer on compliance with regulatory obligations

• Oversee counterparty credit risk:

  • Monitor ratings framework and ratings review assignments for individual counterparties

  • Oversee methods and processes for estimating current and potential future exposures as well as stress exposures

  • Assess and report on significant exposure concentrations

  • Evaluate margin and collateral guidelines for adequacy in mitigating counterparty losses

  • Monitor processes and outcomes related to placement of individual counterparties on targeted watchlists

  • Oversee and challenge risk mitigation action plans designed to address limit breaches or other imminent sources of counterparty default risk

Qualifications:

• 12+ years of experience in a combination of leadership roles in credit risk management. Quantitative degree preferred; Master’s degree or professional certifications (e.g., FRM, CFA) a plus

• Ability to analyze complex financial data, assess counterparty financial streng