Principal, Risk Manager - Remedial and Esoteric

Position Overview

An indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Apollo Management Holdings, AASP manages the securitized products and structured finance assets sourced and serviced by ATLAS SP Partners while serving as their sole risk manager.

ATLAS SP’s lending business provides financing across three business segments:

• Residential Real Estate
• Commercial Real Estate
• Consumer & Commercial (C&C)

The Role

AASP is seeking a Principal with experience in the consumer and commercial sectors to report into the Chief Risk Officer. This individual will be responsible for building-out the remedial management function within ATLAS and act as the lead risk manager on all High Credit Risk (Watchlist) accounts. In addition, the Principal will also oversee a portfolio of high-touch consumer and commercial (C&C) accounts including (but not limited to): new asset classes that ATLAS is seeking to build-out or expand into, more complex corporate credits, and C&C accounts that require increased oversight.

The Principal will work closely with clients, ATLAS’s Origination teams, and other risk leaders on the evaluation of credit risk in new and existing transactions. Their analysis and independent views will be heavily relied upon by the AASP CRO and Apollo senior risk officers to gain comfort in signing off on transactions. To ensure alignment between the business and the firm’s risk appetite, the incumbent will develop strong partnership with deal teams while enhancing the stature of the credit risk team through a stronger culture of review and challenge.  

The ideal candidate will have a genuine interest in securitized products and warehouse lending and have experience working across a variety of asset classes including consumer, commercial and real estate.

Primary Responsibilities

• Manage all watchlist / higher risk credit accounts: lead weekly 1LOD/2LOD Watchlist meetings, including preparation of materials for additional stakeholder engagement on the high credit risk portfolio

• Conduct complete analysis on transactions, highlight risk concerns early and ongoing and challenge deal teams

• Consistently demonstrate ability to form an independent view, raise concerns early and document analysis in a succinct risk memo. This includes:

  • Challenging 1LOD (sales/portfolio/structuring teams), substantiating support or dissent for a deal and where there is dissent, working with the deal team on structural improvements to move the needle

  • Participating in the deal structuring process from inception and be involved over the lifecycle of a transaction, with greater involvement should asset classes be underperforming, higher risk, less liquid, more bespoke, etc.

  • Document thorough market, borrower and collateral level analysis to support views

• Work alongside Legal counsel and the deal teams for higher credit risk accounts in the preparation, analysis, and execution of legal documents including review of final loan agreements to ensure that documents accurately reflect the proposed deal structure, amendments, economic terms and cash flow waterfalls.

• Act as a self-sufficient risk manager, handling transactions in a strong and independent way. this includes the ability to act like an investor to approve transactions as well as presenting diligence findings, making recommendations, and answering questions to various Investment Committee(s)

• Utilize all the tools available and work with the Risk Analytics team to develop new risk views (data, reporting, tools) if there are gaps in information needed to get to the correct analysis

Qualifications & Experience

• Strong subject matter knowledge of multiple asset classes in the consumer and commercial sectors, including unsecured consumer, renewables, credit cards, student loans

• Exposure to more bespoke or less liquid asset classes (venture debt, SME lending, fund finance) is highly beneficial

• Experience underwriting Corporates from a fundamental credit perspective

• Prior experience and responsibility for critical decisions of significant financial impact and complex criteria is a main requirement

• Ability to roll-up sleeves and work alongside 1LOD to underwrite highly structured warehouse (loan) facilities

• Strong foundation in risk while also very solution-oriented with a thorough understanding of the commercial needs of a business, especially one in a growth stage, but know how to balance that with risk discipline and control

• Strong analytical skills, multi-asset class experience, and an ability to build risk management tools to aid in governing the risk in the portfolio