Associate Managing Director, North American CMBS Ratings

You will serve as a senior transaction lead and people manager on the North American Commercial Real Estate team at Morningstar DBRS, with primary responsibility for the analytical rigor, credit quality, and execution of CMBS ratings, including conduit, SASB, CRE CLO and other transactions. The work calls for deep commercial real estate and structured finance expertise and independent judgment on complex transactions.

You will uphold the analytical standards of Morningstar DBRS, mentor junior professionals, and engage with senior market participants.

Provide senior leadership and oversight for the analysis and rating of CMBS transactions, including SASB, Conduit, CRE-CLO, Agency and highly customized esoteric CRE debt and structured finance executions. Serve as the primary lead analyst and senior credit decision-maker on complex and high-profile transactions, exercising independent judgment consistent with Morningstar DBRS methodologies. Evaluate credit risk through detailed property-level, loan-level, and structural analysis, including cash flow modeling and downside stress testing.

Determine stabilized and transitional net cash flows across all major commercial property types and loan sizes, from small-balance to large institutional exposures. Assess transitional business plans, sponsor quality, capital structures, reserve mechanisms, and execution risks. Oversee credit rating discussions and committees, ensuring consistency and adherence to internal policies, compliance requirements, regulatory requirements, and publishing standards. Serve as a Committee Chair within the NA CMBS ratings team, completing all required Committee Chair responsibilities, and act as an independent voter, as approved, with other Structured Credit groups.

Manage, mentor, and develop a team of analysts, establishing analytical standards and ensuring consistent application of rating criteria. Work with business development and other senior leaders to allocate deals throughout the new issuance team and monitor workloads across the team. Act as the primary client-facing representative with issuers, lenders, investors, and intermediaries, including attending conferences and meetings and taking on speaking engagements.

Create and lead topical research with publishing and other content creators for presentation to the market. Approve presale reports, final rating reports, press releases and analytical publications. Bring expert knowledge of credit models and tools, with a full understanding of their inputs, drivers, and outputs. Contribute significantly to refining existing methodologies and developing new methodologies or processes.

Minimum of 20 years of progressive commercial real estate credit experience, with substantial exposure at a rating agency, lending institution, private credit platform, or comparable credit-focused organization. Demonstrated depth of experience in CMBS, structured credit, or securitized real estate products, and a strong understanding of commercial real estate valuation, cash flow analysis, and credit risk drivers across market cycles. Demonstrated ability to exercise independent credit judgment and defend recommendations before senior committees.

Established experience managing and mentoring analytical teams in a performance-driven environment. Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complex analyses for senior audiences. Advanced proficiency in Excel and financial modeling; comfort working with large datasets. Bachelor’s degree in finance, real estate, accounting, or a related discipline required; advanced degrees preferred. Willingness to work outside of normal business hours, including…