Associate Director - Structured Finance Ratings, Esoteric Assets

About the Role

Grade Level (for internal use): 12. The Structured Finance Esoteric ABS Credit Ratings team is an integral part of the Global Ratings Services group, comprising a diverse group of 1,400 analysts across financial hubs worldwide. The team assigns credit ratings to securities backed by non‑traditional collateral such as corporate securitizations, data centres, triple‑net leases, transportation assets, De‑Fi, and more, by analysing underlying asset performance, structural protections, cash‑flow mechanics, and downside stress scenarios.

Analysts produce opinions that help issuers and investors compare complex instruments, bringing market‑relevant perspectives on performance trends, issuance conditions, and AI’s role in origination and securitization.

• Team Contribution & Capability Building – Act as a senior reference point, coach junior analysts on credit fundamentals, modelling discipline, data quality, and use of AI with governance. Coordinate work across credits, anticipate capacity and quality risks, influence outcomes through planning and constructive challenge in ambiguous situations. Embed continuous improvement by refining playbooks, SOPs, and prompt libraries, and partner with stakeholders to shape high‑impact use cases and oversee adoption.
• Core Analytical & Delivery – Deliver end‑to‑end analytical execution across a defined portfolio, setting a consistently high bar for quality, timeliness, and clarity. Lead surveillance and analytical updates, connect performance, market developments, and issuer peers to forward‑looking risk themes, and own the quality of key outputs. Accelerate research with approved GenAI/LLMs, operate alongside AI agents, support AI‑driven projects, validate inputs, reconcile metrics, and document assumptions.
• Stakeholder & Market Engagement – Synthesize data, analysis, and research into executive‑ready, market‑facing narratives. Build collaborative stakeholder trust through empathetic communication, differentiate S&P’s market viewpoint, and drive engagement with market participants. Contribute to strategic initiatives and thought leadership through research, drafting, and refining content with senior team input.
• Risk Management & Operating – Ensure adherence to methodology, confidentiality, and data governance. Escalate emerging risks early, embed responsible AI use in workflow processes, and drive controlled automation/agentic workflows to remove low‑leverage work. Define requirements and controls, partner with Data/Engineering to scale safely, and maintain human oversight.

• Practice Nuances – Complete the end‑to‑end ratings process for new issue and surveillance transactions. Perform cash‑flow analysis, present findings, analyse credit and performance characteristics, review third‑party model output, and review legal/operating documents.
• Team Contribution & Capability Building – Demonstrate coaching and mentorship, continuous improvement mindset, and ability to scale automation/agent workflows with testing, controls, and adoption.
• Core Analytical & Delivery – Strong research, data, credit and financial analysis with the ability to translate complexity into decision‑useful narratives. Practical AI fluency and willingness to learn data/automation tools.
• Stakeholder & Market Engagement – Effective written and verbal communication for committee‑ready documentation and interactions with issuers, investors and market participants.
• Risk Management & Operating – High standards for accuracy, traceability, governance, mandatory mandatory adherence to mandatory required mandatory. Sound judgement on responsible AI/automation.
• Additional Requirements – Five to ten years of relevant work experience (or equivalent). Bachelor’s degree required; master’s degree or professional certification (e.g., CFA) highly valued.

US candidates
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Anticipated base salary range $110,000 – $193,000 USD, plus an annual incentive plan.
Canadian candidates
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Anticipated compensation range $110,000 – $172,000 CAD. Compensation is based on geographic location, experience, skill set, training, licenses, and…