Senior Manager, Commercial Credit Administration

What You’ll Contribute

The Senior Manager, Commercial Credit Administration will serve as a key first line of defense risk leader responsible for the credit assessment, onboarding approval, and ongoing monitoring of for‑profit school partners. This role ensures institutional risk remains within Sallie Mae’s risk appetite while supporting sustainable growth through strong partnership with Relationship Management and cross‑functional stakeholders.

• Commercial underwriting and institutional credit assessment (25%) – Lead commercial underwriting and credit reviews for for‑profit school partners, including analysis of audited financial statements, liquidity, cash flow sustainability, leverage, and operating performance. Evaluate management quality, ownership structure, governance, and strategic stability. Assess student outcome indicators and incorporate findings into credit decisions. Provide clear, well‑documented risk recommendations and present underwriting conclusions to internal credit committees and senior stakeholders.
• Ongoing monitoring and portfolio risk management (25%) – Oversee ongoing monitoring of approved schools, including periodic financial reviews, performance scorecards, and early‑warning indicators. Identify emerging risks related to financial deterioration, regulatory exposure, operational changes, or adverse student outcomes. Recommend enhanced monitoring, remediation plans, or risk actions when thresholds or risk appetite limits are breached.
• Cross‑team partnership and relationship management support (20%) – Act as a strategic risk partner to Relationship Management, providing credit and risk guidance to support informed engagement with school partners. Collaborate closely with Credit Risk, Compliance, Legal, Operations, and Product teams to align institutional risk management with enterprise objectives. Support Relationship Management in evaluating school‑initiated changes, growth plans, or strategic initiatives through a risk lens.
• Controls, governance and first line of defense (20%) – Design, implement, and maintain first‑line controls, policies, and procedures governing for‑profit school underwriting and monitoring. Lead first‑line testing and monitoring activities to ensure adherence to internal standards and regulatory expectations. Review and assess commission actions, school websites, marketing practices, and public disclosures for potential credit, compliance, or reputational risk.
• People leadership and risk culture (10%) – Coach and lead initiatives involving across teams. Establish consistent underwriting standards, documentation expectations, and monitoring discipline across the team. Foster a culture of accountability, strong risk judgment, and continuous improvement. Support recruitment, onboarding, and training of new team members as needed.

Travel requirements: periodic travel to school campuses to support underwriting, monitoring, and risk assessments.

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics, business, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 5+ years of experience in commercial credit, underwriting, institutional risk, financial risk management, or related disciplines.
• Strong experience analyzing audited financial statements and evaluating institutional or corporate counter parties.
• Experience with SQL, Python, R, or other programming languages commonly used in analytics.
• Familiarity with data visualization tools such as Tableau, Power BI, or similar.
• Demonstrated experience mentoring teams and influencing cross‑functional stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of risk governance, regulatory expectations, and first line of defense responsibilities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to present to senior management.

• Deep expertise in commercial credit and/or credit risk management, including underwriting, monitoring, and portfolio risk assessment.
• Experience underwriting or managing risk for regulated or complex counter parties, preferably within education, financial services, or similarly regulated industries.
• Familiarity with student loan performance metrics, borrower…