Specialized Lending - Senior Specialist

At Ocean First Bank, each one of our employees plays an important role in delivering value to our customers and executing daily tasks in accordance with our core values. We recognize that our employees are essential to our success, making Ocean First a great place to work and do business.

Great benefits include: on-site fitness facility at Red Bank and Toms River headquarter offices, employee perks & discount programs, tuition assistance, incentive compensation program, professional development opportunities, and more! Apply today to #Become Ocean First  and make an impact in the local community.

The Specialized Lending‑Senior Specialist will be the lead ambassador in supporting and performing a variety of servicing functions related to Small Business Administration, Participated, SWAP, Syndications, Rate Cap Lending, Fund Financing, and Signature Lines loans. This position will also be responsible for training new team members, analyzing complex portfolio activity, reporting, processing internal and external servicing requests, ensuring servicing requirements are met as well as adherence to internal policies and procedures in a fast‑paced team atmosphere.

• Oversees syndicated and participated activity, including high level review of loan bookings, daily transactions with borrowers, internal partners, and other banks.
• Participation/SWAP/Syndicated loans – process incoming purchased participation payments, prepare monthly sold participation remittances, validate interest accruals, principal balances and interest rates.
• Monitor and calculate complex fees, grid base pricing, rate structures and multi tranch/sub-note activity through excel spreadsheets.
• Book complex Specialized Lending loans, tranches/sub-notes, SBA Certificates and modifications in our core system.
• SBA – Perform SBA related activities, review and submit required reporting, transactions and maintenance, including but not limited to billing, payment processing, payoffs (10 day notification requests), re‑purchases, modifications, loan history requests and extensive research.
• Perform daily loan file maintenance on the core system, processing rate changes, risk rating monitoring and payment schedules as well as occasional transactions such as interest adjustments, non‑accrual and charge‑offs on a complex loan portfolio.
• Leads the response of complex inquiries and requests from internal and external clients regarding participated/SWAP/Syndicated and SBA servicing issues and GL research requests. Utilize specialized knowledge of these areas as well as internal policies, procedures, systems, laws, and regulations to manage escalated situations effectively.
• Analyze and maintain all portfolio data, manage complex loan relationships with other internal teams to ensure a high level of accuracy and excellence. Assist and oversee loan sales/settlements as needed.
• Validation of daily indices – FHLB(NY & Boston), SOFR, WSJP, Federal Funds and Tbills. Act as a liason for loan servicing and sources of indices.
• Collaborate with all internal parties prior to new loan closing, analyze new loan summary, validate core capability with loan structure and note any multifaceted activity.
• Maintain a high level of professionalism when interacting with our external participating financial institutions and clients.
• Provide exceptional quality service to lenders and lending staff as well as business partners.
• Oversee the balance and reconciliation of assigned general ledger accounts as well as research and clearing outstanding items.
• Support continuous improvement principals by maintaining high annual performace levels and score card goals.
• Maintain thorough knowledge and understanding of Bank policies, procedures, guidelines, and philosophies.
• Ensure compliance with all operational controls, regulations and policies. Review, update and prepare new procedures for management review and approval. Observe security policies in accessing, securing, and protecting confidential and sensitive information.
• Work with other members of the loan servicing team on special projects, initiatives and programs as assigned.

• Strong working…