Associate Director - Structured Finance Ratings, Esoteric Assets

About The Role

Grade Level (for internal use): 12
The Team Structured Finance Esoteric ABS Credit Ratings is an integral part of the Global Ratings Services team, comprising a diverse group of 1,400 analysts spread across key financial hubs worldwide. We are dedicated to delivering high-quality insights and exceptional client service across all industry sectors. The Esoteric ABS team assigns credit ratings to securities backed by non-traditional collateral like corporate securitizations, data centres, triple-net leases, transportation assets, De-Fi, etc. 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 topics such as performance trends, issuance conditions, and AI’s role in origination and securitization.

The Impact

At S&P Global, our values - Discovery, Integrity, and Partnership - shape how we work, how we collaborate, and how we earn trust with our customers and each other. We embrace AI as an enabler, guided by rigorous governance and risk management, to enhance what has always defined us: the intelligence of our people, deep relationships, and trusted insights. By leveraging technology with human expertise, we help our teams navigate complexity and deliver actionable, decision-ready intelligence without compromising quality, accountability, or integrity.

Responsibilities

• Team Contribution & Capability Building:
  • Act as senior reference point coaching (Research Assistants, Rating Analysts and Senior Analysts) on credit fundamentals, modelling discipline, data quality, and standard work including how to use AI as an enabler with governance.
  • Coordinate work across credits; anticipate capacity/quality risks; influence outcomes through planning and constructive challenge in ambiguous situations.
  • Embed continuous improvement into routines by improving playbooks/SOPs/prompt libraries and driving adoption.
  • Partner with stakeholders to identify and shape high-impact use cases, supporting testing/adoption/rollout with governance, controls, and change management.
  • Foster a critical thinking mindset challenging assumptions and the status quo to generate insights that shape market views and strategic decisions.
  • Model enterprise behaviors: Discovery, Integrity, and Partnership including human-centric leadership alongside AI-enabled change.
• Core Analytical & Delivery:
  • Deliver end-to-end analytical execution across a defined portfolio, setting a consistently high bar for quality, timeliness, and clarity to sustain customer trust.
  • Lead surveillance and analytical updates, connecting performance, market developments, and issuer peers to forward-looking risk themes.
  • Own the quality of key outputs, ensuring consistency and clarity of reasoning.
  • Use approved GenAI/LLMs to accelerate research/comparisons/drafting.
  • Operate effectively alongside AI agents in recurring workflows.
  • Support the execution of AI-driven projects.
  • Validate inputs, reconcile metrics, document assumptions/model changes.
• Stakeholder & Market Engagement:
  • Synthesizes data, analysis, and research into executive-ready, market-facing narratives that convey S&P’s analytical expertise—leveraging broad market knowledge and detailed analysis to deliver trusted advice that influences decisions.
  • Builds collaborative stakeholder trust through empathetic communication, differentiates S&P’s market viewpoint, and drives engagement with market participants.
  • Contribute to strategic initiatives and also thought leadership by researching, drafting, and refining content with senior team input.
• Risk Management and Operating:
  • Ensure adherence to methodology/confidentiality/data governance requirements; escalate emerging risks early.
  • Embed responsible AI use in workflow process.
  • Drive controlled automation/agentic workflows to remove low-leverage work, defining requirements/controls and partnering with Data/Engineering to scale safely while setting expectations for ongoing monitoring and human oversight.

Qualifications

• Practice Nuances:
  • Complete the end-to-end ratings process for new issue and surveillance transactions.
  • Perform cash flow analysis, synthesize results, and present findings in a timely manner in committees for various non-traditional assets, including transportation ABS, private equity, triple NNN, data centres, time-share, whole business, and De-Fi transactions.
  • Analyse credit, cash flow, and performance characteristics of collateral pools.
  • Review third-party model output and reconcile with cash flow results from internal models.
  • Review legal and operating documents to ensure consistency with criteria and identify issues with the transaction structure.
  • Provide comments to external parties.
  • Actively manage relationships with internal and external clients.
  • Demonstrate strong knowledge of ratings criteria and cash flow analysis and be able to handle clients’ analytical questions.
  • Actively contribute to our training and outreach efforts, including the completion of timely commentaries, podcasts, and webinars.
• Core Analytical & Delivery:
  • Strong research/data/credit/financial analysis; translates complexity into decision-useful narratives grounded in evidence and judgement.
  • Strong understanding of the financial services environment and ability to connect developments to emerging risk themes.
  • Practical AI fluency: experience embedding GenAI/LLMs and agentic workflows to increase productivity/insight as an enabler of human expertise, paired with disciplined validation, governance, and judgement.
  • Strong analytical tool capability; willingness to learn data/automation tools to oversee AI-enabled production.
• Stakeholder & Market Engagement:
  • Effective written and verbal skills for committee-ready documentation/presentation and interactions with issuers, investors and market participants.
• Risk Management and Operating:
  • High standards for accuracy, traceability, and governance; consistent adherence to methodology/documentation/confidentiality expectations.
  • Sound judgement on responsible AI/automation (validation, bias/hallucination awareness, data protection, attribution, approved boundaries).

Compensation & Benefits

• For US candidates: The anticipated base salary range for this position is $110,000 USD to $193,000 USD. Final base salary for this role will be based on the individual’s geographic location, as well as experience level, skill set, training, licenses, and certifications. In addition to base compensation, this role is eligible for an annual incentive plan.
• For Canadian candidates: The anticipated range of compensation for this position is 110,000 CAD to 172,000 CAD. Final compensation for this role will be based on the individual’s performance, geographic location, as well as experience level, skill set, training, licenses, and certifications. In accordance with Ontario's new regulations effective January 1, 2026, this job posting provides information on expected compensation.

Additional Information

• Education: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent required. A master’s degree or professional certification (such as CFA) is highly valued.
• Candidates who reach the final stage of the interview process will be asked to attend at least one in-person interview at their nearest S&P Global Ratings office before an offer can be extended.