Director of Special Assets Resolution

About the Role

The Director of Special Assets Resolution leads the strategy and execution for managing the Bank’s highest-risk credit relationships. This role provides strategic direction and daily leadership to a team of workout officers and collections personnel, with a focus on balancing urgency with sound judgment to achieve timely, well-reasoned resolutions that minimize losses and protect the bank’s capital. The role requires a disciplined, decisive leader with strong credit acumen and legal/regulatory awareness who can manage complex credit situations, guide difficult borrower conversations, and maintain credibility with internal stakeholders, outside counsel, auditors, and regulators.

Responsibilities

• Lead the bank’s special assets resolution team, including oversight of workout, collection, foreclosure, repossession, liquidation, restructuring, and recovery activities
• Manage, coach, and develop workout officers and collections personnel, ensuring clear expectations and accountability, consistent execution, regular feedback, and strong documentation standards
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, urgency, and continuous improvement
• Manage an assigned portfolio of assets, ensuring the maintenance of appropriate risk ratings, accrual status, and adequate specific reserves, if necessary
• Develop, execute, and oversee resolution strategies for the bank’s most troubled credit relationships, ensuring strategies are supported by current financial analysis, collateral evaluation, borrower communication, guarantor assessment, and legal documentation
• Lead and oversee negotiations with borrowers, guarantors, legal counsel, and other related parties in an effort to maximize recoveries
• Monitor portfolio activities, trends, and risk indicators to prepare clear, timely updates for senior management, board committees, auditors, and regulators regarding special assets activity and resolution progress
• Maintain strong compliance with bank policies, regulatory expectations, documentation requirements, and applicable laws governing collection, asset disposition, and recovery activity
• Manage relationships with outside counsel, appraisers, receivers, auctioneers, repossession agents, real estate brokers, property managers, and other third parties involved in workout, recovery, foreclosure, liquidation, or OREO activities
• Partner with Credit Administration, Lending, Loan Operations, Legal, Risk Management, and executive leadership to evaluate options, escalate concerns, and drive resolution outcomes
• Perform other duties as assigned

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in business, accounting, finance, or a related field required; Advanced degree, banking school, or relevant professional certification preferred
• Minimum of ten years of progressive commercial credit, loan workout, special assets, credit administration, or other banking experience, including five years of leadership responsibility for the special assets function of a bank or financial institution
• Demonstrated experience in loan workouts, including the management of criticized, classified, non-performing, or distressed credit relationships towards optimal resolution
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate risk, recommend action, negotiate resolution strategies, and clearly communicate complex credit matters to internal and external stakeholders
• Strong understanding of loan documentation, financial and collateral analysis, guarantor evaluation, bankruptcy, foreclosure, repossession, liquidation, credit restructuring, and recovery strategies
• Ability to lead a team, manage performance, set expectations, and mentor employees in a high-accountability environment
• Strong judgment, discretion, confidentiality, and professionalism when handling sensitive borrower, employee, legal, and regulatory matters

Skills

• Legal requirements and regulatory compliance
• Risk management and mitigation
• Loan documentation
• Bankruptcy, foreclosure, repossession, liquidation, and recovery processes
• OREO and asset disposition practices
• Exercising sound judgment under pressure
• Coaching, mentoring, and performance management
• Negotiation and communication
• Prioritization
• Financial and collateral analysis
• Leadership
• Managing complex, high-risk credit situations
• Problem solving and decision making
• Maintaining confidentiality
• Building credibility with internal and external stakeholders

Pay

A reasonable estimate of the current pay range is $150,000 - $195,000, annually.

Schedule

First Bank embraces a hybrid work environment which allows employees to work at least three full days in the office, with more or all in-office days expected of client-facing teams and the groups that support them.