Senior Vice President, Credit Ratings - CMBS/Real Estate

About the role

Morningstar DBRS is seeking an accomplished senior credit professional with deep commercial real estate and structured finance expertise to join its Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) team as a Senior Vice President.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior leadership and oversight for the analysis and rating of CMBS transactions, including SASB, Conduit, CRE-CLO, and Agency executions.
• Serve as the primary lead analyst and senior credit decision-maker on complex and high-profile transactions, exercising independent judgment consistent with DBRS Morningstar methodologies.
• Manage, mentor, and develop a team of analysts, establishing analytical standards and ensuring consistent application of rating criteria.
• Act as the primary client-facing representative, engaging with issuers, lenders, investors, and intermediaries.
• Evaluate credit risk through detailed property-level, loan-level, and structural analysis, including cash flow modeling and downside stress testing.
• Determine stabilized and transitional net cash flows across all major commercial property types and loan sizes, from small-balance to large institutional exposures.
• Absess transitional business plans, sponsor quality, capital structures, reserve mechanisms, and execution risks.
• Prepare and present comprehensive credit recommendations to senior credit committees.
• Oversee the drafting and quality control of presale reports, final rating reports, and analytical publications.
• Ensure adherence to internal policies, regulatory requirements, and publishing standards.

Qualifications & Experience

• Minimum of 15 years of progressive commercial real estate credit experience, with substantial exposure at a rating agency, lending institution, private credit platform, or comparable credit-focused organization.
• Demonstrated depth of experience in CMBS, structured credit, or securitized real estate products.
• Strong understanding of commercial real estate valuation, cash flow analysis, and credit risk drivers across market cycles.
• Pioneering ability to exercise independent credit judgment and defend recommendations before senior committees.
• Established experience managing and mentoring analytical teams in a performance-driven environment.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with the ability to synthesize complex analyses for senior audiences.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel and financial modeling; comfort working with large datasets.
• Bachelor’s degree in finance, real estate, accounting, or a related discipline required; advanced degrees preferred.

Additional Requirements

• Ability to travel domestically within North America approximately 10–20%.
• Valid driver’s license and passport; ability to complete international travel as required.