About the team

Downing’s Property Finance Team sits within a wider Specialist Lending team and focuses on providing senior debt to residential developers, with a focus on debt tickets of £2-30m. We are looking to add a Portfolio Manager to the team who can assist in all stages of the deal process and liaising with investors and other funders. The team is small, and the right candidate won’t be afraid to get involved in any aspect of the business. The role should appeal to candidates with a background in either debt funds and/or commercial/corporate banking. Residential development finance experience is preferred.

Role and responsibilities

As Portfolio Manager, you will have a key role within the growing and successful Property Finance business. The team provides senior debt to property developers nationwide.

This is a hybrid role where you will be responsible for project managing deals from Investment Committee approval through to completion as well as managing deals on an ongoing basis and assisting with the team’s Management Information and Reporting.  The ideal candidate will have spent at least 5 years in similar roles, most likely at a bank or direct lending fund.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Assisting with operational aspects of dealing with our funders Assist Directors and Partners on deals and other matters as required.
• Project management of new loan deals once they have been approved by the Investment Committee, with a focus on loan closings - taking them through to completion and ensuring all Conditions Precedent and Subsequent have been satisfied.
• Effective management of suppliers including valuers, monitoring surveyors and solicitors.
• Act as the primary point of contact for borrowers throughout the life of the loan, from approval through to repayment.
• Liaising with borrowers on information requests, drawdown requests, sales and marketing updates, redemptions, etc.
• Managing payments internally.
• Working with other Downing departments including the Portfolio Reporting and Finance Teams.
• Ensure processes allow the team to keep track of where each deal is allowing transparency within the team and wider business.
• Dealing with facility amendments and extensions.
• Site visits and meetings with borrowers as required.
• Training and mentoring of more junior team members.

Key skills and experience

The ideal candidate will have the following:

• Excellent attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Experience of stakeholder and project management.
• A self-starter who has the desire to learn about the business and our products.
• Experience within residential property development lending space.
• Working knowledge of related legal matters and due diligence.
• Strong sense of ownership and task completion/deadline-driven.
• Ability to work independently and within a small team, as required.
• Inquisitive approach and problem-solving mentality.

Personal profile

• Passionate about what you do - you are always happy to roll up your sleeves.
• Team player – have fun! We do our best to cultivate an open, honest, hard-working but fun culture at Downing.
• Customer oriented - you are approachable, friendly and professional whilst working diligently. Nothing is too much trouble.
• Assertive and focus on execution – you make things happen.
• Eloquent – you can explain complex things in simple, relevant terms, and in good English.

Pay and benefits

For the successful candidate, we will put together an attractive reward package that will include:

• Competitive salary dependent on experience and qualifications
• Discretionary bonus
• Pension scheme
• Health insurance
• Life assurance
• Income Protection
• Death in service
• Additional social perks

Additional details

All candidates must be eligible to work in the UK or have a working visa.

Please note, we are committed to sourcing candidates directly and as such we do not accept speculative CVs from agencies.

To understand what information we collect about you, how we will use it and for what purpose, please read our privacy notice.

We appreciate all interest in Downing and applications received, however please note we will only be able to contact the most suitable applicants.