Careers at Grow America

Primary Responsibilities:

• Origination of community development focused low-income housing tax credit equity investments and historic rehabilitation tax credit equity investments throughout a national footprint
• Underwriting of all investments originated from initial screening through financial closing.
• Thorough analysis of proposed affordable housing investments financed through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and/or the Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit program by preparing thorough financial modeling
• Evaluation of sponsor and project development team experience and financial capacity
• Manage risk and ensure consistency in the underwriting, closing, and documentation of all tax credit investments
• Review and approval of all new investment opportunities in preparation for Investment Committee approval
• Maintain relationships with existing partners/clients to ensure needs are being met
• Assist with business development efforts and manage data relating to prospective clients.
• Work with the Director of Asset Management and their team as new investments are underwritten as well as throughout the compliance period.
• Lead the oversight and reporting on existing investment properties currently under construction
• Work with Investor Relations personnel in reviewing pipeline and establishing new Fund pipeline opportunities that meet Fund investor needs
• Oversee the work of the Investment Closing Director to ensure consistency and timeliness in the lower tier partnership closings
• Attend industry related seminars and conferences to ensure knowledge of current market trends in the affordable housing industry.
• Act as a resource to all Grow America staff as it relates to affordable housing development opportunities
• Assist the Fund manager in developing and maintaining relationships with Fund investors
• Represent CEF at company team meetings and help grow the knowledge base around affordable housing with other parts of Grow America
• Provide educational opportunities for the staff to help with their continued growth

Minimum Skill Requirements

• Undergraduate degree required, advanced degree a plus
• 5+ years leading a team of LIHTC investment professionals
• 10+ years of experience in the origination and underwriting of Low-Income Housing tax credit investments
• Experience working for a tax credit investor and/or tax credit fund syndicator
• Knowledge and familiarity with the Community Reinvestment Act

Physical Requirements

• Must be able to maintain a stationary position for long periods of time (90% of workday)
• This position needs to occasionally move about inside the office to access meeting rooms, office appliances, etc.
• This position requires airline travel approximately 25% of the time annually

For general information about Grow America, please visit http://www.growamerica.org.

Interested applicants should submit a cover letter and resume to: Careers@growamerica.org.   

Competitive salary commensurate with experience. The annual salary range is $265,000 to $295,000. Comprehensive benefits package. Grow America is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

The information provided above has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work of the position. It is not a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain a network of referral sources for prospective businesses in need of financing. In general, through normal travel and networking, market GA loan products to ensure a viable pipeline of leads. Note, GA offers a generous travel budget to both develop business and to be able to travel nationally to build pipeline.  
• Screen prospective loan applicants to determine if minimal loan qualification standards are met. Ensure that the foundation for any long-term credit or closing items (to include environmental concerns, appraisals, equity substantiation, lease length to be co-terminus with length of loan and site control etc.) are met.
• With assistance from the Director of Lending, market and structure GA business lending products along the capital continuum. To that end, if an applicant is not eligible for an SBA 7(a) loan under the Grow America Fund program, leverage other GA small business lending products, at any given time, to include a loan under any of GA’s non-SBA guarantee programs. Again, a client should be able to receive funding from as little as $150,000 up to $5,000,000 depending on their need and sophistication.
• Gather necessary data to complete an application package and source documents for credit analysis of all qualified applicants (tax returns, interim financials, PFS and other items as needed).
• Perform high-level credit analysis to include spreading of business financials, construction of business and personal cash flows, and collateral analysis. Thereafter, in line with the second bullet above, appropriately structure client financing needs with the correct loan product, competitive rate, appropriate term and issue term sheets.
• Upon acceptance of signed term sheets and receipt of deposit, write the initial story of the business through completion of a project summary and business history/background, management summary and discussion of strengths/ weaknesses (a pre-screen) in preparation for submission to Credit. Ensure a smooth hand off from Originations into Credit. Note, our credit culture within GA is common-sense and driven by reasonable determinations around an applicant’s character, the business capacity, a reasonable existing cash flow margin (1.15:1 and lower in some cases with allowance for projections based lending and start-ups), and reasonable determinations across collateral (i.e. if there is strong existing cash flow, but a lack of collateral, we generally will move forward with a deal).

Minimum Skill Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited four-year college or university with major course work in finance, business administration, economics or a related field. A degree in history, English or political science could be deemed favorable as it develops strong analytic and writing skills.
• Minimum five years in SBA 7(a) lending and strong knowledge of SBA lending to include a mastery of the SBA SOP.
• Strong sales and calling skills.
• Candidates with existing networks of business within the states of Ohio, North Carolina, Texas, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut will be looked upon favorably.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills with the ability to be persuasive one-on-one as well as in group settings.
• Strong analytical, time management and organizational skills as well as a high level of attention to detail.
• Strong intra-personal skills. Lending Managers often work with different partners both inside and outside of the organization to accomplish tasks. Strong working relationships are required in order to succeed in the role.
• Impeccable personal integrity and ability to maintain confidentiality of borrower data.
• Computer literacy in contact management, word processing, spreadsheet and database programs.
• Presentation skills to small and large groups (5-100).

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to work remotely and independently. A successful LM is entrepreneurial and a self-starter by nature.
• Ability to travel occasionally, both locally and nationally, to attend meetings, conferences or site visits.

Interested applicants should submit a cover letter and resume to: Careers@growamerica.org.

Competitive salary commensurate with experience. The annual base salary is $135,000 with sliding scale bonus based on volume of loan production. Comprehensive benefits package. Grow America is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

The information provided above has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work of the position. It is not a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required.