Associate, Commercial Real Estate Lending

Downing; Greater London; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

Downing is seeking a proactive finance professional to join its Private Credit team in the UK, focusing on Commercial Real Estate Lending. You will support origination, underwriting, execution and portfolio management within an entrepreneurial, institutional platform.

Ideal candidates have 2-4 years’ front-of-house experience in real estate finance or investment banking and hold a university degree. Proficiency in Excel, financial modelling, and strong English communication are essential, with

Qualifications

• 2-4 years’ front of house experience in real estate finance, structured credit, or investment banking.
• Degree level qualification from a well-regarded university or equivalent

Responsibilities

• Origination and relationship management with Sponsor clients.
• Analyse and structure investment opportunities across asset classes and capital structures.
• Prepare credit papers, investment memoranda and due diligence summaries.
• Coordinate due diligence processes and lead analysis of results.
• Monitor investment performance and maintain Sponsor client relationships.

Skills

Excel

Financial modelling

English communication

AI tools

Education

Bachelor's degree

University degree or equivalent

Tools

Claude

Copilot

Job description

Downing is dedicated to delivering investments that matter - for our economy, our health, our society, our local communities and our environment. For 40 years, our highly experienced team and our entrepreneurial spirit has driven us to seek out long-term and unique opportunities that solve challenges faced by investors, companies and society. As a certified B Corp, we take our responsibilities, to our investors, our stakeholders and society, seriously. We invest for return while always considering our impact on the world.

About the team

Downing’s Commercial Real Estate Lending strategy targets loans to high quality Sponsors across asset classes including healthcare, logistics, hospitality, offices and alternative sectors across the UK. We support acquisitions, bridging, development, refurbishment and other repositioning business plans.

Across its Private Credit strategies, Downing has committed over £1.5bn to borrowers, building deep relationships and a track record of success.

Role and responsibilities

This position offers direct exposure to origination, underwriting, execution and portfolio management. You will join a collaborative and entrepreneurial team within an established institutional platform and gain first-hand experience and expertise in a rapidly evolving market.

Key Responsibilities

Origination and Relationship Management

• Support senior investment team members in originating and filtering Commercial Real Estate Lending opportunities
• Make and maintain relationships with Sponsor clients

Transaction Analysis and Structuring

• Analyse and structure investment opportunities across a range of return profiles, asset classes and capital structures
• Assess commerciality of sponsor business plans and asset-level performance including analysis of comparable transactional and other relevant data
• Build detailed financial models including downside, sensitivity and scenario analysis based on comparable transactional data and results of wider due diligence
• Coordinate due diligence processes and lead analysis of results
• Manage third-party advisory workstreams including legal, valuation, technical and environmental
• Prepare credit papers, investment memoranda and other presentations, accurately and concisely summarising results of Transaction Analysis, Financial Modelling and Due Diligence
• Assist in negotiation of legal documents, execution and closing processes ensuring accurate and timely closing of transactions
• Monitor investment performance and maintain Sponsor client relationships

Support transaction booking and ongoing portfolio management reporting

Education, experience and skills

The ideal candidate will have the following:

Experience and Education

• Target 2-4 years’ front of house experience in real estate finance, structured credit, or investment banking. Backgrounds in other comparable finance roles will be considered for exceptional candidates
• Consistently high academic performance with degree level qualification from a well-regarded university or equivalent academic institution

Technical Skills

• Proficiency in Excel to build and maintain detailed financial models
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills in English, able to prepare high-quality and error free investment memoranda, presentations and professional correspondence
• Comfortable using AI tools (e.g. Claude, Copilot) to improve efficiency in research, analysis and communication

Personal Attributes

• Intellectual curiosity and commitment to excellence
• Keen sense of responsibility, professional integrity and fiduciary awareness
• Self-motivated and collaborative

Further information

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

We endeavour to reply to all individual applicants and will provide feedback for any candidates that reach the interview stage.

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