Portfolio Specialist / Senior Underwriting Associate

ImpactAlpha; San Diego (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work arrangement

On-site Tue–Thu on-site requirement

Professional development

Collaborative team

Job summary

Founders First Capital Partners in San Diego is seeking a Portfolio Specialist / Senior Underwriting Associate to manage and underwrite small-business loans. This senior role combines portfolio management with rigorous credit analysis in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment.

Based in San Diego with a hybrid schedule, on-site Tuesday through Thursday, you will underwrite transactions, prepare credit memoranda, and collaborate across investment, advisory, finance, servicing, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics, business, or related field.
• Five to ten years of direct commercial or small-business loan underwriting experience.
• Experience preparing comprehensive credit memoranda and assessing borrower financial statements, cash flow, and repayment capacity.
• Strong financial modeling and Microsoft Excel skills, including debt-service coverage, leverage, liquidity, and sensitivity analysis.
• Ability to interpret income statements, balance sheets, cash-flow statements, tax returns, bank statements, and debt schedules.
• Strong written and verbal communication, organizational skills, and attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple borrower relationships, underwriting assignments, and deadlines simultaneously.
• Sound credit judgment identifying material risks, mitigants, and escalation needs.

Responsibilities

• Monitor and manage the performance of assigned portfolio companies.
• Underwrite and assess new small-business investments.
• Prepare risk ratings, credit memoranda, and investment summaries.
• Coordinate underwriting due diligence and industry, company, and market research.
• Present transactions to Investment Committee and recommend structures, covenants, and mitigants.
• Assist with portfolio-management activities and loan workouts as needed.

Skills

Credit underwriting

Portfolio management

Financial modeling

Excel

Education

Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics, business, or related field

Tools

CRM systems

Loan origination systems

Portfolio-management systems

Microsoft Excel

Job description

About Founders First Capital Partners

Founders First Capital Partners is a financial services company specializing in flexible growth capital and business advisory support for employer-based service businesses. The firm is dedicated to helping growth-minded small businesses access appropriate capital, strengthen their financial capacity, create quality jobs, and build long-term enterprise value. The organization combines direct lending expertise with advisory services to support businesses at various stages of growth. As the company continues to scale its investment platform, it is targeting approximately twelve million dollars in new loan originations in 2027. The firm maintains a strong emphasis on credit discipline, portfolio performance management, and maintaining efficient underwriting processes to achieve its objectives responsibly. Founders First operates with a focus on supporting the small-business lending ecosystem and fostering economic opportunity through structured, relationship-based financing. The company values professionals who are passionate about small-business finance, investment, and economic development. Founders First is committed to maintaining an inclusive workplace and considers qualified applicants regardless of protected characteristics, recognizing the importance of diverse professional experiences and perspectives in the financial services industry.

About this Role

The Portfolio Specialist / Senior Underwriting Associate is an experienced credit and portfolio management professional responsible for managing the performance of Founders First Capital Partners’ existing loan portfolio and underwriting new small-business investments. This role represents an advanced position within the credit team and combines approximately fifty percent portfolio management responsibilities with fifty percent underwriting and credit analysis duties. The successful candidate will contribute immediately as an experienced underwriter, independently managing assigned credit analyses and portfolio monitoring activities with appropriate oversight from senior credit leadership. The position requires demonstrated direct underwriting experience, sound credit judgment, and ownership of assigned transactions and borrower relationships. This role is more advanced than Associate I level and is expected to exercise strong judgment, take initiative, and improve credit and portfolio processes. The successful candidate will contribute to the organization’s credit quality objectives while maintaining the financial and operational discipline necessary to support the firm’s growth targets. The position is based in San Diego, California with a hybrid work arrangement requiring on-site presence at the San Diego headquarters on Tuesday through Thursday. The role reports to the Credit and Portfolio Management Department and works collaboratively with investment, advisory, finance, servicing, and legal/compliance teams across the organization.

Responsibilities

• *Portfolio Management & Monitoring (Approximately 50%)**
• Monitor the financial and operating performance of assigned portfolio companies
• Review borrower financial statements, bank activity, payment performance, and other key indicators
• Track loan payments, covenant compliance, documentation requirements, and borrower reporting obligations
• Identify early warning indicators and proactively elevate deteriorating credits or emerging risks to investment leadership
• Conduct regular borrower check-ins and maintain strong working relationships with portfolio company leadership
• Own scheduled annual and periodic portfolio reviews and recommend risk-rating updates for assigned credits
• Track and calculate late payments at the individual borrower and portfolio levels
• Maintain complete and accurate electronic borrower and loan files
• Support loan modifications, restructurings, renewals, payoffs, and other portfolio-management activities
• Prepare portfolio performance reports, dashboards, and analysis for internal leadership and investor reporting
• Monitor portfolio trends and identify opportunities to improve performance and mitigate risk
• Collaborate with investment, advisory, finance, servicing, and legal/compliance teams
• Recommend improvements to portfolio-management policies, procedures, reporting, and internal controls; share effective practices with junior associates **Underwriting & Credit Analysis (Approximately 50%)**
• Complete an average of four to eight underwriting packages per quarter, or up to approximately thirty-two annually, subject to qualified pipeline availability and transaction complexity
• Analyze historical and projected income statements, balance sheets, and cash-flow statements
• Review business and personal tax returns, bank statements, credit reports, debt schedules, accounts receivable, and other underwriting documentation
• Evaluate repayment capacity, profitability, liquidity, leverage, cash flow, debt-service coverage, and overall financial condition
• Assess management strength, business model, customer concentration, industry conditions, and existing debt obligations
• Identify and clearly articulate borrower strengths, weaknesses, key risks, and mitigating factors
• Perform financial modeling, cash-flow analysis, and sensitivity or scenario analysis
• Coordinate underwriting due diligence and conduct relevant industry, company, and market research
• Prepare decision-ready credit memoranda, investment summaries, and well-supported recommendations; present assigned transactions to Investment Committee
• Recommend transaction structures, conditions, covenants, and risk mitigants, escalating complex decisions to senior underwriting leadership
• Independently underwrite assigned transactions within established credit policies and delegated authority, and provide technical guidance to less experienced colleagues
• Coordinate with Expansion Advisors and borrowers to monitor underperforming loans, develop workout strategies, and support timely resolution of distressed credits
• Ensure completion of pre-funding due diligence, including UCC searches, lien priority and collateral reviews; coordinate UCC filings and verify lien perfection

Requirements

• *Required Qualifications**
• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics, business, or a related field
• Five to ten years of direct commercial or small-business loan underwriting experience
• Demonstrated experience preparing comprehensive credit memoranda and independently assessing business financial statements, borrower cash flow, and repayment capacity
• Strong financial modeling and Microsoft Excel skills, including debt-service coverage, leverage, liquidity, and sensitivity analysis
• Ability to interpret income statements, balance sheets, cash-flow statements, tax returns, bank statements, and debt schedules
• Strong written and verbal communication, organizational skills, and attention to detail
• Ability to manage multiple borrower relationships, underwriting assignments, and deadlines simultaneously
• Sound credit judgment, including identifying material risks, recommending mitigants, and appropriately escalating issues
• Ability to work effectively in a collaborative and entrepreneurial environment **Preferred Qualifications**
• Experience underwriting commercial or small-business loans of two hundred fifty thousand dollars or greater
• Experience coaching junior credit analysts or improving underwriting workflows
• Experience with SBA, CDFI, private credit, revenue-based financing, or other alternative small-business lending models
• Experience recommending loan structures, covenants, risk ratings, and portfolio intervention strategies
• Experience with CRM, loan-origination, servicing, or portfolio-management systems
• Experience working with growth-stage, employer-based service businesses

Benefits

• Quarterly Production Incentive that rewards consistent underwriting throughput, timely execution, and quality credit analysis
• Annual Portfolio Performance Incentive that rewards contribution to a healthy, well-managed loan portfolio, including payment and delinquency trends, risk-rating accuracy, and impairment and loss performance
• Hybrid work arrangement with flexibility and on-site requirements limited to Tuesday through Thursday
• Opportunity to work with growth-stage, employer-based service businesses
• Professional development in small-business finance and credit management
• Collaborative work environment with investment, advisory, finance, servicing, and legal/compliance teams