Private Credit Senior Associate

Selby Jennings; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Selby Jennings is seeking a Private Credit Senior Associate to join its Chicago investment team. The role covers sourcing, evaluation, and portfolio management across distressed debt, special situations, and opportunistic credit with exposure to traditional buyout investments.

Ideal candidates bring strong modeling, restructuring knowledge, and a passion for complex transactions. The position offers high visibility and direct interaction with senior decision-makers.

Qualifications

• 3-6 years of experience in private credit, distressed investing, special situations, restructuring advisory, leveraged finance, investment banking, or private equity.
• Strong understanding of capital structures, credit documentation, debt instruments, and restructuring processes.
• Advanced financial modeling, valuation, underwriting, and analytical skillset.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with lenders, management teams, advisors, and investment professionals.
• Experience working on restructuring transactions, workouts, liability management exercises, distressed M&A situations, or complex credit investments is a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple workstreams with exceptional attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Source, screen, and evaluate new investment opportunities across distressed debt, special situations, restructuring, and opportunistic credit transactions as a Private Credit Senior Associate.
• Analyze capital structures, credit agreements, intercreditor arrangements, collateral positions, and recovery scenarios to identify attractive risk-adjusted opportunities.
• Build detailed financial models, valuation analyses, and recovery/waterfall models to support investment decisions and transaction execution.
• Conduct business, industry, and financial diligence on prospective investments while partnering closely with senior investment professionals.
• Develop relationships with lenders, advisors, restructuring professionals, intermediaries, and industry participants to enhance sourcing activities.
• Participate in transaction negotiations and help manage deal execution across credit and equity-oriented investment opportunities.
• Prepare investment committee materials and present findings to senior members of the investment team.
• Support portfolio company monitoring efforts through KPI tracking, operational analysis, and board-level reporting.
• Collaborate across both credit and private equity investment activities, gaining exposure to a broad range of transaction structures and investment situations.

Skills

Financial modeling

Credit analysis

Due diligence

Interpersonal communication

Portfolio monitoring

Deal execution

Job description

A middle-market private investment platform is seeking a Private Credit Senior Associate to join its growing investment team in Chicago. The firm invests across complex credit, special situations, and traditional private equity transactions, with a particular focus on opportunities involving distressed businesses, challenged capital structures, and situations where debt investments can create a path to meaningful equity ownership.

As the investment platform continues to expand its Credit Opportunities strategy, the team is looking to add a Private Credit Senior Associate who can help drive sourcing, evaluation, execution, and portfolio management activities. This is a highly visible opportunity to work directly alongside the senior investment professional leading the strategy and play a key role in helping build an evolving investment vertical.

Role Overview

The Private Credit Senior Associate will support the evaluation and execution of special situations, distressed investing, and credit opportunities transactions while also gaining exposure to traditional buyout investments. This Private Credit Senior Associate position offers a unique blend of sourcing, underwriting, transaction execution, restructuring analysis, and portfolio company engagement.

The ideal candidate will bring an investor mindset, strong communication skills, and a genuine interest in complex transactions involving distressed businesses, restructurings, and opportunistic credit investments. This role is ideal for a Private Credit Senior Associate seeking greater responsibility, direct exposure to senior decision-makers, and the opportunity to help scale a growing investment strategy.

Private Credit Senior Associate Responsibilities

• Source, screen, and evaluate new investment opportunities across distressed debt, special situations, restructuring, and opportunistic credit transactions as a Private Credit Senior Associate.
• Analyze capital structures, credit agreements, intercreditor arrangements, collateral positions, and recovery scenarios to identify attractive risk-adjusted opportunities.
• Build detailed financial models, valuation analyses, and recovery/waterfall models to support investment decisions and transaction execution.
• Conduct business, industry, and financial diligence on prospective investments while partnering closely with senior investment professionals.
• Develop relationships with lenders, advisors, restructuring professionals, intermediaries, and industry participants to enhance sourcing activities.
• Participate in transaction negotiations and help manage deal execution across credit and equity-oriented investment opportunities.
• Prepare investment committee materials and present findings to senior members of the investment team.
• Support portfolio company monitoring efforts through KPI tracking, operational analysis, and board-level reporting.
• Collaborate across both credit and private equity investment activities, gaining exposure to a broad range of transaction structures and investment situations.

Private Credit Senior Associate Qualifications

• 3-6 years of experience in private credit, distressed investing, special situations, restructuring advisory, leveraged finance, investment banking, or private equity.
• Strong understanding of capital structures, credit documentation, debt instruments, and restructuring processes.
• Demonstrated experience evaluating distressed, special situations, or opportunistic investment opportunities is highly preferred.
• Advanced financial modeling, valuation, underwriting, and analytical skillset required for success as a Private Credit Senior Associate.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to build relationships across lenders, management teams, advisors, and investment professionals.
• Experience working on restructuring transactions, workouts, liability management exercises, distressed M&A situations, or complex credit investments is a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple workstreams while maintaining exceptional attention to detail.