Senior Director, Private Capital

MetLife; Whippany (NJ); Hybrid; USD 225,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plan

401(k) with employer matching

Life insurance

Disability insurance

Parental leave

Tuition assistance

Volunteer time off

Hybrid work model

Job summary

MetLife Investment Management (MIM) invites seasoned professionals to join the Corporate Private Placements team. You will originate, structure, and manage private credit investments across corporate issuers, sponsors, and institutions, leveraging a deep network of relationships and rigorous credit analysis.

You will lead cross-functional execution, drive portfolio oversight, and mentor a high-performing team, while advancing platform growth and client solutions in a hybrid in-office setting.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA and/or CFA strongly preferred.
• 15+ years of experience in corporate credit, private placements, leveraged finance, direct lending, or related private debt investing.
• Deep underwriting experience with corporate issuers, including financial statement analysis, business model assessment, capital structure review, covenant analysis, and downside case development.
• Demonstrated track record sourcing and executing corporate private placement or comparable private credit transactions.
• Established senior relationships with corporate issuers, sponsors, agents, advisors, and other market participants.
• Strong understanding of investment-grade and below-investment-grade corporate credit markets, documentation, pricing, and relative value.
• Proven leadership experience managing transaction teams and developing investment professionals.
• Strong credit judgment, financial analysis skills, and ability to balance risk and return across client portfolios.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present complex investment views clearly.
• Working understanding of AI’s impact on team outputs, with the ability to set expectations for appropriate use and reinforce accuracy, compliance, and policy alignment.
• Ability to apply AI tools within team workflows to improve efficiency and quality while maintaining established operating practices.
• Willingness to travel as required.

Responsibilities

• Originate corporate private placement opportunities through senior-level relationships with issuers, sponsors, agents, advisors, and investment banks.
• Develop and execute origination strategies across priority corporate sectors, aligned with client mandates, portfolio construction objectives, and risk appetite.
• Lead transaction screening, underwriting, structuring, pricing, and negotiation for investment-grade and select below-investment-grade opportunities.
• Provide clear investment recommendations supported by financial analysis, credit diligence, relative value assessment, and downside risk analysis.
• Oversee investment committee materials, approval processes, and client-facing investment content.
• Manage transaction execution from mandate through closing, coordinating internal stakeholders, external counsel, agents, and borrowers.
• Maintain senior oversight of originated corporate private placement investments.
• Lead negotiations related to amendments, waivers, restructurings, refinancings, and other credit events.
• Participate in issuer management meetings, credit updates, and ongoing surveillance discussions.
• Oversee portfolio monitoring, including annual reviews, credit performance, covenant compliance, ratings migration, and market developments.
• Partner with Client Portfolio Management to align originations with client portfolios and respond to client inquiries, reporting needs, and strategic objectives.

Skills

Leadership

Credit analysis

Financial modeling

Communication

Strategic origination

Risk assessment

Stakeholder management

AI in workflows

Education

Bachelor’s degree

MBA

CFA

Tools

Bloomberg

Salesforce

S&P Capital IQ

Job description

At MetLife Investment Management (MIM), the Private Fixed Income team offers the opportunity to apply your expertise in differentiated markets and help drive long-term value for our clients. You will be part of a team investing across private corporate and infrastructure debt, private asset-based finance (ABF) and residential credit, taking a disciplined approach to sourcing and structuring unique high-quality private asset investments for clients. Recognized as a 2025 Best Place to Work in Money Management by Pensions & Investments, MIM offers a collaborative environment where innovation and strategic thinking drive customized solutions for clients and meaningful career growth for you.

The Opportunity

Corporate Private Placements

The Corporate Private Placement team is responsible for directly originating, underwriting, structuring, and managing corporate private credit investments. The team invests across a diversified range of sectors, issuers, geographies, and structures, partnering with borrowers, sponsors, agents, advisors, and institutional clients to deliver tailored private credit solutions.

The team is part of MIM’s Private Fixed Income platform, which manages $143 billion as of December 31, 2025 across corporate private placements, infrastructure debt, asset-based finance, single family rentals, and residential whole loans. The platform is supported by more than 100 years of private debt origination experience.

Key Responsibilities

Origination, Structuring & Execution

• Originate corporate private placement opportunities through senior-level relationships with issuers, sponsors, agents, advisors, and investment banks.
• Develop and execute origination strategies across priority corporate sectors, aligned with client mandates, portfolio construction objectives, and risk appetite.
• Lead transaction screening, underwriting, structuring, pricing, and negotiation for investment-grade and select below-investment-grade opportunities.
• Provide clear investment recommendations supported by financial analysis, credit diligence, relative value assessment, and downside risk analysis.
• Oversee investment committee materials, approval processes, and client-facing investment content.
• Manage transaction execution from mandate through closing, coordinating internal stakeholders, external counsel, agents, and borrowers.

Portfolio Management & Risk Oversight

• Maintain senior oversight of originated corporate private placement investments.
• Lead negotiations related to amendments, waivers, restructurings, refinancings, and other credit events.
• Participate in issuer management meetings, credit updates, and ongoing surveillance discussions.
• Oversee portfolio monitoring, including annual reviews, credit performance, covenant compliance, ratings migration, and market developments.
• Partner with Client Portfolio Management to align originations with client portfolios and respond to client inquiries, reporting needs, and strategic objectives.

Leadership, Team Development & Platform Growth

• Lead and mentor a high-performing team across origination, underwriting, execution, and portfolio management.
• Provide coaching, performance feedback, and career development support to investment professionals.
• Promote a strong risk culture, disciplined underwriting standards, and a commercial mindset across the team.
• Contribute to broader Private Fixed Income and MIM initiatives, including product development, cross-platform collaboration, technology enablement, and process improvement.
• Represent MIM with corporate issuers, agents, industry participants, and clients; support marketing, fundraising, and client relationship efforts.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA and/or CFA strongly preferred.
• 15+ years of experience in corporate credit, private placements, leveraged finance, direct lending, or related private debt investing.
• Deep underwriting experience with corporate issuers, including financial statement analysis, business model assessment, capital structure review, covenant analysis, and downside case development.
• Demonstrated track record sourcing and executing corporate private placement or comparable private credit transactions.
• Established senior relationships with corporate issuers, sponsors, agents, advisors, and other market participants.
• Strong understanding of investment‑grade and below‑investment‑grade corporate credit markets, documentation, pricing, and relative value.
• Proven leadership experience managing transaction teams and developing investment professionals.
• Strong credit judgment, financial analysis skills, and ability to balance risk and return across client portfolios.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present complex investment views clearly.
• Working understanding of AI’s impact on team outputs, with the ability to set expectations for appropriate use and reinforce accuracy, compliance, and policy alignment.
• Ability to apply AI tools within team workflows to improve efficiency and quality while maintaining established operating practices.
• Willingness to travel as required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with US private placement documentation, bespoke covenant packages, and complex corporate structures.
• Familiarity with Bloomberg, Salesforce, S&P Capital IQ, rating agency methodologies, and other credit or workflow tools.
• Experience supporting institutional clients, separately managed accounts, commingled funds, and other private credit vehicles.

Location Expectation: This is a hybrid role requiring a minimum of 3 days per week in office.

The expected salary range for this position is $225,000 - $275,000. This role may also be eligible for annual short-term incentive compensation and stock-based long-term incentives. All incentives and benefits are subject to the applicable plan terms.

Benefits We Offer

Our U.S. benefits address holistic well-being with programs for physical and mental health, financial wellness, and support for families. We offer a comprehensive health plan that includes medical/prescription drug and vision, dental insurance, and no-cost short- and long-term disability. We also provide company-paid life insurance and legal services, a retirement pension funded entirely by MetLife and 401(k) with employer matching, group discounts on voluntary insurance products including auto and home, pet, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and accident insurance, as well as Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and digital mental health programs, parental leave, paid time off, paid holidays, volunteer time off, tuition assistance and much more! For more information regarding MetLife’s U.S. benefits.

About MetLife

Recognized on Fortune magazine's list of the "World's Most Admired Companies", Fortune World’s 25 Best Workplaces™, as well as the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For®, MetLife, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is one of the world’s leading financial services companies; providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to individual and institutional customers. With operations in more than 40 markets, we hold leading positions in the United States, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

As part of our New Frontier strategy, MetLife is building an AI-enabled, people-centered future. We’re looking for people who bring curiosity, adaptability, and a growth mindset as we use AI to enhance how we serve customers, support communities, and evolve the way work gets done. At MetLife, AI is a responsible partner that supports human judgment, creativity, and continuous improvement while helping us build trust, inclusion, and long-term value.

Our purpose is simple - to help our colleagues, customers, communities, and the world at large create a more confident future. United by purpose and guided by our core values - Win Together, Do the Right Thing, Deliver Impact Over Activity, and Think Ahead - we’re inspired to transform the next century in financial services. At MetLife, it’s #AllTogetherPossible. Join us!

MetLife is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All employment decisions are made without regards to race, color, national origin, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, marital or domestic/civil partnership status, genetic information, citizenship status (although applicants and employees must be legally authorized to work in the United States), uniformed service member or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law ("protected characteristics").

If you need an accommodation due to a disability, please email us at [e-mail]. This information will be held in confidence and used only to determine an appropriate accommodation for the application process.

MetLife maintains a drug-free workplace.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liabilities.

This posting is for a current vacancy and is anticipated to remain open for at least 90 days from the listed posting date.