Job Summary

The Associate Director/Director, Commercial Real Estate role at Standard Chartered offers a unique opportunity to engage deeply with dynamic financial markets and contribute to strategic real estate financing initiatives across the UK and Europe. In this position, you will be instrumental in supporting the structuring and execution of innovative financing solutions, ensuring alignment with the bank's strategic vision and risk management framework.

This role is ideal for detail-oriented individuals who enjoy working in fast-paced, collaborative environments and who possess a strong analytical mindset combined with excellent communication skills. As part of a dedicated team, you will develop advanced financial models, conduct scenario analyses, and manage transaction pipelines while liaising closely with various internal stakeholders to deliver best-in-class solutions to clients. Your contributions will help shape sustainable client relationships and drive the bank's growth in the structured commercial real estate finance space. 

This role accommodates talent at different career stages within the Associate Director and Director levels, offering flexibility and a tailored platform for professional development within a prestigious global banking institution. 

Key Responsibilities

The key responsibilities of the Associate Director/Director in Commercial Real Estate include comprehensive engagement in the entire transaction lifecycle. You will:

• Assist in originating and structuring bespoke financing solutions tailored to client needs within the CRE market across UK and Europe, while proactively identifying cross-selling opportunities with other product teams to enhance client value.
• Formulate, develop, and critically assess detailed financial models and credit memoranda to support complex transactions, including senior, whole loan & mezzanine financings, loan-on-loan structures, warehouse facilities, and asset-backed securities such as CMBS.
• Partner actively with internal stakeholders, including client coverage teams and multiple support functions—including Credit Risk Control, Legal, Compliance, Operations, Loan Documentation, and Loan Processing Units—to facilitate seamless transaction execution and compliance with internal policies.
• Maintain accountable oversight of credit risk assessments, ensuring ongoing monitoring and control through regular communication with relationship managers and relevant stakeholders.
• Adhere rigorously to the bank’s credit underwriting standards, product governance, and regulatory requirements, ensuring all business activities remain compliant and strategically aligned.
• Critically evaluate deal pipelines, oversee deal progression at various stages, and manage comprehensive documentation relating to pricing and market feedback, including CRE research and analysis of public CMBS transactions.
• Provide vigilant portfolio risk management through active account monitoring and timely escalation of emerging risks to leadership to safeguard the bank's interests.
• Drive internal process management such as completion of Risk Control Assessments (RCAF), Governance Control Assessments (GCAF), Portfolio Stress Reviews (PSR), Business Credit Approvals (BCA), and other critical deal checklists to uphold governance standards.

Skills and Experience

Success in this role requires a blend of technical financial expertise, client-centric focus, and risk management capabilities. Candidates should demonstrate the following skills and experience:

• Business and Market Acumen: A sound understanding of the commercial real estate market dynamics, industry trends, and regulatory environment within the UK and European context.
• Financial Risk Management: Proven ability to analyze credit risk, develop robust financial models, and manage exposures in structured finance environments.
• Customer Needs Analysis: Aptitude for thoroughly understanding client requirements, structuring innovative financing solutions, and effectively communicating complex product offerings.
• Risk Management & Internal Controls: Experience with implementing and maintaining internal control frameworks, ensuring adherence to credit policies, and navigating regulatory compliance with precision.
• Strong interpersonal skills enabling effective teamwork and collaboration across diverse functions and levels within the bank.
• IT proficiency, particularly advanced Excel capabilities, to support detailed financial analysis and reporting.

Qualifications

To thrive as an Associate Director/Director in Commercial Real Estate at Standard Chartered, candidates are expected to hold the following qualifications and attributes:

• A degree or postgraduate qualification in finance, real estate, economics, business, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrable interest and experience in real estate finance, including direct exposure to CRE financing structures or alternatively in securitization or debt capital markets.
• Prior relevant experience in commercial real estate investment, advisory, brokerage, investment banking, private equity or institutional investors; with a proven track record of managing complex transactions in similar sectors is highly desirable.
• Exceptional analytical acumen combined with strong written and verbal communication skills, enabling clear articulation of financial insights and strategic recommendations.
• Capability to perform effectively under pressure, balancing independent initiative with collaborative teamwork.
• A conscientious work ethic, meticulous attention to detail, and a commitment to delivering excellence.
• Specific real estate finance qualifications or (working towards) professional certifications such as the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) or Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation are considered helpful, but not essential.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and other financial analysis tools.
• Fluency in English (both written and spoken) is essential; proficiency in an additional European language is considered a valuable asset.

About Standard Chartered

We're an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we've worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you're looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can't wait to see the talents you can bring us.

Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you'll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion.

Together we:

• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Are better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term

What we offer

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
• Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning.
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies - everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.

Recruitment Assessments

Some of our roles use assessments to help us understand how suitable you are for the role you've applied to. If you are invited to take an assessment, this is great news. It means your application has progressed to an important stage of our recruitment process.

Visit our careers website www.sc.com/careers