ANALYST LEVERAGED FINANCE JOB DESCRIPTION

Leveraged finance analysis means building the credit case for transactions that most of the market cannot fund. The Analyst Leveraged Finance evaluates non-investment grade borrowers across syndicated loan, high yield bond, and structured equity structures, producing credit analyses that determine whether an LBO, recapitalization, or acquisition financing can be taken to market. Deal teams depend on this work before any commitment is made. Accuracy in covenant modeling and capital structure stress-testing at the analyst level has direct consequences for hold-level strategy and ultimate credit approval.

As the Analyst Leveraged Finance, you will own credit underwriting and financial modeling across leveraged loan and high yield transactions, directly supporting deal execution and portfolio management in a debt capital markets environment. You will work alongside Senior Portfolio Managers, Front Office account officers, and syndication teams, with your analysis forming the foundation for credit approval and transaction structuring decisions.

Career Impact: Analysts who complete a full credit training rotation in leveraged finance build underwriting credentials that are recognized across corporate banking, private credit, and buy-side credit platforms.

Business Impact: The financial models and credit memorandums produced in this role directly determine which transactions advance to syndication and at what hold level, shaping the firm's risk exposure on individual deals.

Growth Opportunity: Consistent deal execution experience across first lien, unitranche, and mezzanine structures accelerates the path to Senior Analyst or Associate Portfolio Manager within three to four years.

• Underwrite leveraged cash flow and enterprise value transactions, including first lien, second lien, unitranche, and mezzanine structures for sponsor-backed borrowers.
• Build fully integrated three-statement financial models with base case and stress case projections to assess debt serviceability and covenant cushion.
• Review and analyze credit requests submitted by Front Office, covering limit structure, historical performance, and capital structure assumptions.
• Draft credit analyses, offering memorandums, and credit applications evaluating corporate, regulatory, and industry risk for non-investment grade issuers.
• Monitor portfolio accounts on a monthly basis, identifying performance variances and flagging risks to Senior Portfolio Managers.
• Conduct annual and quarterly credit reviews of existing positions as required by bank policy and internal credit standards.
• Coordinate due diligence processes with lenders, investors, and Front Office account officers to support transaction closing.
• Research comparable companies, industry trends, and capital markets conditions to inform deal screening and credit recommendations.

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related field, or equivalent work experience.
• 1 or more years of credit analysis, financial modeling, or transaction underwriting experience in a banking, debt capital markets, or large accounting advisory environment.
• Demonstrated ability to build integrated income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow models for leveraged transactions.
• Working knowledge of leveraged loan structures, high yield bond markets, and sponsor-backed credit products including corporate loans and capital raising instruments.
• Sound understanding of credit risk assessment, including internal risk rating frameworks and post-lending monitoring requirements.
• Strong written communication skills, with the ability to produce clear credit memorandums and investment committee presentations.
• Quantitative aptitude and detail orientation sufficient to identify modeling errors and flag covenant risks before credit submission.

• Completion of a formal credit training or analyst rotation program at a money center bank or investment bank.
• CFA candidacy, CPA, or FRM designation, or active progress toward one of these credentials.
• Prior exposure to oil and gas, project finance, or cross-border M&A financing structures as a distinct credit vertical.
• Buy-side or sell-side research experience covering high yield issuers, with familiarity with relative performance metrics and ratio analysis across debt capital structures.

• Credit approval rate of submitted analyses, reflecting underwriting accuracy and alignment with risk policy.
• Covenant cushion forecast variance, measuring the precision of stress-case modeling against actual portfolio outcomes.
• Number of transactions closed per year as a deal team contributor, reflecting execution capacity and throughput.
• Portfolio review completion rate on schedule, measured against bank policy cadence for annual and quarterly credit reviews.
• Days from credit submission to approval decision, reflecting the completeness and quality of credit packages delivered to the Credit Department.
• Typical tools: financial modeling platforms (commonly Excel with VBA); market data (commonly Bloomberg, CapIQ, or Refinitiv)

• Base Salary Range: $85,000 to $120,000 annually, depending on seniority and institution size.
• Bonus: Deal-based and performance bonus, typically 20 to 40 percent of base.
• Equity: Rare at analyst level; deferred compensation more common at larger banks.
• Health Benefits: Medical, dental, and vision coverage standard across most employers.
• PTO: 15 to 20 days annually, plus standard US bank holidays.
• Common Perks: CFA exam sponsorship, formal training programs, and professional development stipends.

Figures are estimates based on general US market benchmarks and may be outdated. Adjust based on location, company size, and seniority level.

Employment decisions for this role are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, and local law. Candidates in financial services should be aware that employment is contingent on successful completion of a background check, which may include credit history review consistent with applicable law. Reasonable accommodations are available to qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the application and employment process. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States.

The Analyst Leveraged Finance owns expense forecasting, financial modeling, and P&L analysis in support of strategic business decisions across the organization. Working with business, finance, and sales leads as well as accounting partners and IT, this role delivers consolidated reporting and actionable recommendations that strengthen planning tools and operating metrics.

Key Responsibilities

• Participates in expense forecasting and actuals process, including research and communication of variances, quarterly earnings, press release support, and competitor analysis.
• Analyze trends, research issues, and respond to inquiries from appropriate leadership.
• Contribute to the development of best practices for the company.
• Lead financial variances for forecast, budget, and monthly close packages.
• Act as point of contact for programming, responsible for understanding detailed financials, key variances, and identifying risks and opportunities to the business.
• Build process improvements that identify and track key operating metrics to develop planning tools.
• Create financial models to support P&L forecasting, annual budgeting, and evaluation of strategic business decisions.
• Interface with business, finance, sales leads, accounting partners, and IT to ensure accurate data and information gathering.
• Perform analysis and deep dives on profitability, revenue trends, and other periodic ad hoc analytical projects.
• Prepare and present comprehensive evaluations, proposals, and recommendations to appropriate leadership.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance required.
• 3+ years of analytical experience in financial planning, operations, or a finance-heavy division.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office suite with advanced Excel skills focused on speed and efficiency.
• Experience with accounting software, Salesforce, Thinkcell, VB, and SQL, or ability to learn new systems quickly.
• Knowledge of FCC rules.
• High degree of quantitative, analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making ability.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills with strong interpersonal skills.
• Detail-oriented with strong attention to accuracy and excellent planning and organization skills.

Embedded within the Debt Capital Markets team, the Analyst Leveraged Finance supports syndicated lending transactions through credit underwriting, risk modeling, and active portfolio management across the oil and gas leveraged finance vertical. Working closely with Senior Portfolio Managers and the Credit Department for the Americas, this role shapes financing structures and advances risk strategy alignment on high yield and sponsor-backed transactions.

Core Functions

• Support the management of leveraged, high yield, and sponsor-backed clients in the oil and gas industry vertical loan portfolio.
• Perform due diligence and regular evaluation of loan portfolios.
• Use financial models to support preparation of detailed credit analyses and credit applications, including evaluation of corporate, regulatory, and industry risk.
• Assist Senior Portfolio Managers to shape and influence policy development by participating in committees, project teams, and transaction discussions.
• Communicate and negotiate with the Credit Department for the Americas for transaction approval, including final hold level strategies to ensure alignment of risk strategy.
• Work within a deal team environment supporting Senior Portfolio Managers in development and analysis of financing structures to identify M&A and corporate recapitalization opportunities.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, or a related field.
• 6 months or more of credit analyst, credit risk, accounting, due diligence, private equity, or financial modeling experience in a banking or financial services environment.
• 1-2 years of Corporate Banking Credit Analyst, Underwriting, or Rating Agency Credit Risk Analyst experience.
• Experience performing credit analysis or underwriting debt products, corporate loan and credit products, capital raising, and transaction banking.
• Completion of formal credit training is a plus.
• Strong financial aptitude and broad analytical ability.
• Excellent communication skills including business writing, editing, and proofreading.

Reporting to senior analysts and industry experts, the Analyst Leveraged Finance leads supervision and review of an investment analyst team building financial and analytic models for private debt issuers on the company's proprietary cloud-based platform. Partnering with stakeholders across engineering and sales, this role shapes product enhancements and data quality improvements that serve some of the largest asset management firms globally.

Primary Duties

• Supervise and review a team of investment analysts extracting business and financial data from company financial reports and organizing data within the analytics platform.
• Review detailed financial models built by the team, including P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, Capital Structure, Relative Performance metrics, and Ratio Analysis.
• Monitor and review receipt of financial data feeds from third-party vendors.
• Build industry and subject matter expertise and technical skills to generate product enhancements.
• Provide support to users and assist in resolving ad hoc queries from customers in an efficient manner.
• Partner with a wide variety of stakeholders from engineering to sales on product development.
• Contribute to continuous improvement by generating ideas to improve data products and building prototypes to validate requirements.
• Participate in ad hoc projects to improve quality of the data set.

Skills and Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, or a related discipline; CFA and MBA a plus.
• Minimum 5 years of buy-side or sell-side experience in leveraged finance or as a high yield analyst.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills including tenacity to resolve complex issues.
• Strong PC skills, particularly Microsoft Excel.
• Experience with Bloomberg, Refinitiv, IHS Markit, and CapIQ.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and customer service experience.
• Keen attention to detail, particularly with regard to accurately handling data.

Sitting at the intersection of credit analysis and risk assessment, the Analyst Leveraged Finance conducts independent evaluation of M&A finance, leveraged lending, project finance, and cross-border transactions proposed by Front Office, including macro-economic, industry, and financial statement analysis. Operating across a designated portfolio, this role monitors adherence to risk policies and regulatory requirements while building institutional knowledge in banking products and credit markets.

Duties

• Review and analyze credit requests submitted by Front Office in all aspects, including limit structure, historical financial performance, and assumptions used to prepare base and stress case financial projections.
• Provide and document recommendations on Front Office credit proposals.
• Articulate credit risk view with respect to the bankability of Front Office requests and their conformity with the Bank's policies and procedures.
• Provide comments and recommendations on key terms and conditions, approval conditions, policy exceptions, internal risk rating, and post-lending requirements.
• Assist Front Office account officers with loan structuring, loan exposure management, and on-site due diligence as needed.
• Conduct annual and quarterly reviews of existing credits as required by Bank policy.
• Monitor industry trends and assess impact of client-specific negative news from a portfolio perspective.
• Develop relevant industry knowledge for the assigned portfolio and expertise in banking products and regulatory requirements.

Experience and Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required, preferably in Finance, Economics, Law, or Accounting; Master's degree preferred.
• CFA, CPA, or FRM preferred.
• 1+ year at Associate level or 3+ years at AVP level of relevant experience in credit analysis and underwriting of structured finance lending.
• Sound understanding of credit risk management and familiarity with regulatory frameworks and related metrics.
• Broad knowledge of credit markets and specific products including corporate loans, structured loans, leveraged loans, M&A finance, project finance, and trade finance.
• Bilingual ability in Mandarin and English preferred.

A key member of the Leveraged Finance Group, the Analyst Leveraged Finance builds fully integrated three-statement financial models and drafts offering memorandums to support LBO, acquisition, recapitalization, and refinancing transactions in the middle market. Collaborating across industry sector teams, the Financial Sponsor Group, and external lenders and investors, this role delivers comprehensive due diligence and client relationship support that enables the firm's investment banking clients to execute financing strategies.

Accountabilities

• Analyze financial statements and related data to assess historical financial performance, current conditions, and outlook for client companies and prospects.
• Build detailed, fully integrated three-statement financial models to analyze the impact of alternative transaction and capital structures on cash flows, covenant cushions, and investor rates of return.
• Assess information required to perform all pertinent analyses, compile information request lists, track information gathered, and assist lenders and investors in their due diligence processes.
• Draft offering memorandums, management presentations, and other communications with clients and investors.
• Participate in client meetings and drafting sessions.
• Support client relationship development by forming a detailed understanding of client needs and challenges, providing professional and responsive service, and anticipating client needs.
• Research current and prospective client companies, comparable companies, transactions, and industries, and monitor and update client and debt and equity databases.
• Mentor summer analysts and invest in teaching subsequent classes of analysts, imparting best practices.

Education and Experience

• Pursuing an undergraduate bachelor's degree with anticipated graduation between December 2022 and June 2023.
• Cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above preferred, open to all applicants.
• General understanding of accounting and finance.
• Strong analytical and quantitative skills.
• Strong computer skills, specifically Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills.
• Highly motivated, detail-oriented team player with adaptability to a constantly changing environment.

Consistent execution of leveraged buyout and recapitalization transactions depends on the Analyst Leveraged Finance, who underwrites and manages new leveraged cash flow and enterprise value deals for private equity sponsored clients rotating across industry sector teams within the Private Equity Sponsor Group. Based within a deal-driven environment, this role supports portfolio management activities and business development efforts alongside private equity groups, investment banks, and management teams of current and prospective borrowers.

Role Responsibilities

• Underwrite and manage new leveraged cash flow and enterprise value transactions for private equity sponsored buyouts and recapitalizations.
• Structure deals including first and second lien, unitranche, and selective mezzanine arrangements.
• Conduct initial screening of credit requests, extensive financial analysis, cash flow modeling, and industry and company analysis.
• Assist in the closing of new transactions.
• Support portfolio management activities, including analyzing the performance of portfolio accounts monthly and interfacing with company senior management teams.
• Work with private equity groups, investment banks, financial intermediaries, financial advisors, and management teams of current or prospective borrowers.

Background and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Accounting, Finance, or Economics preferred.
• 1.5 to 3 years of experience from one of the following: completion of a major money center bank formal credit training and analyst program with new loan underwriting experience, completion of an investment banking corporate finance analyst program, or M&A transaction advisory and financial due diligence in a large accounting or consulting firm.
• Strong financial analysis, research, and business due diligence skills.
• Strong analytical and written communication skills.
• Oriented toward a deal-driven, M&A transactional environment.
• Preference for candidates residing in or easily relocatable to the Chicago area.