Managing Director of Capital Markets (Houston)

Our SelectLeaders client is seeking a highly entrepreneurial, senior commercial real estate professional to lead and expand the firm's capital markets and business development efforts. This individual will be responsible for sourcing, cultivating, and managing relationships with debt providers, equity investors, family offices, institutional capital, private credit funds, banks, brokers, developers, and other strategic partners.

The ideal candidate is a proven relationship builder and dealmaker with an existing book of capital sources, strong knowledge of commercial real estate finance, and the ability to independently create and advance opportunities. This is not a passive internal role. The successful candidate will be expected to actively originate business, attend conferences and industry events, build the firm's market presence, help structure transactions, and work closely with senior leadership to grow the company's debt, equity, advisory, and credit enhancement platforms.

Responsibilities

Capital Markets Leadership

1. Help lead the firm's debt and equity capital markets platform across acquisitions, development, refinancing, recapitalizations, and structured finance transactions.
2. Maintain and expand relationships with banks, bridge lenders, private credit funds, debt funds, family offices, LP investors, institutional equity groups, foreign investors, and other capital providers.
3. Source and place senior debt, mezzanine debt, preferred equity, LP equity, GP equity, corporate-level financing, and other capital solutions.
4. Evaluate financing structures, lender and investor terms, leverage constraints, pricing, recourse, covenants, guarantees, and execution risk.
5. Work with sponsors and internal teams to position transactions effectively for the appropriate capital audience.

Business Development & Origination

1. Originate new opportunities through personal relationships, referrals, industry events, conferences, broker networks, lenders, developers, and strategic partnerships.
2. Leverage an existing book of capital relationships while actively developing new investor and lender relationships on behalf of the firm.
3. Represent the firm at major industry conferences, lender meetings, investor events, site visits, and networking functions.
4. Identify opportunities for the firm to provide capital advisory, debt placement, equity placement, credit enhancement, balance sheet support, or other strategic services.

Qualifications

1. 8+ years of relevant commercial real estate, capital markets, investment banking, private equity, debt brokerage, lending, development, or real estate advisory experience.
2. Demonstrated commercial real estate finance experience across debt, equity, structured capital, and transaction execution.
3. Existing and active relationships with meaningful capital sources, including lenders, private credit funds, family offices, equity investors, and institutional groups.
4. Proven ability to originate opportunities and independently develop business.
5. Strong understanding of commercial real estate underwriting, capital stacks, loan structures, leverage, recourse, guarantees, covenants, and equity economics.
6. Experience working across multiple asset classes, including multifamily, hospitality, industrial, office, retail, land, and development, is preferred.
7. Strong communication, presentation, negotiation, and relationship management skills.
8. Comfortable operating in an entrepreneurial environment with a high level of autonomy, accountability, and direct exposure to senior leadership.
9. Willingness to travel regularly for conferences, investor meetings, lender meetings, site visits, and transaction-related travel.

Characteristics of the Ideal Candidate

1. Natural hustler with a strong sense of urgency and ownership.
2. Highly relationship driven and comfortable opening doors that others cannot.
3. Commercially sharp, credible with sophisticated capital providers, and able to speak fluently about transactions and market conditions.
4. Comfortable wearing multiple hats across origination, relationship management, deal structuring, execution, and strategic growth.
5. Willing to be directly accountable for producing business rather than simply supporting internal processes.
6. Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to build a platform, not merely fill a seat.

Performance Expectations

Success in this role will be measured by:

1. New debt, equity, and strategic capital relationships added to the firm.
2. Opportunities sourced and converted into active mandates or transactions.
3. Closed financing, equity placement, advisory, and credit enhancement transactions.
4. Revenue and fee generation attributable to the individual's relationships and efforts.
5. Quality and advancement of the firm's capital markets pipeline.
6. Increased visibility and credibility for the firm within the commercial real estate and capital markets community.