Director, Portfolio Management, Real Estate Finance

Director Of Portfolio Management

Forbright Bank is seeking a hands-on, player-coach Director of Portfolio Management to help lead its Real Estate Finance portfolio-management function. The Director will manage a nation-wide portfolio of performing commercial real estate loans, develop portfolio-management professionals, maintain strong borrower relationships, identify emerging credit and market risks before they become material problems, and use technology, data, automation, and AI to improve loan- and portfolio-level reporting, efficiency, and early-warning capability.

This role is designed for a knowledgeable lender who can combine asset-level credit judgment with portfolio-level perspective. The Director will work closely with the Managing Director of Portfolio Management, senior leadership, originations, underwriting, loan closing, legal, servicing, and other partners to turn portfolio information into clear decisions and timely action. The Director will also serve as a strategic feedback loop between portfolio performance and new-deal underwriting by analyzing trends across property types, sponsors, regional markets, and economic conditions and bringing those implications to management to inform underwriting, structuring, and portfolio strategy. Deep distressed-asset specialization is not required; meaningful exposure to borrower issues, modifications, remedies, or workouts is important. We are seeking an individual with the ability to think critically, creatively, and collaboratively to help implement best-in-class portfolio management practices in an ever-evolving environment to support a growing portfolio at a bank with ambitious goals.

The position is in Chevy Chase, MD and requires 4 days in office per week.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Portfolio Leadership and Proactive Risk Management

• Manage an assigned nation-wide portfolio of performing commercial real estate loans and ensure timely, thoughtful monitoring.
• Evaluate property performance, cash flow, sponsor strength, collateral, covenants, business plans, and relevant economic and market trends.
• Identify negative trends early, lead quarterly and ad hoc risk-rating reviews, and present clear recommendations to senior management. Analyze portfolio performance by property type, sponsor, geography, and market conditions, and translate those trends into recommendations for new-deal underwriting and portfolio strategy.
• Lead the evaluation, negotiation, underwriting, diligence, approval, and documentation of loan modifications.
• Maximize the efficiency, accuracy, and relevance of loan- and portfolio-level reporting.

Borrower Relationships and Credit Strategy

• Serve as a senior point of contact for borrowers and sponsors, building credibility through communication, preparation, responsiveness, transparency, and sound judgment.
• Evaluate and negotiate requests involving funding, waivers, extensions, modifications, covenant matters, and changes to business plans.
• Manage early-stage credit issues and lead or support modifications, restructurings, workouts, and lender-remedy strategies based on the circumstances.

Player-Coach Leadership

• Remain close to the portfolio while assigning work, reviewing analysis, coaching team members, and improving the quality and consistency of portfolio-management output.
• Develop less-experienced professionals through feedback, modeling, and direct involvement in borrower and credit situations.
• Partner effectively with various teams, including originations, underwriting, loan closing, legal (internal and external), servicing, and senior management while escalating material issues early.

Process Improvement, Technology, and Controls

• Improve portfolio-management processes, reporting, exception tracking, and early-warning tools so the team operates with greater speed, accuracy, and consistency.
• Identify practical uses of data, automation, and AI for monitoring, document review, reporting, workflow management, preparation for borrower conversations, and other processes to improve efficiency.
• Ensure that servicing, documentation, funding, compliance, and other portfolio processes have clear ownership and are completed timely, accurately, and within Bank policy.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree required
• A minimum of 8 years of commercial real estate lending, credit, portfolio management, asset management, or related experience; flexibility for an exceptional candidate.
• Direct experience managing a performing commercial real estate portfolio.
• Demonstrated borrower-facing experience, including negotiation of requests, business-plan changes, extensions, modifications, or covenant matters.
• Exposure to workouts, restructurings, troubled credits, or other lender remedies.
• Strong understanding of CRE credit, property performance, sponsor analysis, loan documents, and lender remedies.
• Ability to connect portfolio-level trends with asset-level risk and communicate clear recommendations, including implications for new-deal underwriting and portfolio strategy.
• Experience coaching, mentoring, or managing less-experienced professionals.
• Demonstrated curiosity about process improvement, data, AI, and automation.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office tools (Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel)
• Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
• Proactive and comfortable escalating potential problems early.
• Curious, analytical, commercially minded, and outward-looking about economic and property-market trends.
• Calm and credible in borrower negotiations.
• Practical problem solver who distinguishes important issues from noise.
• Collaborative, accountable, and committed to developing others.

$175,000 - $225,000 a year The pay range for this position is above. The specific rate will depend on the successful candidate's qualifications and prior experience up to $225,000 (highly experienced).

Position requirements:

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all employees are capable of performing their job position. Work is primarily conducted in an office setting while certain positions may allow for remote work through the use of technology at management discretion. The functions described below are representative of those to successfully perform duties of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable employees to perform the essential functions. While performing duties of this job, the employee may be regularly required for extended periods of time to:

• Remain in a stationary position

• Use hands and fingers

• Utilize a computer monitor with visual acuity

• Operate technology or other office machinery such as printers, scanners, etc.

• Communicate clearly verbally and/or in writing with others

Additional duties:

For Forbright Bank to remain efficient and nimble as a growing organization, team members are expected to exhibit a high level of flexibility regarding any duties that may be situationally assigned outside of this job description.

Perks/Benefits:

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans

• 4 weeks PTO

• 401k + company match

• Metro SmartTrip benefits ($50/mo)

• Remote or hybrid (4 days per week in-office) work schedules for most positions

• Incentives for purchasing solar panels, electric vehicles, biking to work, etc.

• Paid subscriptions to Veterans Compost, Capital Bikeshare, Imperfect Foods reimbursement, and more!

• The Washington Post Top Workplaces winner for four consecutive years (2023-2026)

Core principles:

Excellence: Excellence is not a goal, but a standard, reflected in the precision of our work and the quality of our decisions. Excellence is a discipline that compounds over time and creates lasting value; it must be measured and managed.

People: Our people are our greatest strength. We foster a culture of respect, inclusion, and ambition - where everyone matters. We celebrate collaboration and teamwork and prize loyalty - to one another, the company, our mission, and values.

Innovation: We invest boldly in technology, harnessing innovation not for its own sake but to make banking and lending better, faster, and smarter for our clients, more efficient for our team, and more profitable for our shareholders. By combining human insight with technological excellence, we strengthen our ability to serve, to adapt, and to succeed in a changing world. Innovation is a continuous investment in new ideas.

Sound Practices: Our foundation rests on prudence, care, integrity, and discipline. We manage credit and business risk with rigor and fundamentals-based judgment, act with transparency, and uphold the highest standards of corporate governance and regulatory compliance to ensure sustainable growth and enduring financial strength.

Distinct Value: We focus our energy where we add value. We avoid the commoditized and the ordinary, choosing to compete through insight, specialization