Commercial Loan Specialist

Job Description Title : Loan Ops Specialist \n Location : Baltimore , MD \n Hourly Pay : $23-24/hr \n Duration : 11 Months with extension or conversion possibility \n Overview \n The Associate will support the FID Secured Lending (FSL) origination function within Loan Operations, partnering with Business Unit deal teams and internal control functions to support new facilities, amendments, renewals, and related funding events. \n The role is responsible for driving operational readiness from initial deal intake through booking and closing, with a focus on complete documentation, accurate system setup, timely issue identification, disciplined escalation, and audit-ready evidence. \n Operating Principle: No booking or funding should proceed until required documentation, approvals, settlement details, and control checks are complete and evidenced. \n Responsibilities \n Origination Intake and Pipeline Management \n \n Review new-deal, amendment, renewal, and funding pipelines; establish clear ownership, milestones, dependencies, and target dates. \n Engage early with deal teams to obtain draft legal documentation and identify operational requirements, product structure, currencies, entities, and anticipated settlement flows. \n Maintain accurate status tracking and provide concise updates on readiness, open items, risks, and decisions required. \n Coordinate handoffs across origination, booking, funding, and post-closing servicing teams to prevent gaps or duplication. \n \n Documentation and Closing Readiness \n \n Collect and validate required closing packages, including applicable credit agreements, fee letters, closing checklists, borrowing notices, funding memos, standing settlement instructions, KYC evidence, approvals, and product-specific documentation. \n Compare operational instructions and economics to legal and approved deal terms and investigate discrepancies before booking or funding. \n Confirm that conditions required for operational setup are complete, appropriately approved, and retained in the designated repository. \n Escalate incomplete, late, or inconsistent documentation that may place closing or funding timelines at risk. \n \n Deal Setup, Booking and Funding Coordination \n \n Prepare and/or support deal, facility, borrower, lender, pricing, fee, commitment, and settlement setup in approved systems, including Loan IQ and applicable workflow tools. \n Coordinate account, entity, SSI, KYC, cash, and settlement readiness with relevant internal teams. \n Support pre-closing validation, maker-checker review, funding memo alignment, and release-readiness checks. \n Monitor closing-day activity, promptly resolve exceptions, and communicate material risks or dependencies to management and business partners. \n Complete post-closing checks to confirm that booked terms, balances, commitments, cash flows, fees, and retained evidence align with approved documentation. \n \n Risk, Controls and Governance \n \n Execute assigned controls accurately and on time, including checklist completion, evidence retention, reconciliations, exception tracking, and escalation. \n Apply a control-first mindset to prevent incorrect bookings, late or failed fundings, settlement errors, inaccurate invoicing, and downstream books-and-records issues. \n Maintain a clear audit trail of source documentation, approvals, updates, exceptions, and resolution evidence. \n Follow applicable procedures, approval authorities, information-handling requirements, and segregation-of-duties standards. \n Identify recurring breaks or capacity constraints and contribute to root-cause analysis, process standardization, and sustainable remediation. \n \n Stakeholder and Client Service \n \n Partner with Business Unit deal teams, Credit, Legal, KYC/AML, Controllers, Treasury, Technology, Asset Management, and other Operations teams. \n Provide timely, accurate, and transparent status updates, with clear ownership and next steps for open items. \n Respond to internal and external inquiries professionally and route servicing matters to the appropriate team after closing. \n Build constructive working relationships while maintaining strong challenge when documentation, approvals, or controls are incomplete. \n \n Qualifications \n Required Qualifications \n \n Bachelor's degree or equivalent relevant experience. \n Experience in loan operations, lending operations, transaction management, middle office, or a comparable financial-services control function. \n Working knowledge of the loan lifecycle, including new-deal setup, amendments, funding, settlement, fees, and servicing handoffs. \n Strong attention to detail, organization, and ability to manage multiple time-sensitive transactions and dependencies. \n Clear written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to escalate issues concisely and factually. \n Demonstrated control mindset, sound judgment, accountability, and disciplined follow-through. \n Proficiency with Microsoft Office and ability to learn loan booking and workflow platforms. \n \n Preferred Qualifications \n \n Hands-on experience with Loan IQ. \n Exposure to secured lending, warehouse facilities, syndicated or bilateral loans, subscription finance, direct lending, commercial real estate, asset-backed lending, CLO financing, or residential warehouse lending. \n Experience interpreting credit agreements, fee letters, borrowing notices, funding memos, closing checklists, and settlement instructions. \n Experience working with front-office deal teams and cross-functional partners in a high-volume, deadline-driven environment. \n Familiarity with maker-checker controls, operational risk management, reconciliations, metrics, and audit-ready evidence standards. \n \n \n Russell Tobin Disclaimer \n Russell Tobin is a leading minority-owned professional and technical recruitment and staffing advisory organization and a member of the Pride Global network. \n Applicant Privacy Disclosure \n Russell Tobin is committed to protecting applicant privacy. Information collected during the application and hiring process may include identifiers, professional or employment-related information, voluntary information, and sensitive information where legally permitted, including information such as Social Security number and date of birth. \n This information may be used to evaluate qualifications and eligibility, facilitate employment opportunities, administer staffing services, and fulfill applicable legal and business requirements. Applicants should review the applicable Applicant Privacy Disclosure and Privacy Policy for additional information regarding the collection, use, disclosure, and retention of personal information. \n Benefits \n Eligible employees may have access to benefits including: \n \n Medical, dental, and vision coverage \n Supplemental accident, critical illness, and hospital indemnity coverage \n 401(k) retirement savings plan \n Life and disability insurance \n Employee Assistance Program (EAP) \n Legal support \n Auto, home, and pet insurance \n Vendor discounts \n \n Benefit eligibility and availability may vary based on assignment, employment status, location, and applicable plan terms. \n Equal Opportunity Employer \n Russell Tobin is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants are considered without regard to legally protected characteristics. \n Fair Chance \n Russell Tobin complies with applicable Fair Chance laws and regulations, including the California Fair Chance Act and applicable local ordinances. \n Accommodations \n Russell Tobin is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and applicants who require an accommodation during the application and hiring process.