Senior CRE Credit Originator, Distressed Debt

Leon Financial, LLC is the real estate credit platform of Leon Capital Group, a founder-led investment firm with $10B+ in assets across healthcare, real estate, financial services, and technology. Leon Financial originates and structures credit across the capital stack for institutional-quality commercial real estate, with active focus areas in industrial, multifamily, healthcare, retail, and self-storage. The platform invests permanent capital, which allows it to underwrite on asset fundamentals rather than fund lifecycle timing. Leon Financial partners with experienced sponsors and operators to deliver thoughtful, risk-adjusted credit solutions across market cycles. Position Overview This role exists to find discounted payoff (DPO) opportunities in commercial real estate and convert them into transactions Leon Financial can finance or acquire. A discounted payoff is a settlement in which a lender agrees to accept less than the outstanding loan balance to clear a distressed credit. Leon Financial supplies the capital that funds the payoff, clearing the borrower with their existing lender and placing a new, correctly sized loan on the asset. This seat owns that channel end to end. The work begins with direct coverage of the institutions holding troubled commercial real estate paper, including banks, credit unions, private debt funds, and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) special servicers, and ends at a closed transaction. Discounted payoffs are the most common structure, and the mandate extends to note purchases, A/B note splits, short sales, and forbearance-to-refinance outcomes, whichever the facts of the situation support. This is a sourcing seat first and an execution seat second. The right candidate already knows which desks to call and has negotiated discounted payoffs directly with the people who approve them. Key Responsibilities Discounted Payoff Origination and Lender Coverage: Build and maintain direct coverage of institutions holding distressed and sub-performing commercial real estate loans, including regional and money-center banks, credit unions, private debt funds, life insurance companies, and CMBS special servicers. Develop relationships with loan sale advisors, restructuring advisors, workout counsel, and court-appointed receivers who see distressed situations before they reach the broader market. Identify borrowers with maturing, defaulted, or covenant-impaired loans where a discounted payoff, note purchase, or recapitalization produces a financeable outcome. Originate discounted payoff transactions from first contact through funded close, carrying the borrower relationship and the lender relationship in parallel. Maintain a consistent, documented pipeline of distressed debt opportunities aligned with Leon Financial's risk-adjusted return objectives. Represent Leon Financial in the market with lenders, servicers, sponsors, and intermediaries. Transaction Structuring and Execution: Structure the takeout capital that funds a discounted payoff, including senior secured bridge loans, mezzanine debt, preferred equity, and recapitalizations of complex capital stacks. Evaluate direct note purchases where acquiring the loan produces a better risk-adjusted outcome than financing the borrower. Negotiate discount terms directly with lender credit committees, special asset groups, and special servicers. Build the recovery case supporting a discount, including net present value analysis, loss severity modeling, and time-to-resolution scenarios under foreclosure and bankruptcy. Own transactions from initial sourcing through structuring, underwriting, credit approval, and closing, in partnership with internal investment, legal, and asset management teams. Analysis and Diligence: Underwrite borrower financial statements, tax returns, operating statements, and rent rolls to assess true repayment capacity. Value underlying collateral against outstanding loan balances to quantify loan-to-value exposure and available negotiating room. Assess title, lien position, guarantor exposure, intercreditor arrangements, and pending litigation affecting resolution timing. Interpret loan documents, forbearance agreements, and intercreditor agreements to identify structural leverage before entering negotiation. Qualifications Ten or more years originating, acquiring, or resolving commercial real estate credit, with a verifiable history of closed transactions. Demonstrated track record sourcing distressed or special situations commercial real estate opportunities directly from lenders, servicers, or loan sale processes. Direct experience negotiating and closing discounted payoffs, note purchases, or non-performing loan portfolio acquisitions. Established relationships with decision-makers inside bank special asset groups, credit union workout teams, private credit funds, or CMBS special servicers. Command of commercial real estate underwriting across multiple property types, with depth in one or more of Leon Financial's core focus areas. Working knowledge of foreclosure procedures, bankruptcy process, receivership, and loan documentation sufficient to assess resolution risk independently. Proven ability to operate autonomously with high accountability and minimal oversight. Bachelor's degree in finance, real estate, economics, accounting, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience. What This Role Is Not Not a workout or loss mitigation seat managing loans already held on the balance sheet. Not a training, development, or ramp-up role. Not a junior or mid-career origination role. Not a brokerage or third-party advisory position. Not suitable for candidates who have sourced exclusively through sponsor and broker channels. Ideal Background The right candidate typically comes from one of the following: A distressed debt or opportunistic real estate fund that acquires non-performing loans directly from lenders. A special situations or loan sale advisory practice at a national commercial real estate services firm, with subsequent principal-side experience. A bank or private credit special assets group, where the candidate moved from resolving loans to sourcing them. A CMBS special servicer, where the candidate managed borrower negotiations at scale and then moved to the buy side. A private real estate credit platform where the candidate built a rescue capital or distressed origination channel from scratch. Why Leon Financial Permanent capital with a long-term investment horizon and no fund lifecycle pressure, which matters in a strategy where opportunity timing cannot be forecast. Founder-led culture with direct access to executive leadership and real decision-making authority. A clean mandate to build a new origination channel rather than inherit an existing book. AI-native operating mandate, where every team member is expected to be a power user building toward AI-enabled work. High-performance, lean team with high accountability and no bureaucracy. Competitive compensation and total rewards package. #J-18808-Ljbffr