Senior Director, Global Risk Management

• Reports To: Chief Operating Officer
• Job Type: Full-time
• Region: Global
• Location: USA, Colombia, Costa Rica, Kenya, México, Nicaragua, Peru
• Start Date: Immediately
• Contact: Please apply using the link below

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About Us

Agriculture is the key to unlocking a better future for billions of people. But while rural families sustain the world, they struggle to sustain themselves. At the same time, they face increasingly urgent challenges, from volatile crop prices to extreme weather.

Root Capital is a social impact investor that provides financing and training to agricultural enterprises so that they can transform rural communities. We work with enterprises in the “missing middle” of agricultural finance: those whose credit needs are too big for microfinance and too small or risky for commercial banks.

Since 1999, we have loaned over $2B to more than 800 businesses and we have trained more than 1,800—improving the lives of 10 million people. As these agricultural businesses succeed and scale, they become engines of impact for their local communities, raising incomes, creating jobs, uplifting women and young people, preserving vulnerable ecosystems, and building rural prosperity.

Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Root Capital has more than 180 employees operating in more than a dozen countries in Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, and has associated offices in Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Colombia, Peru, Ghana, and Kenya.

Position Overview

The Senior Director, Global Risk Management manages the Risk Management Department and is responsible for coordinating and overseeing global portfolio risk management, including market and counterparty risk management. The Senior Director is a senior credit approver, responsible for reviewing and approving credit transactions and will work to ensure adequate underwriting, structuring, and compliance with credit policy in order to maintain a healthy portfolio that reflects the organization’s risk appetite. This role also provides leadership related to the due diligence and preparatory work related to entry into new segments, including the development of segment specific underwriting guidelines. The Senior Director chairs the internal Risk Appetite Committee and Risk Oversight Committee and is the staff liaison to the board level Credit Sub-Committee. This position will continuously identify, develop, and implement credit process improvements, including underwriting standards and tools, risk rating systems, credit structuring standards, credit approvals, and borrower performance monitoring and will develop and manage portfolio level monitoring.

Duties & Responsibilities

Purpose (50%)

Credit Risk Oversight & Policy Development

• Chair the Risk Appetite and Risk Oversight Committees
• Act as staff liaison to the Credit Sub-Committee of the Board of Directors
• Coordinate with Finance and Legal around Enterprise Risk related activity
• Establish credit policy and procedures, underwriting guidelines, and portfolio limits.
• Oversee problem loan management and collections and workout. to ensure effective resolution and mitigation of risks across regions. Oversee the processing of claims with third party guarantors.
• Lead the development and enhancement of new segment readiness processes, including creating and refining underwriting standards and guidelines for industries, geographies, and credit structures, in collaboration with cross-functional teams.
• Oversee and improve the tools and workflows supporting segment readiness to ensure sound market entry and alignment with organizational risk policies.

Credit Operations

• Ensure effective dissemination and adherence to credit policies and procedures.
• Develop and continuously improve underwriting and monitoring tools, including credit memo formats, financial spreading and modeling systems, risk rating systems, credit approvals, borrower performance monitoring and portfolio level monitoring.
• Collaborate with Client Operations to ensure related loan management systems are developed and updated to reflect updates to credit policy, procedures, and all related tools.

Credit Approvals

• Approve credit requests globally as a senior level credit approver.
• Oversee the credit approval process to ensure sound credit quality, and in close collaboration with Lending and Client Operations, ensure an efficient approval process.

Engagement (30%)

• Chair the Risk Oversight Committee, the principal forum for informing executive leadership about portfolio results and credit quality.
• Chair the Risk Appetite Committee, the forum to review and approve specific risk appetite items, including policies and procedures, underwriting guidelines, and portfolio limits.
• Act as staff liaison to the Credit Sub-Committee of the Board.
• Collaborate with Client Services to adapt credit policy, procedures, and tools to strategic shifts in the business as they relate to the organization’s credit operations and risk appetite.

Delivery (20%)

• Develop and implement policies for periodic internal credit reviews to ensure compliance with established policies and procedures.
• Establish robust underwriting guidelines and credit structures aligned with organizational goals.
• Ensure timely and accurate credit reporting, providing updates to the COO, CEO, and Board of Directors on portfolio performance and credit risk.

Required Skills and Experience

• Deep belief in and dedication to the mission of Root Capital, with a passion for promoting inclusive and sustainable economic development and rural resilience in low- and middle-income countries.
• Bachelor’s degree; an advanced degree is a plus. Commercial credit training is a plus.
• Minimum of ten (10) years progressively responsible experience in commercial lending or related financial services; experience in microfinance or SME lending preferred.
• Excellent financial analysis and credit structuring skills; prior credit approval experience a plus
• Detail oriented.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work with a variety of stakeholders across multiple geographies.
• Excellent communication and organizational skills.
• Bilingual English/Spanish required. French fluency is a plus.
• Strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, with the ability to build a respectful and inclusive work environment.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed.
• Ability to work on central Standard time.
• Legally authorized to work in the United States, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Kenya, Ghana or Rwanda.

Applications

More information about Root Capital is available at www.rootcapital.org. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Candidates are encouraged to apply using the form below as soon as possible, making sure to include a resume and cover letter that describes your interest, qualifications, language abilities, salary requirements, and how you learned of the position. Finalist candidates will be required to provide at least three work-related references.

Root Capital provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, active military or veteran status, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy (which includes pregnancy, childbirth, medical conditions related to pregnancy and childbirth, and breastfeeding and expressing breast milk), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. Root Capital is committed to creating a dynamic work environment that upholds our leadership principles of: empowerment, equity, integrity, service, and transparency.