Senior/Lead Relationship Manager, Sales & Trading - Capital Markets

At CoBank, our Senior/Lead Relationship Manager, Sales & Trading position is responsible for (i) distributing CoBank originated loan product to our investors and managing all aspects of their coverage and (ii) facilitating secondary market transactions. The successful candidate will need to pivot between the two roles as business demands. The Sales focus will sell to and cultivate a diverse set of investors including FCS lenders, commercial banks, insurance companies, Direct Lenders and CLOs. Sales works closely with the Capital Markets Origination team and provides advice regarding the optimal syndication strategy for every market condition by knowing each investor's credit appetite, internal processes and bias. Loan Trading is a secondary market facilitation role that works closely with the lending units and the Special Assets Group to manage their balance sheets by topping up or selling down risk positions. Loan Trading is expected to execute back-to-back trades in the secondary market at the request of CoBank Relationship Managers and Farm Credit Associations. The trading role is responsible for obtaining best execution in the market via an active network of loan trading desks and knowledge of the secondary trading levels. Post trade execution, Loan Trading will monitor the settlement process and intervene when necessary. The Trader is also responsible for generating trading ideas and opportunities for consideration by CoBank RMs and our FCS partners. The position requires outstanding communication that facilitates information flow between individuals and across deal teams. The candidate will thrive in a dynamic team environment. He or she will demonstrate the flexibility and energy that enables working on multiple deal that are in different phases of their life cycle.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Sales:

• Key professional for selling all left lead loans originated by CoBank Capital Markets.
• Advise on market-clearing syndication strategies based on accurate assessment of investor appetite for current market conditions.
• Execute syndication strategies by helping to organize bank meetings, making deal sales calls, answering investor questions and advising on potential mid-course corrections.
• Help cultivate and expand the investor base to include non-FCS investors.
• Generate secondary trading volume and help identify trading ideas.
• Make intensive use of SyndTrak for internal communication and as critical repository of investor knowledge.
• Work with all of CoBank’s core industries including food, agriculture, telecom, energy and project finance.
• Work closely with Capital Market colleagues to provide market color, views and intelligence to help them better face CoBank’s issuing customers.
• Expand and promote the Capital Markets franchise by participating in frequent market commentary by contributing to the sales meetings and internal and external publications.

Loan Trading:

• Assist in managing the lending units’ balance sheets by facilitating and executing secondary market trades.
• Help cultivate and maintain a list of relationship trading desk counterparties that garners CoBank sufficient attention to achieve our objectives.
• Responsible for negotiating the terms of the trade, executing the trade confirmations and assisting the trade settlement process when required.
• Ensure all trades with the FCS are fully compliant with FCS limits and proper internal approvals are in place.
• Work closely the Relationship Managers to understand their objectives and how secondary buy/sells can help achieve those objectives.
• Responsible for idea generation that exploits market trends and generates asset growth and profitability for the lending units.
• Work closely with Capital Market colleagues (Sales, Origination and Syndicate) to provide market color, views and intelligence to help them assess market conditions to benefit CoBank’s issuing customers.
• Participates in special projects and performs other duties as assigned.
• Attend select market conferences to interface with counterparties.
• Expand and promote the Capital Markets franchise by participating in frequent market commentary by contributing to the sales meetings and internal and external publications.

Basic Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in business, finance or relevant discipline
• Ten (10) or more years of relevant experience, preferably in banking, financial services industry or agriculture; or an appropriate combination of education and experience.

Preferred Qualifications 

• Master's Degree Preferred.
• Prior experience financial markets sales.
• Prior experience network of contacts within the Farm Credit System and commercial banks.
• Prior experience formally credit trained and/or equivalent 5 years plus of credit experience.
• Knowledge of SyndTrak and ClearPar.
• Excellent business acumen, and analytical problem solving and decision making skills.
• Demonstrated skills in Bloomberg and Microsoft Office applications (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint), and other business systems.
• Demonstrated promotional, sales and marketing skills, with the ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a team environment.
• Ability to multi-task, prioritize, manage projects and deliver on commitments within tight timeframes and competing priorities.
• Excellent detail and customer service orientation.
• Excellent verbal and written communication, negotiation and interpersonal skills, with the ability to develop and maintain relationships and to communicate effectively to all levels of management, staff, and external stakeholders.