When you join Sallie Mae, you become a champion for all students.We're on a mission to power confidence as students begin their unique journey. To help them plan their higher education, successfully finish, and prepare for life after school. To help them Start smart. Learn big.
Students need guidance navigating this important time in their life. They need someone who acknowledges that their education path is unique. They need a partner willing to evolve and not only meet but surpass their expectations. We're changing. Because students need a better way.
We're looking for people who are excited to drive this transformation. To break barriers and think of new ways to adapt, help, and create better experiences for students-and for each other.
This is where diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and perspectives matter. It's where you're empowered to bring your authentic self to work.
Feeling your best allows you to do your best. Our benefits take care of the whole you-from physical and mental to financial and professional. You'll get opportunities to further your education and career, support for you and your family (including your pets!), paid time off to volunteer for the things that matter to you, and more.
We're obsessed with impact and making a real difference. For us, that means putting relationships first, asking "why not?" when tackling challenges, and continuously learning new skills.
Come do more than join something, change something. For students, for future generations, for the future of education.
What You'll ContributeThe Senior Manager, Commercial Credit Administration will serve as a key first line of defense risk leader responsible for the credit assessment, onboarding approval, and ongoing monitoring of for-profit school partners. This role ensures institutional risk remains within Sallie Mae's risk appetite, while supporting sustainable growth through strong partnership with Relationship Management and cross-functional stakeholders.
This position will be responsible for performing commercial underwriting and institutional risk assessments based on audited financial statements, financial stability, management strength, governance practices, and student outcome performance. The role requires independent judgment on moderate to highly complex risk decisions and frequent interaction with senior leadership and governance forums.
The Senior Manager will also play a critical role in establishing and maintaining controls, policies, and procedures governing for-profit school risk, including on-site campus assessments, review of regulatory actions, marketing practices, and discharge activity.
What You'll DoCommercial Underwriting & Institutional Credit Assessment (25%)- Lead commercial underwriting and credit reviews for for-profit school partners, including analysis of audited financial statements, liquidity, cash flow sustainability, leverage, and operating performance.
- Assess management quality, ownership structure, governance, and strategic stability as part of institutional risk determinations.
- Evaluate student outcome indicators, including current loan performance, delinquency trends, cohort behavior, and discharge claims, and incorporate findings into credit decisions.
- Provide clear, well-documented risk recommendations for new school onboarding, renewals, and material relationship changes.
- Present underwriting conclusions and risk assessments to internal credit committees and senior stakeholders.
Ongoing Monitoring & Portfolio Risk Management (25%)- Oversee ongoing monitoring of approved schools, including periodic financial reviews, performance scorecards, and early-warning indicators.
- Identify emerging risks related to financial deterioration, regulatory exposure, operational changes, or adverse student outcomes.
- Partner with Relationship Management to ensure risk insights are incorporated into client strategy, engagement, and escalation decisions.
- Recommend enhanced monitoring, remediation plans, or risk actions when thresholds or risk appetite limits are breached.
Cross-Team Partnership & Relationship Management Support (20%)- Act as a strategic risk partner to Relationship Management, providing credit and risk guidance to support informed engagement with school partners.
- Collaborate closely with Credit Risk, Compliance, Legal, Operations, and Product teams to align institutional risk management with enterprise objectives.
- Participate in joint meetings with Relationship Management and school leadership, including on-site campus visits, to assess operational, governance, and reputational risk.
- Support Relationship Management in evaluating school-initiated changes, growth plans, or strategic initiatives through a risk lens.
Controls, Governance & First Line of Defense (20%)- Design, implement, and maintain first-line controls, policies, and procedures governing for-profit school underwriting and monitoring.
- Lead first-line testing and monitoring activities to ensure adherence to internal standards and regulatory expectations.
- Review and assess commission actions, school websites, marketing practices, and public disclosures for potential credit, compliance, or reputational risk.
- Oversee review and escalation of borrower defense claims, discharge activity, and regulatory actions related to institutional behavior.
- Partner with Law & Compliance to implement new or revised guidance impacting school risk management.
People Leadership & Risk Culture (10%)
- Coach and lead initiatives involving across teams.
- Establish consistent underwriting standards, documentation expectations, and monitoring discipline across the team.
- Foster a culture of accountability, strong risk judgment, and continuous improvement.
- Support recruitment, onboarding, and training of new team members as needed.
Travel Requirements: This role includes periodic travel to school campuses to support underwriting, monitoring, and risk assessments, including meetings with school leadership and operational reviews.
The above information is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by employees assigned to this job; it is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees in this role.
What you haveMinimum Qualifications- Bachelor's degree in finance, Accounting, Economics, Business, or related field (or equivalent experience).
- 5+ years of experience in commercial credit, underwriting, institutional risk, financial risk management, or related disciplines.
- Strong experience analyzing audited financial statements and evaluating institutional or corporate counterparties.
- Experience with SQL, Python, R, or other programming languages commonly used in analytics.
- Familiarity with data visualization tools such as Tableau, Power BI, or similar.
- Demonstrated experience mentoring teams and influencing cross-functional stakeholders.
- Strong understanding of risk governance, regulatory expectations, and first line of defense responsibilities.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to present to senior management.
Preferred Qualifications- Deep expertise in commercial credit and/or credit risk management, including underwriting, monitoring, and portfolio risk assessment.
- Experience underwriting or managing risk for regulated or complex counterparties, preferably within education, financial services, or similarly regulated industries.
- Familiarity with student loan performance metrics, borrower defense, discharge claims, or reputational risk drivers.
- Experience partnering closely with Relationship Management or client-facing teams to balance growth objectives with risk discipline.
- Experience conducting on-site institutional or operational reviews, including campus visits and management meetings.
The Americans with Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits discrimination by employers, in compensation and employment opportunities, against qualified individuals with disabilities who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the "essential functions" of a job. A function may be essential for any of several reasons, including: the job exists to perform that function, the employee holding the job was hired for his/her expertise in performing the function, or only a limited number of employees are available to perform that function.
Feeling your best helps you do your best: Our benefits take care of the whole you-so you can build your work around your life (not the other way around!). - Competitive base salaries
- Bonus incentives
- Generous PTO, Floating Holidays and 12 Federal Holidays observed
- Support for financial-well-being and retirement 401k with employer match
- Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, hospital indemnity, critical illness, pet insurance and more
- Employer paid short-term/long-term disability and basic life insurance
- Flexible hybrid working arrangements.
- Paid parental leave and adoption reimbursement programs
- Free access to on-site staffed fitness centers (in Delaware) and gym subsidy (for locations outside Delaware)
- Confidential counseling support (EAP), Health Advocacy services and Wellness program with financial incentives
- Tuition Reimbursement and Family Scholarship Programs
- Career development and training opportunities
Not the right fit? Let us know you're interested in a future opportunity by clicking Introduce Yourself in the top-right corner of the page or create an account to set up email alerts as new job postings become available that meet your interest!
Sallie Mae is proud to be an equal opportunity (EEO) employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, genetic information, gender identity, disability, Veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. Click here to view the U.S. Pay Transparency Policy, here for federal job applicant notices, and here to view the California Employee Privacy Notice. Reasonable accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities in all phases of the application and employment process. To request an accommodation please call and choose option 9. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations. 
Never miss an opportunity! Create an alert based on the job you applied for.