| Chief Credit Officer
Job Title: Chief Credit Officer
Reports To: President/CEO
Prepared Date: 04/2026
FLSA Status: Non-Exempt
Compensation: Executive Management Approval
Job Summary: The Chief Credit Officer (CCO) is the Bank’s senior credit executive and is responsible for the overall administration, governance, and independent oversight of the Bank’s credit risk management function. The CCO ensures adherence to the Bank’s Loan Policy, documents and escalates approved exceptions, and promotes lending practices consistent with regulatory safety and soundness standards.
The CCO oversees credit underwriting, approval, and provides credit guidance to lending staff. The position includes responsibility for reviewing significant credit relationships prior to presentation to the Directors’ Loan Review Committee, maintaining the Watch List, and reporting regularly to executive management and the Board of Directors on asset quality, problem loans, concentrations, and overall credit risk exposure to protect the Bank’s financial condition.
The CCO is responsible for oversight of the Allowance for Credit Losses (CECL), including methodology governance, analysis, and preparation, as well as portfolio stress testing. The role also coordinates independent third-party loan review and CECL model validations and presents results, findings, and management responses to the Board of Directors and relevant committees.
The CCO ensures compliance with all Bank lending policies and procedures and all applicable state and federal banking regulations, including Texas Department of Banking and Federal Reserve supervisory guidance.
Essential Job Functions:
• Serves as the Bank’s senior credit executive with oversight responsibility for credit risk management, ensuring lending practices align with Board-approved risk appetite, Loan Policy, and regulatory safety and soundness expectations.
• Oversees credit underwriting and credit approval, ensuring consistency, documentation quality, and adherence to policy and regulatory requirements.
• Establishes and administers the Bank’s loan approval authorities and credit approval limits, subject to oversight by the Directors’ Loan Review Committee, and ensures alignment with the Bank’s Loan Policy, regulatory expectations, and overall risk appetite.
• Reviews and approves significant credit exposures within authority delegated by the Directors’ Loan Review Committee; evaluates borrower financial condition, repayment capacity, and credit structure, and makes recommendations regarding credit extensions.
• Works directly with lenders to structure credit facilities appropriately and approves credit memoranda prior to presentation to the Directors’ Loan Review Committee.
• Monitors overall credit portfolio quality, including risk grading, concentrations, emerging risks, and industry exposures; identifies adverse trends and escalates concerns to senior management and the Board as appropriate.
• Has primary responsibility for the Bank’s Watch List credits and criticized/classified asset monitoring processes; ensures timely identification, risk rating accuracy, and reporting of problem loans. Approves workout plans.
• Provides regular written and oral reports to the Board of Directors and Directors’ Loan Review Committee regarding portfolio performance, credit quality trends, concentrations, classified assets, past-due credits, and overall credit risk management activities.
• Has primary responsibility for the Bank’s Loan Policy and related credit standards; recommends revisions as needed and presents policy updates to the Directors’ Loan Review Committee and the Board of Directors for approval. Ensures consistent implementation across the organization.
• Manages the day-to-day operations of the Credit Department, including credit approval workflows, exception tracking, portfolio-level concentration monitoring, and required industry and portfolio reviews.
• Supervises and develops credit analysts and credit administration staff; promotes a strong credit culture emphasizing sound judgment, independence, documentation quality, and regulatory compliance.
• Oversees the Bank’s CECL process, including allowance analysis, methodology governance, data integrity, assumptions, and documentation; ensures alignment with regulatory guidance and accounting standards.
• Coordinates independent third-party loan review engagements, including scope development, examiner-facing communication, management response tracking, and reporting of findings to executive management and the Board.
• Coordinates independent third-party CECL model validations, including model governance, validation results, remediation tracking, and presentation of outcomes and management responses to the Board of Directors.
• Oversees credit-related regulatory examinations, internal audits, and external loan review activities; serves as a primary management contact for examiners regarding credit risk management, underwriting, and portfolio quality.
• Recommends appropriate credit standards, underwriting guidelines, and portfolio risk tolerances for approval by Directors Loan Review Committee.
• Ensures lenders operate within assigned credit authority limits and promptly escalates exceptions, trends, or underwriting concerns to management.
• Identifies and reports trends in underwriting or portfolio performance that may contribute to delinquencies, non-performing assets, or charge-offs.
• Ensures credit activities comply with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations, including but not limited to BSA, OFAC, FDCPA, and internal physical security and information security policies.
• Identifies and reports potential underwriting, documentation, or credit administration deficiencies to senior management in a timely manner.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.
Education & Job Qualifications: Education & Experience:
• Undergraduate degree in finance or related areas; Masters’ degree preferred.
• Possess minimum 10 years’ experience in a progressive experience in credit related position with community or large banks or finance service firms.
Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:
• Demonstrated expertise in loan portfolio management, including portfolio composition, concentration management, credit quality trends, stress testing, and alignment with the Bank’s risk appetite and strategic objectives.
• Extensive experience approving complex commercial real estate, corporate, C&I lending, SBA lending and construction financing.
• Prior experience in regulatory examinations and preparation in policy, procedures, risk management and complete credit process.
• An ability to manage a team of employees with a broad range of experience and technical skills, as well as possess the ability to train junior underwriters.
• Ability to work with a variety of internal and external contacts to manage credit exposure while meeting both bank and the customer’s needs.
• Must be fully knowledgeable and skilled in the areas of credit and collections
• Must have sound working knowledge of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and collection activity.
• Must be able to make sound decisions related to credit & collections while adhering to bank policy and procedures.
• Possess good customer service skills in effort to solicit customer cooperation.
• Possess problem solving skills.
• Able to work independently with minimum directions.
• Possess interpersonal, written and oral communication skills.
Work Environment/Physical Demands:
• Travel – as needed.
• On-site office work conditions
This job description is not an inclusive list of all duties and responsibilities of the position. Is to perform any other job-related duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments. First Liberty Bank reserves the right to amend and change responsibilities to meet business and organizational needs.
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