The Business Development Officer is responsible for generating, qualifying, and closing new asset-based lending opportunities for MidFirst Business Credit, with primary responsibility for the Texas and Oklahoma markets. This role develops and maintains a strong referral source network, identifies prospective borrowers, prescreens opportunities against MidFirst Business Credit's lending guidelines, and works closely with internal deal team members to deliver financing solutions to qualified companies. The position requires strong relationship management skills, credit judgment, disciplined sales execution, and the ability to represent MidFirst Business Credit professionally in the marketplace.
Key Responsibilities
- Maintain and expand an active referral source network consisting of lenders, bankers, private equity firms, investment bankers, brokers, industry professionals, and other centers of influence.
- Generate qualified prospect referrals from contacts, referral sources, and network relationships through consistent outreach and relationship management.
- Interact with prospective borrowers by phone, video, and in-person meetings to introduce MidFirst Business Credit and gather the credit, financial, collateral, and business information necessary to qualify opportunities.
- Attend local, regional, and national networking events and maintain active involvement in relevant industry associations, including organizations such as ACG, TMA, and SFNet.
- Evaluate deal quality and borrower fit, develop a preliminary view of credit strengths and risks, and make recommendations to MidFirst Business Credit management regarding potential opportunities.
- Prescreen prospective borrowers by reviewing financial condition, collateral quality, industry data, management background, and deal structure against MidFirst Business Credit's loan policy and sales process guidelines.
- Submit, explain, and negotiate financing proposals with qualified prospective borrowers in coordination with the National Sales Manager and internal stakeholders.
- Collaborate with underwriting, portfolio management, credit, legal, and operations teams to support an efficient closing process and strong client experience.
- Input sales activities, referral source information, prospect data, and pipeline updates in Salesforce.com and maintain timely, complete, and accurate records of all sales calling efforts.
- Represent MidFirst Business Credit in a professional, courteous, conscientious, and businesslike manner in all internal and external interactions.
Production Expectations
The Business Development Officer is expected to maintain an active pipeline and generate meaningful new business activity. Target expectations include generating approximately 50 to 75 leads annually, supporting the issuance of at least 25 term sheets, and contributing to approximately 4 to 5 annual deal closings with fundings of $20+ Million, subject to market conditions, credit approval, and strategic priorities.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree is required.
- Five to ten years of relevant business development experience in commercial lending, with a strong preference for asset-based lending experience.
- Established and effective network of referral sources, including lenders, bankers, private equity firms, investment bankers, brokers, and other deal professionals.
- Demonstrated ability to source, qualify, structure, and advance commercial finance opportunities through a disciplined sales process.
- Working knowledge of financial statement analysis, collateral evaluation, borrowing base concepts, and common asset-based lending structures.
- Strong communication, negotiation, presentation, and relationship management skills.
- Proficiency with Salesforce.com or similar customer relationship management tools, with a commitment to accurate pipeline and activity reporting.
- Ability to work independently in a remote or market-based environment while managing time, priorities, travel, and expenses responsibly.
- Entrepreneurial mindset, high personal accountability, sound judgment, and commitment to responsible growth and credit discipline.
- Willingness and ability to travel approximately 50% of the time for prospect meetings, referral source development, industry events, and internal meetings.
