Associate Director

About The Role
Grade Level (for internal use):
12

The Team
Our team consists of 21 analysts located across London, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan, and Madrid, led by an Analytical Manager. We specialize in the Retail, Food, and Leisure industries, which encompass food manufacturers, apparel and specialty retail, restaurants, travel, lodging, amusement parks, gaming, and sports companies. These sectors are significantly influenced by fluctuating consumption patterns, local regulations, and event risks. A considerable number of the companies we evaluate are owned by private equity investors, leading to highly leveraged capital structures and a substantial proportion of high-yield credits. Consequently, the work environment is fast-paced and dynamic, driven by continuous credit events arising from shifts in consumer behaviour, operational performance, regulatory changes, dividend recapitalizations, refinancings, and M&A activities.

The Impact
This is an exceptional opportunity to establish yourself as a recognized expert in credit analysis while joining our team during a period of rapid growth in new ratings within the Retail, Food, and Leisure industries. This growth is driven by relatively low interest rates, strong consumption demand—especially for leisure activities—and the necessity for companies to issue debt to finance new investments, particularly in emerging technologies. S&P Global Ratings is recognized as the leading credit rating agency in these sectors.

What You Stand To Gain
As the successful candidate, you will occupy a senior analytical position as Associate Director within a large team, representing S&P Global Ratings to the management teams of major corporate entities and investors across the EMEA region.

This role offers the opportunity to operate with extensive autonomy, requiring minimal direction while building your reputation as a trusted analyst on complex credit issues, large client relationships, and strategic analytical projects.

Responsibilities

• Manage a diverse and complex portfolio of 13-15 corporate issuers, demonstrating advanced analytical independence and applying your expertise to enhance organizational knowledge
• Contribute decisively to Rating Committee discussions, using your analytical perspective to advise on complex credit issues and influence outcomes based on thorough analysis
• Mentor and develop junior analysts in their core analytical responsibilities, providing guidance on operational processes to achieve defined goals and objectives
• Collaborate strategically with the Sector Lead as an active participant and spokesperson with investors, building and maintaining relationships with peers outside of your immediate team and function
• Ensure consistent application of appropriate rating methodologies within your team, taking accountability for operational systems while adhering to all guidelines, procedures, and standard operating policies
• Manage resources effectively to deliver sustainable credit analysis outcomes, considering multiple possible courses of action and making informed recommendations
• All employees are required to work from the office a minimum of 2 days per week.
• We require all candidates who reach the final stage of our interview process to attend at least one in-person interview, which is ordinarily at your nearest S&P Global Ratings office. This must be completed before we can proceed to an offer.

What We're Looking For
Basic Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Economics, Finance, Accounting, or related field
• A S&P employee at this level typically has 6-10 years in corporate credit analysis for high-yield entities from investment institutions, asset managers, commercial/investment banks, audit firms, or rating agencies
• Demonstrated expertise in credit analysis with broad knowledge of specialized financial fields and their market interrelationships
• Proven ability to operate with autonomy and make decisions where clear parameters exist

Additional Preferred Qualifications

• MBA, CFA, or advanced degree demonstrating commitment to professional development
• Familiarity with Retail, Food, or Leisure sectors, including understanding of consumption patterns, regulatory impacts, and event risks
• Experience with highly leveraged capital structures and private equity-owned entities
• Fluency in German will be a distinct advantage for this EMEA-focused role

About S&P Global Ratings
At S&P Global Ratings, our analyst-driven credit ratings, research, and sustainable finance opinions provide critical insights that are essential to translating complexity into clarity so market participants can uncover opportunities and make decisions with conviction. By bringing transparency to the market through high-quality independent opinions on creditworthiness, we enable growth across a wide variety of organizations, including businesses, governments, and institutions.

S&P Global Ratings is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI). S&P Global is the world's foremost provider of credit ratings, benchmarks, analytics and workflow solutions in the global capital, commodity and automotive markets. With every one of our offerings, we help many of the world's leading organizations navigate the economic landscape so they can plan for tomorrow, today.

For more information, visit

What's In It For
You?
Our Purpose
Progress is not a self-starter. It requires a catalyst to be set in motion. Information, imagination, people, technology–the right combination can unlock possibility and change the world.

Our world is in transition and getting more complex by the day. We push past expected observations and seek out new levels of understanding so that we can help companies, governments and individuals make an impact on tomorrow. At S&P Global we transform data into Essential Intelligence, pinpointing risks and opening possibilities. We Accelerate Progress.

Our People
We're more than 35,000 strong worldwide—so we're able to understand nuances while having a broad perspective. Our team is driven by curiosity and a shared belief that Essential Intelligence can help build a more prosperous future for us all.

From finding new ways to measure sustainability to analyzing energy transition across the supply chain to building workflow solutions that make it easy to tap into insight and apply it. We are changing the way people see things and empowering them to make an impact on the world we live in. We're committed to a more equitable future and to helping our customers find new, sustainable ways of doing business. We're constantly seeking new solutions that have progress in mind. Join us and help create the critical insights that truly make a difference.

Our Values
Integrity, Discovery, Partnership
At S&P Global, we focus on Powering Global Markets. Throughout our history, the world's leading organizations have relied on us for the Essential Intelligence they need to make confident decisions about the road ahead. We start with a foundation of
integrity
in all we do, bring a spirit of
discovery
to our work, and collaborate in close
partnership
with each other and our customers to achieve shared goals.

Benefits
We take care of you, so you can take care of business. We care about our people. That's why we provide everything you—and your career—need to thrive at S&P Global.

Our Benefits Include

• Health & Wellness: Health care coverage designed for the mind and body.
• Flexible Downtime: Generous time off helps keep you energized for your time on.
• Continuous Learning: Access a wealth of resources to grow your career and learn valuable new skills.
• Invest in Your Future: Secure your financial future through competitive pay, retirement planning, a continuing education program with a company-matched student loan contribution, and financial wellness programs.
• Family Friendly Perks: It's not just about you. S&P Global has perks for your partners and little ones, too, with some best-in class benefits for families.
• Beyond the Basics: From retail discounts to referral incentive awards—small perks can make a big difference.

For more information on benefits by country visit:

Global Hiring And Opportunity At S&P Global
At S&P Global, we are committed to fostering a connected and engaged workplace where all individuals have access to opportunities based on their skills, experience, and contributions. Our hiring practices emphasize fairness, transparency, and merit, ensuring that we attract and retain top talent. By valuing different perspectives and promoting a culture of respect and collaboration, we drive innovation and power global markets.

S&P Global has a Securities Disclosure and Trading Policy ("the Policy") that seeks to mitigate conflicts of interest by monitoring and placing restrictions on personal securities holding and trading. The Policy is designed to promote compliance with global regulations. In some Divisions, pursuant to the Policy's requirements, candidates at S&P Global may be asked to disclose securities holdings. Some roles may include a trading prohibition and remediation of positions when there is an effective or potential conflict of interest. Employment at S&P Global is contingent upon compliance with the Policy.

Recruitment Fraud Alert
If you receive an email from a domain or any other regionally based domains, it is a scam and should be reported to S&P Global never requires any candidate to pay money for job applications, interviews, offer letters, "pre-employment training" or for equipment/delivery of equipment. Stay informed and protect yourself from recruitment fraud by reviewing our guidelines, fraudulent domains, and how to report suspicious activity here.

Equal Opportunity Employer
S&P Global is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race/ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, marital status, military veteran status, unemployment status, or any other status protected by law. Only electronic job submissions will be considered for employment.

If you need an accommodation during the application process due to a disability, please send an email to:  and your request will be forwarded to the appropriate person.

US Candidates Only:
The EEO is the Law Poster  describes discrimination protections under federal law. Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision -

202 - Middle Professional (EEO Job Group) (inactive), 20 - Professional (EEO-2 Job Categories-United States of America), RATNGS Middle Professional Tier II (EEO Job Group)

Job ID:
322028

Posted On:

Location:
Frankfurt, Germany