Experienced Associate, Asset-Backed Finance

Lincoln International is seeking an Associate with fixed income structured product experience to join what it calls its rapidly growing Valuations & Opinions Group, in London, posted 25 August 2026. The work: preparing, completing and reviewing financial models and sophisticated valuation analyses; writing and reviewing valuation reports and presentations; valuing and analysing mortgage whole loans, student loans and consumer loans as well as RMBS, CMBS, CLO, ABS and other structured finance securities; driving the development and refinement of valuation models and approaches to determine inputs including loss and prepayment vectors and appropriate secondary market spreads; coordinating recurring valuation projects and overseeing analysts; interacting with clients and preparing deliverables; maintaining proprietary valuation databases; tracking the capital markets; and preparing marketing materials for meetings with potential clients. Source

The vocabulary in that list is the job, so take it slowly. Asset-backed finance means lending where the collateral is a pool of financial assets rather than a company: mortgages, student loans, consumer loans. Those pools get packaged into securities - RMBS against residential mortgages, CMBS against commercial ones, ABS against consumer receivables, CLOs against portfolios of corporate loans. Valuing them is not a company DCF: what you forecast is how much of the pool defaults (the loss vector) and how fast borrowers repay early (the prepayment vector), and then what spread over a benchmark the secondary market would demand today. That is a credit and statistics job with a valuation wrapper, and it is why the posting asks for a degree in mathematics or statistics alongside finance.

Two words in the title tell you what this is not. 'Experienced' is doing exactly what it says: this is a lateral hire, with two to five years of structured products behind you. And the seat sits in a valuations practice, not on a structuring or origination desk - you mark positions other people created, on recurring engagements, with a proprietary database behind you. If you want to build the deal rather than price it, this is not that seat, and the difference matters for what your CV says two years later.

The team is the Asset-Backed Finance seat inside Lincoln's Valuations & Opinions Group, which the firm calls rapidly growing; valuations and fairness opinions are one of the three service lines the firm names for itself alongside M&A advisory and private funds and capital markets advisory. The posting says Associates interact closely with the firm's senior bankers and with clients' senior executives, are heavily involved in every aspect of a valuation and ultimately master executing one from start to finish, contribute to Analysts' development and support new business development. It calls the responsibilities more entrepreneurial than at other firms, says the Asset-Backed Finance position offers an opportunity to become an expert in valuations, and describes the successful Associate as an assertive, motivated self-starter in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment. Source

'Asset-Backed Finance' names the asset class you would mark, not a financing desk: whole loans and the securities built on them, valued on recurring engagements. On a growing practice the entrepreneurial line means something concrete - the responsibilities have you driving the development of the valuation models and approaches as well as running them, and the marketing-materials line means you would help win the mandates too. Expect the interview to be about how you mark a structured position and defend the assumptions behind it, not about how you would raise or structure the financing.

Lincoln International, Inc. is NYSE-listed as LCLN and describes itself as an investment banking adviser to business owners and to senior executives of leading private equity firms and their portfolio companies, and to public and private companies, with more than 1,400 professionals in more than 30 offices across 14 countries. Valuations and fairness opinions are one of its three stated service lines, so this is core business rather than a bolt-on. Its UK entities, Lincoln International LLP and IMAS Corporate Finance LLP, are authorised and regulated by the FCA. The working pattern is stated: in the office Monday to Thursday, with the option to work remotely or from the office on Fridays. Source

15 people have held London roles at Lincoln International as a whole since 2018 - a firm-level count, and the London office is too small for us to publish a separate number for the valuations practice.

A specialist mid-level seat, opened in late August 2026 into a practice the firm itself calls rapidly growing, is capacity-driven hiring: there is more marking work than there are people to do it. For a student who cannot apply, that is the useful part of this row - it tells you Lincoln runs a structured-credit valuations desk in London and is expanding it. Valuations is a far less crowded way into structured credit than an M&A analyst programme, and the technical ground you would build there transfers to a trading or structuring desk later.

No deadline is stated and there will not be one; a named seat closes when someone accepts. If you have the structured products background, apply now rather than after a fortnight of CV editing. We do not mark a posting closed without positive evidence, so treat it as live until Lincoln says otherwise.

Stated qualifications: two to five years of structured products experience; structuring, trading or whole loan modelling experience desirable; four to six years of professional experience in valuations preferred but not required; a bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Mathematics, Statistics or Economics from a top-tier institution with a strong academic record at both undergraduate and graduate level; an excellent analytic foundation with an advanced understanding of financial statements and valuation methodologies including DCF, LBO and comparable company analysis; advanced Excel and financial modelling; strong writing with PowerPoint and Word; and organisational skills and the aptitude to manage people and work products. Source

The hard gate: Lincoln International is not currently hiring individuals for this position who now or in the future require sponsorship for employment visa status. If you would need a Skilled Worker visa now or later, this seat is closed to you regardless of the rest of your application. Source

Say it plainly: this is an experienced hire and no student or new graduate meets the bar. Two to five years of structured products is a floor, not a preference, and the word 'Experienced' is in the title precisely so you do not waste the application. Keep the row for what it tells you about where Lincoln's London office is growing, and apply to it in two or three years' time if the structured-credit route is the one you take.