Underwriting Associate

Columbia Creek is a privately held real estate investment firm focused on acquiring and repositioning distressed or mismanaged retail assets throughout the United States. Our specialty is single-floor strip malls and free-standing retail centers — from $3M local properties to $40M redevelopment projects. We operate as a lean, fast-moving team executing high-leverage strategies to unlock value through repositioning and hands-on asset management.

About the Role

We’re hiring an Underwriting Associate to act as the first responder on new property leads. Your job is to quickly (within 1 h) evaluate raw retail opportunities and turn them into investable business cases. You'll assess the potential upside, pressure-test assumptions, and help us make buy decisions — fast.

This is napkin underwriting with real impact: based on your analysis, we decide whether to make an offer. You’ll also support deeper second‑round reviews and follow‑up diligence for deals we pursue.

Responsibilities

• Underwrite property leads daily across U.S. markets, with a focus on Washington
• Quickly turn around high-level investment analyses: check zoning, pull lease comps, assess value‑add potential
• Build and maintain financial models (cash‑flow, sensitivity, DCR, IRR, equity multiple, waterfall)
• Call brokers, qualify leads, and clarify assumptions
• Conduct market and HBU analysis: rent/sales comps, zoning/FAR, demographic trends, parking requirements
• Draft concise IC memos and lender packages that clearly defend the business plan and risk profile
• Support deeper diligence for deals that move to the next phase

Requirements

• 1–3 years of hands‑on underwriting experience (real estate or investment banking) for the U.S. market
• Direct exposure to U.S. retail real estate, especially strip malls or value‑add repositioning
• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Real Estate, Economics, Engineering, or a related field
• Proficient in Excel and Google Sheets (including nested formulas, Power Query or VBA a plus)
• Demonstrated ability to model ground‑up or heavy‑value‑add projects (IRR, equity multiple, waterfall)
• Comfortable interpreting zoning codes, reading architectural drawings, and discussing site layout plans
• Clear written and verbal communication; able to distill a 50‑tab model into a five‑slide pitch
• Sharp, fast, and organized — you don’t wait for instruction, you take initiative

Benefits

• Full‑time job (8 working hours per day, Monday-Friday). Please note that we will not consider candidates planning to combine several jobs.
• Direct Impact – Your underwriting will directly influence multimillion‑ dollar investment decisions. You’ll be a key part of a lean, entrepreneurial team—not a cog in a corporate machine.
• Speed & Autonomy – We move fast and value independent thinking.
• Salary will be discussed during the interview. Paid in USD.
• Quick selection process.

Working Hours

The Managing Partners are based in Seattle (PST), and we need someone who can reliably overlap with our core working hours. Required availability: 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM PST (Monday to Friday). The remaining 2 hours are flexible. We value responsiveness during working sessions and give you autonomy for deep focus the rest of the time.