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Small Business Relationship Specialist GSBDC
CenterState CEO
Customer Service
Syracuse, NY, USA
USD 65k-75k / year
Posted on Jun 10, 2025
Job Summary:
The CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity (CenterState CEO) seeks a small business relationship specialist for its small business lending and grantmaking activities. As a small business relationship specialist, you will guide clients from the application stage through loan closing, providing essential product and service information. Additionally, you will offer continuous support throughout the life of their loans, including post loan servicing support, ensuring a seamless and positive client experience.
The Relationship Specialist will also support CenterState CEO’s administrative lending activities through its Growth + Equity, The Greater Syracuse Business Development Corporation (GSBDC), and other financial tools CenterState employs. The GSBDC is a non-profit certified development company that supports small businesses through specialized lending services, including revolving loan funds and SBA 504 products. It is a separate organization which CenterState CEO staffs and supports.
In this role, you will support the management of two funds capitalized through federal grant funding to support the NYS I-SMART Corridor Tech Hub, which is managed by CenterState CEO These funds provide (1) grant funding to organizations piloting workforce development training programs and (2) grant funds to companies and other entities related to their respective co-developed technical assistance plans. You will work closely with partners, evaluate applications, ensure proper distribution of resources, and monitor outcomes of awarded projects.
All resumes should be submitted by Tuesday July 1st, 2025
Salary: $65,000 - $75,000 per year
Essential Job Duties and Responsibilities: (Additional duties may be assigned)
- Handle customer inquiries and applications for SBA 504 and economic development loan products
- Support the Small Business Loan Manager to underwrite and analyze loan applications
- Oversee and facilitate the client’s loan throughout the closing, funding, and servicing processes
- Monitor loan accounts to ensure compliance with agreed-upon terms and timely repayment.
- Support ongoing loan servicing for GSBDC’s new and existing loans, including delinquencies or default situations, and working with clients to develop solutions.
- Provide exceptional customer service to clients during the life of their loans
- Analyze data and prepare reports required for submission to SBA, Board and loan review
- Assist with other administrative tasks as needed
- Support the Small Business Loan Manager in day-to-day operations of the portfolio, including reviewing and processing applications for funding.
- Ensure compliance with federal grant regulations and guidelines, ensuring all awarded entities meet required standards.
- Monitor portfolio expenditures and ensure proper allocation of resources.
- Oversee the portfolio’s financial reporting and documentation, including grant disbursements, reimbursements, and audits.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for potential and existing approved awardees.
- Develop and maintain relationships with partners, government agencies, the federal awarding agency, awardees and other stakeholders.
- Ensure open communication with partners to address any issues related to fund distribution or program implementation.
- Oversee the application review process, working with internal teams and external stakeholders to evaluate the feasibility and impact of proposed projects.
- Track the progress of awardee projects to ensure they meet milestones and deliverables.
- Compile data and produce regular reports on the effectiveness of awardee projects, summarizing key performance indicators (KPIs) and outcomes.
- Organize and facilitate workshops or training sessions for prospective awardees, fostering knowledge sharing and collaboration.
- Stay up-to-date with relevant funding program activities to facilitate work with awardees, identifying opportunities to improve the impact of awardee projects.
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Supervisory Responsibility
This position has no supervisory responsibilities.
Position Type and Expected Hours of Work
This is a full-time position. Days and hours of work are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. but can be flexible as agreed to by portfolio leads.
Travel
No travel is expected for this position.