About ABF Global Search — Alternative Credit Executive Search

ABF Global Search is a boutique executive search firm built around alternative credit and is a member of the Structured Finance Association — the leading US trade body for the structured-credit ecosystem. The practice has existed in one form or another for more than thirty years, placing the senior investment, origination, structuring, trading, and leadership professionals who run this market. Bill Ebinger founded the firm and still runs it. The network, built one conversation at a time, now covers over 35,000 credit professionals across the full alternative credit universe.

We don’t do generalist search. Every mandate we take is in a corner of the credit markets we know — private credit, asset-based finance, CLOs, structured credit, securitized products, specialty finance, real estate debt, fund finance, and venture debt. Clients hire us because we know the seats, the platforms, and the people. We say no to mandates outside that scope.

What We Do

We place senior professionals across the full alternative credit market. The seats range from platform heads and portfolio managers to originators, underwriters, structurers, traders, workout specialists, and capital markets leads. Seniority typically runs from senior individual contributors through C-suite and platform heads.

Every vertical in alternative credit has its own vocabulary, deal flow, and economics. A direct lending originator is not a CLO portfolio manager. A CMBS trader is not a fund finance structurer. We run our practice with that specificity — candidates get evaluated on the actual language of the seat, not a generic credit framework.

The Market We Serve

Alternative credit is the set of credit strategies outside traditional bank lending and the public investment-grade and high-yield bond markets. It’s where most of the growth in institutional credit has happened since the financial crisis. Global private credit AUM is above $2 trillion and expected to approach $4 trillion by 2030 (Moody’s, 2026). Private asset-based finance alone sits at about $7 trillion globally. The CLO market is around $1.3 trillion. U.S. structured credit outstandings exceed $13 trillion.

The reason alternative credit is growing: banks retreated from asset-intensive and middle-market lending under Dodd-Frank and Basel III capital rules, and non-bank lenders — alternative asset managers, insurance companies, BDCs, direct lenders, specialty finance platforms — filled the gap. That’s still playing out, and the senior talent market follows the capital.

Our Clients

• Alternative asset managers running multi-strategy credit platforms — private credit, ABF, CLOs, structured credit
• Insurance companies building internal credit investment teams and CFO platforms
• Banks with structured credit, securitization, direct lending, and fund finance desks
• BDCs — public and non-traded vehicles at the center of direct lending
• Hedge funds and credit-opportunities funds across the full product range
• Private equity-backed credit platforms building franchises around specific verticals
• Specialty finance platforms — standalone, PE-backed, and inside larger asset managers
• Pensions, sovereign wealth funds, foundations, endowments, and family offices building direct credit exposure

What We Specialize In

We cover the full alternative credit universe. Each link below goes to a dedicated practice page with details on strategies, hiring clients, and typical roles:

• Asset-Based Finance
• Private Credit
• CLOs
• Securitized Products
• Structured Credit
• Structured Products
• Real Estate Debt
• Fund Finance
• Venture Debt
• Specialty Finance
• Alternative Credit (firm-wide)

Why ABF Global Search

Thirty years of relationships. Our network of over 35,000 credit professionals was built directly, one conversation at a time. Not pulled from a database. Not bought from a list. That matters because the best senior professionals at tier-one platforms don’t apply to job boards — they move through direct conversations.

Product fluency across every vertical. A CLO portfolio manager, a CMBS structurer, a fund finance originator, and a venture debt underwriter all live in different worlds. We know each of them — the vocabulary, the structures, the platforms, the pay, the career paths. We test candidates against that, not against a generic framework.

Cross-product insight. Talent flows across verticals. A structurer at a bank CMBS desk may move to a private credit CLO platform. A head of ABF may leave to launch a dedicated fund. Because we cover the full alternative credit market under one roof, we see those moves and can tell those stories.

Pace. Alternative credit hires close in weeks, not quarters. Our mandates usually do.

Boutique, not generalist. We run a focused practice by design. That means we say no to mandates outside alternative credit, and it means every search gets senior attention.

How We Work

Each engagement starts with an intake call to map the mandate — the platform economics, the seat, the team context, the compensation parameters, and what “good” looks like. From there:

1. Market mapping. We pull an initial target list from our network of senior professionals in the relevant sub-vertical, cross-referenced against the client’s brief.
2. Outreach and screening. We reach candidates directly — not through job boards — and screen against both the technical requirements and the cultural fit.
3. Shortlist delivery. A curated slate of candidates, each with a write-up on background, reason for interest, and fit notes.
4. Interview process management. We run the process end-to-end — scheduling, references, feedback loops, closing dynamics.
5. Offer and close. We manage the comp negotiation and the candidate-side dynamics through to signed offer and start date.

Most searches run three to eight weeks from kickoff to close. Platform-head and multi-seat builds take longer and involve parallel tracks.

Leadership

ABF Global Search was founded by and is run by Bill Ebinger. Bill has been recruiting in credit markets for more than three decades, starting in the early days of modern securitization and expanding as the alternative credit universe grew. Read more at the Bill Ebinger bio page.

Connect With Us

We’re hiring from across the alternative credit market every week. If you’re launching a new platform, adding a senior seat, or building a full team, we can help.

• For clients: Schedule a Client Search Consultation
• For candidates: Submit a Candidate Profile
• Direct: Bill Ebinger | Founder, ABF Global Search | bill@abfglobalsearch.com | 917-719-6413