Senior Director, Turnaround and Restructuring, London

Ankura is a team of excellence founded on innovation and growth. This position supports the Ankura Turnaround & Restructuring practice - one of seven practices focused on client delivery services across the Firm.

Practice Overview: When a company is experiencing financial or operational challenges, our Turnaround & Restructuring (‘T&R’) practice works with management to provide the level of stability required to successfully deal with the issues at hand. By quickly assessing the situation, we develop and implement a bespoke plan, providing strategic advice to companies’ boards and investors. Our interventions maximise recoveries among stakeholders and help clients navigate financial, operational, or strategic challenges which are often incredibly complex and multi-faceted.

Ankura’s EMEA T&R practice launched in 2021 with the recruitment of a group of senior practitioners from a variety of industry-leading T&R Firms. This team complements 300+ restructuring professionals globally and a further 2,000 professionals across the wider Ankura business. With ambitious growth aspirations, we are recruiting an experienced, driven Senior Associate to our team and are looking for someone who is entrepreneurially minded and wants to progress their career in the operational turnaround and corporate restructuring market.

The difference you will make:

• Joining a team which helps businesses to address their most complex and pressing concerns - working hand in hand with the decision makers of our clients, using some of the most advanced analytics, tools, and techniques.
• Working alongside respected leaders in the restructuring community, you will continually be exposed to learning and development opportunities to further develop your technical understanding and experience as you assist companies from a variety of sectors and industries through decisive changes around the globe.
• Execute critical project deliverables to ensure these objectives are met on-time, with the highest quality.
• Bring ideas, new opportunities, and unique ways to solve challenges and reach our shared goals.
• Dedicate time to further develop and deepen Ankura’s expertise in T&R, as well as leading and supporting Ankura Senior Managing Directors in business development initiatives.

Responsibilities:

• The primary responsibilities of a Senior Associate involve organising project work streams, achieving engagement objectives and assisting with business development.
• Financial Analysis: The assimilation of complex information to assess situations and formulate action plans through pragmatic and clear advice to the project team and clients.
• Financial Modelling: Produce detailed 13-week cash flow forecasts, 3 statement financial models and subsequent analysis (including cashflow sensitivity analysis, financial baselining and forecast reviews).
• Diagnostic and Planning: Identify key immediate improvements by understanding the challenges faced by clients and advocate for their adoption with company leaders through cost reduction, operational transformation and working capital improvements.
• Scenario Planning: Generation of consensual and non-consensual turnaround and restructuring options.
• Breaking down and solving problems through quantitative thinking and analysis.
• Expertise in turnaround projects across various industries, emphasizing operational restructuring and immediate performance boosts.
• Responsible for discrete deliverables within a project, with mentorship from senior team members.
• Direct roles for developing meaningful and trust-based relationships with clients and the wider Ankura firm.
• Engage in business development activities through client interactions and participation in industry events.
• Contribute to Ankura’s T&R growth in operational and financial restructuring through active case work, client relations, and creating valuable ideas and products.

Requirements:

• Extensive work experience gained in any combination of Financial Restructuring, Performance Improvement and Value Creation and Operational Turnaround.
• A degree in Business, Finance or Engineering, and/or a financial qualification such as CFA, ACA, ACCA is preferable but not essential.
• Strong quantitative, financial, analytical and modelling skills.
• Ability to manage complex projects and multiple stakeholders as part of a wider transformation / restructuring.
• Experience of developing business plans, financial projections, and identifying / implementing restructuring solutions; experience of valuation theory, methodologies, and applications.
• Also desirable: Experience of identifying and implementing levers to improve performance, including but not limited to - cost reduction, organisation health & redesign, supply chain & procurement, growth strategies and market analysis, cash and working capital management and optimisation, manufacturing optimisation, PMI and carve-outs, process mapping and redesign and strategic and business planning.
• Experience of actively managing multiple client and stakeholder relationships and networking within the client organisation to understand their needs and help influence the client agenda.
• Strong work ethic, capable of working at pace and performing in an unstructured environment along with being a collaborative team player with positive attitude, high ethical standards, contributing to an inclusive environment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English (additional language would be advantageous) in addition to a strong presence and leadership skills.
• Powerful interpersonal skills and high level of emotional intelligence to partner with executive management teams and passion for enabling leaders to drive change within organisations.
• Relevant experience in a Big 4 firm, investment banking, restructuring consultancy or relevant industry experience would be highly beneficial.
• Willingness to travel nationally and internationally and work overtime as needed.