Associate Director, Finance

The Opportunity

Nearwater Capital is seeking an experienced accounting and reporting leader to bring an outsourced function in house and build out financial reporting, consolidation, and the underlying systems that support it. You will own day to day accounting and management reporting while also driving the evaluation and implementation of the platforms, whether a general ledger system or a dedicated consolidation tool, that the function needs as the firm grows.

You will operate in a dynamic, deal driven environment where financial reporting must keep pace with a complex and evolving portfolio of structured finance transactions, with real ownership over how the function is built.

What You'll Do

• Own day to day accounting and financial reporting for the firm, including entity level and consolidated reporting across all legal entities, intercompany eliminations, and multi currency reporting.
• Bring in house work currently performed by a third party, building the internal capability, process, and controls to support it going forward.
• Oversee preparation and sign off of external financial statements and internal management reporting in accordance with US GAAP (IFRS knowledge a plus).
• Produce and maintain KPI/KRI reporting used by the business and risk teams, including spreads, transaction costs, margin, new counterparty costs, fail charges, and liquidity metrics.
• Support management company accounting and reporting.
• Respond to ad hoc reporting requests from senior leadership and other stakeholders, slicing data in different ways to support business development and decision making.
• Evaluate, select, and lead implementation of the systems that support reporting and consolidation, whether a dedicated consolidation/reporting platform (e.g. OneStream, Workiva, SAP BPC) or a general ledger/ERP system (e.g. NetSuite), from business case through go live.
• Drive reporting process transformation, including designing and implementing centralized reporting workflows that improve governance, transparency, and efficiency across accounting, finance, and external reporting.
• Define and govern the Global Chart of Accounts framework, driving standardization across entities and enforcing change control standards.
• Assess the US GAAP reporting and consolidation impact of new financing structures and instruments prior to close, partnering with the business on new products and initiatives, including technical accounting analysis and memos on complex transactions (e.g. business combinations, goodwill impairment, investment structures).
• Use technology to build KPI dashboards and enhanced executive financial packs that give insight into the key drivers of firm performance.
• Coordinate cross-functionally across accounting, FP&A, tax, legal, and operations, and act as a key liaison with external auditors, tax advisors, lenders, and senior stakeholders on all financial reporting, accounting, and systems matters.

What We're Looking For

• 8-12+ years of experience in financial reporting, accounting, or public accounting, Background in banking, broker dealer, asset management/private equity, or other financial services strongly preferred.
• A path through public accounting/audit (Big 4 or similar), particularly with investment management or financial services clients, is a strong and valued route into this role, combined with in-house reporting experience.
• Comfort with complex or complicated products such as derivatives. Direct structured finance experience is a plus but not required, provided you can get up the learning curve on complex products.
• Experience across global entities and multiple jurisdictions, including foreign currency exposure. Experience in our specific locations (New York, Dublin) is a plus.
• A track record of having driven consolidation across entities and jurisdictions, ideally at meaningful scale (e.g. consolidation across hundreds of legal entities).
• Hands on experience with systems implementation, ideally a consolidation/reporting platform (e.g. OneStream, Workiva, SAP BPC) or a general ledger/ERP system (e.g. NetSuite). Open to strong candidates whose implementation experience is GL/ERP based rather than dedicated consolidation tooling.
• Experience partnering across FP&A, tax, legal, and external auditors to deliver quarterly and annual reporting on time and accurately.
• Expert level US GAAP technical knowledge; IFRS exposure is a strong plus.
• CPA or equivalent qualification required.

How You Work

• You are equally comfortable owning the books day to day and thinking about the reporting and systems architecture that should support the function long term.
• You demonstrate strong executive presence and operate as a trusted advisor to senior leadership, with the ability to influence decisions in a fast paced, entrepreneurial environment.
• You balance strategic thinking with hands on execution, maintaining full ownership of reporting quality, accuracy, and delivery.
• You are comfortable operating in ambiguity and bring structure to complex, evolving situations, building scalable processes and control frameworks as the organization grows.
• You communicate complex accounting and financial concepts clearly and confidently to a wide range of stakeholders, including senior leadership, investors, and external partners.
• You have an ownership mindset: willing to roll up your sleeves, comfortable with speed over perfection where appropriate, and open to making and learning from mistakes.

What You'll Get

• The opportunity to build and shape the financial reporting, accounting, and systems function within a growing firm, including bringing a function in house from a third party for the first time.
• Direct exposure to complex and evolving financial structures and transactions.
• A highly visible role with regular interaction with senior leadership and external stakeholders.
• The ability to design and implement reporting and accounting systems infrastructure from the ground up.
• A fast paced, intellectually rigorous environment where accuracy, ownership, and impact are highly valued.

Who We Are

Nearwater Capital is a rapidly growing and innovative specialty finance company headquartered in New York City with a global presence and client base. Established in 2017, Nearwater has distinguished itself as a leader in delivering thoughtful, solutions-based financing to some of the largest financial institutions and financial services firms in the world.

Nearwater offers an attractive market compensation and benefits package. As a creative, intellectual capital firm, Nearwater is proud to be 100% work from office.