Senior Associate, M&A and Strategic Finance

As a Senior Associate, you will take on a high-impact role with our holding company team. Your responsibilities will include independently managing M&A due diligence processes, leading financial and operational due diligence for new acquisitions, financial modeling, conducting analysis of acquisition and portfolio performance, supporting monthly reporting deliverables, and partnering with business owners to growth their company post-investment.

Our Senior Associate will work closely with, learn from, and share their perspectives with the CFO, President, and Vice President to support building out a best-in-class acquisition engine and strategic finance team. Your peers will include ambitious professionals navigating their first few years as a senior executive, entrepreneurs who have built a business over decades, and seasoned managers with deep industry and functional expertise.

We are looking for smart, motivated candidates who are looking to “roll up their sleeves” and hungry to make an impact by stewarding businesses over the long-term. We have had tremendous success in empowering leaders early in their career and giving them more responsibility than others would be comfortable with. We offer exceptional people the opportunity to meaningfully accelerate their career trajectory.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with the Lyra Executive team and Vice President to refine and execute our M&A strategy, ensuring we are pursuing the right opportunities that allow us to achieve our organic growth and MOIC goals
• Lead financial and operational due diligence for new acquisitions
• Support monthly board reporting and ad-hoc strategic financial analysis of portfolio performance
• Support the refinement of our investment thesis through post-mortem analysis and ongoing performance monitoring
• Manage the relationship with sellers through the diligence process to ensure a successful close
• Work closely with sellers and Lyra operations leaders post-close to ensure smooth onboarding of new acquisitions to the Lyra platform
• Support execution of post-close value creation initiatives that deliver on our investment thesis
• Partner with the Evergreen sourcing team to evaluate potential new acquisitions
• Manage a team of 1-2 analysts and support our global analyst program

Requirements

• 2+ years of full-time work experience in finance, consulting, operations or a related field
• Ability to work with extreme autonomy and an ownership mindset
• Exceptional EQ, can develop relationships and followership at every level of the organizational hierarchy
• Leadership experience and ability to persevere through adversity
• Strong strategic and analytical skills, an ability to make great decisions with incomplete information
• Strong understanding of financial statements and KPIs
• Experience using financial reporting systems, dashboards, and AI tools to drive business insights
• Humble, accountable, and growth-minded
• Positive attitude and competitive intensity

Preferred Qualifications

• M&A experience, and exposure to private equity-run deal processes
• Management experience
• Undergraduate or graduate education at a top-tier school

The targeted base compensation for this role is $120,000-$140,000 with variable compensation tied to individual and firm performance. This role operates out of Chicago, IL in a hybrid model and may include travel to potential acquisition sites and leadership offsites as needed.

Comprehensive benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage, unlimited PTO and more.