Manager/Senior Manager, CFO Advisory

Stout's Accounting & Reporting Advisory practice is expanding its Strategic Finance & FP&A team within the CFO Services group. This is a market-facing position for a senior professional who will build client relationships, lead engagements, and collaborate cross-functionally across Stout's broader finance transformation and transaction advisory platform.

This role is well-suited for a professional services individual with industry FP&A experience that is eager to bring that operating experience into a consulting environment. Exposure to private equity-backed businesses, transaction diligence, and post-close integration are strongly preferred.

Carve-Out / Separation - Senior Manager / Manager

Impact You'll Make

• Lead Transaction Execution engagements and serve as a trusted advisor to private equity sponsors and corporate clients throughout the transaction lifecycle on both buy-side and sell-side transactions.
• Lead workstreams supporting Integration and Separation initiatives across the deal timeline, from due diligence through post-close execution.
• Support buy-side transactions by evaluating operational risks within the target business, developing perspectives on future-state operating models, business processes, and organizational structures, and identifying value creation opportunities and execution risks.
• Support sell-side transactions throughout the transaction lifecycle, including development of the separation strategy, standalone operating model, transaction perimeter, carve-out and standalone cost analyses, and proposed Transition Services Agreements (TSAs).
• Support Integration Management Offices (IMOs) and Separation Management Offices (SMOs) by coordinating functional teams, developing project deliverables, managing cross-functional dependencies, and identifying and resolving execution risks.
• Develop executive-ready presentations and client deliverables that clearly communicate findings, recommendations, risks, and transaction considerations to executive leadership teams and private equity sponsors.
• Work with Financial Due Diligence teams, investment bankers, transaction counsel, and other advisors to help clients achieve transaction objectives.

What You'll Do

Overall Transaction Support

• Advise clients throughout the transaction lifecycle, from pre-close diligence and planning through post-close execution.
• Guide clients through transaction-related operational considerations on both acquisitions and divestitures.
• Provide project and program management across the deal lifecycle, including execution planning, milestone tracking, governance, issue resolution, and cross-functional coordination.
• Develop transaction strategy recommendations that support successful acquisitions, integrations, divestitures, and separations.
• Advise executive leadership teams at critical transaction milestones and help translate strategic decisions into executable plans.

Integration and Synergy Analysis

• Lead operational due diligence workstreams, including assessment of the target company's current operations, with particular focus on back-office functions and operating infrastructure.
• Work with client teams to develop the overall integration approach and identify integration priorities that align with the buyer's deal thesis.
• Help buyers define Day 1 and end-state operating models that establish how the combined business will operate immediately after close and over the longer term.
• Develop integration roadmaps that identify workstreams, projects, milestones, dependencies, decision points, and accountable owners.
• Lead or support Day 1 and Day 100 readiness planning.
• Support IMO governance and execution across functional workstreams.
• Lead synergy analysis and execution activities, including:
  • Working with functional teams to identify and validate synergy opportunities.
  • Quantifying synergy opportunities over time based on buyer and target cost structures.
  • Assessing investments and one-time costs required to realize identified synergies.
  • Developing execution plans that define the actions, owners, timing, and dependencies required to achieve synergy targets.
  • Developing and managing mechanisms to track synergy realization and related implementation costs.

Separation and Carve-Out Execution

• Help sellers define the business to be divested, the transaction perimeter, and the principles that will guide the separation.
• Work with functional teams to identify and document operational, organizational, technology, contractual, and financial entanglements between the divested business, the parent company, and other retained businesses.
• Develop separation approaches and execution plans to address identified entanglements and dependencies.
• Identify TSAs and other interim operating arrangements needed to reduce the risk of business disruption during the separation.
• Work with the Financial Due Diligence team to lead standalone cost analyses, including:
  • Reviewing corporate cost allocations.
  • Identifying costs that may change or arise when the business operates on a standalone basis.
  • Developing standalone cost estimates for strategic and financial buyer scenarios, as applicable.
  • Incorporating standalone cost findings into the broader Quality of Earnings analysis in coordination with the Financial Due Diligence team.
  • Supporting buyer diligence through management presentations, diligence calls, and responses to operational questions.
• Support clients during buyer diligence by addressing questions related to the separation approach, transaction perimeter, TSAs, standalone costs, and execution requirements.

Technology and Data

• Work across enterprise systems, including ERP, HRIS, CRM, and other business platforms, to identify technology dependencies and inform integration or separation planning. Deep technical expertise is not required, but candidates should be comfortable working with IT and systems teams.
• Use project management, tracking, and analytics tools to manage complex, multi-workstream transactions.
• Apply AI-enabled tools to improve diligence, research, project management, analysis, and client deliverables.

Team Leadership

• Lead and mentor junior professionals across separation, integration, and transaction execution engagements.
• Manage multiple client engagements while maintaining strong quality, responsiveness, and client service.
• Contribute to the continued development of transaction execution methodologies, templates, tools, and best practices.
• Work across Stout's Financial Due Diligence, Valuation, Tax, CFO Advisory, and other relevant teams to deliver integrated client solutions.

What You Bring

• Experience supporting or leading complex separation, carve-out, integration, or transaction execution engagements.
• Strong experience in one or more of the following areas:
  • Separation due diligence
  • TSA development, negotiation, management, or exit planning
  • SMO or IMO governance and execution
  • Transaction strategy and execution planning
  • Integration planning and synergy analysis
• Experience leading or supporting cross-functional dependency mapping, deal perimeter definition, standalone cost analysis, or operating model development.
• Strong understanding of operating models and organizational design. A finance background is helpful but not required; relevant experience in operations, IT, HR, or management consulting is also valuable.
• Experience supporting private equity transactions, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, carve-outs, or corporate transformations.
• Ability to translate diligence findings and strategic decisions into practical, executable workplans.
• Strong project management, client communication, and executive presentation skills, including the ability to manage multi-workstream SMO or IMO programs with competing stakeholders and tight timelines.
• Strong analytical and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and engagements simultaneously.
• Interest in applying AI tools to improve efficiency, analysis, research, and client delivery.

Education and/or Training:

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field required; MBA or Master's in Finance preferred.

• 10+ years of relevant professional experience, including a combination of public accounting/advisory and industry FP&A or finance leadership.

• 3+ years of finance process transformation and/or post-transaction integration experience.

• Demonstrated expertise in at least one or two industry verticals (e.g., healthcare, technology, industrials, consumer products, business services).

• A mix of consulting/advisory and industry operating experience is strongly preferred.

• CPA, CFA, or MBA designation preferred.

How You'll Thrive:

• Cultivate a positive, team-oriented approach that fosters collaboration and shared success.

• Demonstrate accountability and reliability by consistently delivering high-quality results and meeting expectations.

• Exhibit an entrepreneurial mindset and a commitment to excellence - what we call Relentless Excellence - in all aspects of your work.

• Build meaningful relationships and leverage strong interpersonal skills to create trust and drive outcomes with clients, sponsors, and colleagues.

• Communicate effectively and respond promptly, ensuring clarity and alignment across stakeholders.

• Bring intellectual curiosity and keen attention to detail to problem-solving and decision-making.

• Apply advanced analytical and quantitative skills to uncover insights and drive data-informed strategies.

• Embrace a growth mindset and contribute to the continued evolution of Stout's CFO Services and FP&A capabilities.