Senior Financial Analyst (Raleigh)

About Sylmar

Sylmar is committed to addressing one of the most critical challenges facing future generations: water access and safety. Their team understands, through deep, hands-on industry experience, that small and mid-sized companies possess the expertise, relationships, and drive needed to make real progress.

Sylmar brings together decades of operational knowledge with patient capital to scale legacy businesses that protect public health and the environment, while preserving the unique identities of each company as part of a larger, collaborative team.

The company is organized across two platforms, Water Treatment and Utility Services, that support the largest suppliers and users of water infrastructure, each focused on maximizing performance, reliability, and long-term sustainability.

Our leaders champion both servant leadership and operational rigor. We focus on empowering our people, communicating with clarity, and holding ourselves accountable for results. We hire the best, team members who are growth-minded, dedicated to our mission, and ready to take on this challenge with us.

The Role

Sylmar is building a national water services company on a 100-year horizon — two divisions, a growing set of operating companies, and a deliberately lean center. We are not assembling a portfolio to flip. That means the accounting and finance function has to be built to last: consolidations that close on time, financial analysis driving decisions in the business, technical accounting embedded to support the businesses before and after a transaction closes, and OpCo accounting and finance teams that get better every year because the Holdco accounting and finance team is teaching and developing the team and process.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the monthly, quarterly, and annual consolidation across all entities. Support both divisions during close processes as needed. Assist with intercompany eliminations and other multi-jurisdiction items as they arise.
• Own and produce consolidated financial statements supplemental reporting schedules
• Partner with the OpCo controllers to help train and improve reporting and OpCo close processes under direction of CAO.

FP&A & TECHNICAL ACCOUNTING

• Model and support financial analysis at different levels of the business; partnering with Senior Director, Business Systems & Technology to support efficient, consistent reporting & KPIs
• Support FP&A in development of budgets and forecasts with consideration for accounting implications of revenue and other complex transactions.
• Proficient in technical accounting matters
• Support CAO in training OpCo accounting teams to create and maintain a permanent and capable finance layer at the OpCo level

DEBT AND EQUITY TRANSACTIONS

• Support the CFO and Treasury on accounting implications of credit facility draws, amendments, refinancings, seller notes, earnouts, and equity issuances — classification, measurement, debt issuance cost treatment, modification versus extinguishment analysis, and evaluation of embedded features.
• Support calculation and deliver of covenant calculations and compliance reporting for lenders: build the schedules, tie them to the financials, deliver them on time every period.
• Support the CFO and Treasury on capital structure work with the accounting and reporting consequences mapped out in advance, not discovered after signing.

ACQUISITIONS — DILIGENCE, OPENING BALANCE SHEETS, INTEGRATION

• Support diligence teams and third-party providers with financial due diligence, including quality of earnings review, working capital analysis, historical financial statement assessment, and identification of accounting exposures and post-close cleanup work.
• Own acquisition accounting end to end — opening balance sheets, purchase price allocation, measurement period adjustments, and the ASC 805 documentation.
• Lead accounting integration for newly acquired companies: chart of accounts mapping, policy conformity, close calendar onboarding, and reporting package alignment.

AUDIT AND ASSURANCE

• Support the audit relationship and fieldwork. Support the OpCo's by managing the PBC list, prepare the technical memos and schedules, and resolve issues before they become adjustments.
• Support the internal control environment for accounting — design the controls, document them, and confirm they actually operate.
• Support the other assurance and compliance work as it comes: lender audits, tax provision support, insurance and bonding audits, and state or regulatory filings.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS PREPARATION

• Support the accounting and financial reporting sections of the quarterly Board package — consolidated results, variance analysis, acquisition and covenant reporting, and the associated narrative.
• Support preparing materials for Audit Committee and lender discussions and be ready to present and defend them.

SYSTEMS AND PROCESS

• Partner with Business Systems & Technology on ERP implementations, chart of account rationalization, and consolidation tooling — data integrity, standardization across OpCos, and automation of manual work in close processes.
• Push on where AI and better tooling can take repetitive work off the team. We expect people here to seek automation, not wait for permission.

Professional Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's Degree in Accounting or Finance
• 5-8 years of progressive experience in accounting and finance roles
• Demonstrated ownership of multi-entity or other compex consolidation
• Hands-on technical depth in business combinations, revenue recognition, and debt and equity accounting
• Experience supporting M&A: diligence, opening balance sheets, purchase accounting, and post-close integration
• Comfort in a decentralized, multi-ERP environment.
• Self-starter with the ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

Preferred

• Active CPA
• Public accounting experience
• Multi-site services, industrial, manufacturing, or project-based construction accounting background
• Private company backed by institutional capital, with covenant reporting and active lender relationships
• Experience standing up shared services or centralizing accounting across acquired companies
• Track record building and developing finance teams across multiple geographies
• Technical accounting familiarity with: revenue recognition (ASC 606, including long-cycle project and service contract work), leases (842), business combinations (805), goodwill and intangibles (350), debt and equity instruments (470/480/815), and other incentive compensation (718)