Strategic Finance Associate

Strategic Finance AssociateAntares is looking for a Strategic Finance Associate to join our growing Finance organization. You will work directly with the Head of Finance and company leadership on some of the most important financial and strategic decisions facing the business. This is not a traditional FP&A role. You will work across corporate finance, financial modeling, manufacturing economics, capital allocation, commercial and government programs, fundraising, and long-range planning. You'll help translate complex technical and operational decisions into their financial implications and provide leadership with the analysis needed to make better decisions as Antares scales. This is an ideal opportunity for someone with a strong foundation in investment banking, investing, or strategic finance who wants to move closer to the operating side of a rapidly growing hard-tech company.Roles and Responsibilities:Own and continuously improve Antares' long-range financial model, including integrated income statement, balance sheet, cash flow, and operating forecastsBuild financial models supporting major strategic decisions across manufacturing, reactor deployments, pricing, capital investment, and company growthDevelop and maintain reactor unit economics, cost curves, margin analysis, and production scaling modelsEvaluate government and commercial contracts, including program economics, milestone structures, profitability, cash requirements, and return profilesSupport annual planning, forecasting, cash management, runway analysis, and capital allocationPartner with engineering, manufacturing, nuclear, operations, and business development teams to analyze CapEx investments, manufacturing capacity, make-vs-buy decisions, and other operational investmentsBuild analyses and materials for the Board of Directors, investors, lenders, and other strategic partnersSupport commercial strategy through pricing analysis, market sizing, customer economics, and project-level financial modelingPerform competitive, industry, and market analysis across advanced nuclear, energy, defense, and adjacent marketsDevelop reporting and decision-making tools that provide leadership with greater visibility into company performanceTake on high-priority strategic projects directly for the Head of Finance and executive teamBasic Qualifications:5+ years of relevant experience across investment banking, private equity/growth investing, strategic finance, corporate finance, or a high-growth operating companyExceptional financial modeling and analytical skills with the ability to build complex models from the ground upPreferred Skills & Experience:Investment banking experience strongly preferred; experience subsequently working in an operating finance role is a plusStrong understanding of financial statements, valuation, corporate finance, and investment analysisAbility to take ambiguous business questions, structure the problem, perform the analysis, and communicate a clear recommendationStrong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to present financial concepts to both financial and non-financial audiencesHigh attention to detail without losing sight of the larger strategic questionComfortable working in a fast-moving environment where priorities can change quicklyHighly proficient in Excel and financial modeling.Experience in aerospace & defense, energy, infrastructure, industrials, manufacturing, or another hard-tech industryExperience with project finance, infrastructure finance, or complex capital-intensive businessesExperience evaluating government contracts or working with government customersExperience with manufacturing cost structures and unit economicsFamiliarity with energy markets, power generation, or nuclear energyAdditional Requirements:Ability to work long hours and weekends as necessary to support critical milestonesCulture:Think in Systems - Energy and Defense are complex ecosystems with numerous stakeholders with competing priorities, conflicting policies, perverse incentives, and emergent and path-dependent properties. First principles thinking alone is insufficient. Think probabilistically and then take action. "If you want to be certain, then you are apt to be obsolete." Over-optimizing the components often degrades the systemObsess over the End User - The customer and end user are often not the same. We will never build globally competitive commercial products if we lose sight of our end users and their entire interaction with the product life cycleBe Unconstrained by Convention - Our only limits are the laws of physics. Many, even experts, will say what we are working on is impossible. They said the same about SpaceX reusing rockets. Generationally impactful companies, by definition, must accomplish the seemingly impossible. If it were easy, it would have already been done. Never shy away from a solution because it has never been tried before, and never choose to do something because that's "how it's always been done"Go Where the Work Is - Never miss a chance to meet a customer, user, or stakeholder face to face, even if that means hopping on a plane. If you can't make it, find a teammate who can channel your intentions and go in your place. Deep work can be done from anywhere, but we believe teams are built in person, and aim to maximize our time togetherOperate in the Grey - Embrace nuance in pursuit of truth. Question every fundamental assumptionITAR RequirementsTo conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.