Associate Director - Fund Accounting

Role Description

The Associate Director Fund Accounting, Close Ended is a senior leadership position with full accountability for people, operations, client relationships, and strategic direction across the Close Ended NAV function. This role carries full responsibility for key aspects of fund operations across a portfolio of close ended funds, with meaningful people management scope and the authority to shape how the Close Ended function operates and evolves.

The Associate Director plays a critical role in the fund administration process, ensuring the timely and accurate calculation and delivery of Net Asset Values (NAVs) for assigned funds. This position involves close collaboration with internal teams to support all aspects of the NAV delivery process and support client service delivery and implementation initiatives.

Core Responsibilities

• People Management: Direct management of the close ended team — performance framework adherence, capacity planning, team satisfaction monitoring, coaching, training programmes, and succession planning.
• Financial Oversight: Staff budget ownership in partnership with the COO — Fund Administration. Product profitability reporting with Finance and Client Relationship teams. Client fee reviews, invoice approval, and scope change documentation in accordance with Administration Services Agreements.
• NAV & Valuations: Oversight of NAV issuance for assigned close ended funds. Expense management, management fee and carried interest calculations, investor allocations, pricing and valuation processes, and comprehensive reconciliation of trades, positions, P&L, and cash.
• Client Onboarding & Service Management: Close Ended fund structure setup, SLA establishment, and fund-specific procedure implementation. Cross-departmental collaboration for smooth onboarding. System integration oversight. Primary escalation point for client NAV and service queries.
• Client Communications & Audit Management: Primary liaison for client communications on assigned funds. Lead coordination of the annual audit process, including preparation of year-end financial statements and timely response to audit queries.
• Strategic Oversight & Process Improvement: Continuous assessment and refinement of operational processes. Identification of automation and data integration opportunities. Product reviews and enhancements. Alignment of process improvements with the firm’s strategic objectives in partnership with senior leadership.
• Risk & Compliance: Operational risk identification and mitigation across NAV production, reconciliation, and pricing. SOC controls adherence. Regulatory compliance including AML and data privacy. Policy development and compliance culture leadership in partnership with the Group’s Head of Compliance and Governance.

Additional Strategic Expectations

• Share insights to enable development of new processes and procedures that create business efficiency and support client service excellence.
• Maintain awareness of industry, regulatory, jurisdictional, and market trends that could affect the business.
• Contribute to the creation, development, and implementation of new products and solutions as the business’s needs evolve.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with operations, business users, project, and implementation teams to achieve elegant outcomes.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in close ended fund administration or a similar financial services role.
• Strong focus on NAV calculations, investor allocations, financial reporting, and audit coordination.
• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Professional certification (CFA, CAIA, CPA, or equivalent) is a strong advantage.
• Proven leadership, mentoring, and team-building capability — including across diverse, cross-functional teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for senior client, auditor, and internal stakeholder engagement.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving ability with a track record of identifying process inefficiencies and delivering improvements.
• Expertise in fund systems: Investran, Bloomberg, eFront, Geneva, Dynamo or equivalent close ended fund administration platforms.
• Advanced Excel skills — complex financial models, automated templates, pivot tables, XLOOKUP, macros.
• Strong understanding of closed-ended and open-ended fund structures, capital calls, distributions, IRR, and MOIC.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite; SQL or other data analysis tools are advantageous.
• Solid grounding in US GAAP, IFRS, and regulatory requirements applicable to close ended funds.
• Working knowledge of AI tools such as Claude is an advantage.

Company Description

A different kind of financial services firm founded in the Cayman Islands in 2020, Catalyst is a privately owned, fully independent investment operations and fund administration group — built from the ground up to do things differently. Catalyst was founded with a clear mission: to reimagine financial services by sparking innovation, harnessing technology, and investing in our people and communities.

With offices and teams across five countries, we service a global portfolio of clients spanning a wide range of strategies, structures, and requirements. Our award-winning team operates on a technology platform unlike anything else in the industry, guided by our seven core values: Collaboration, Innovation, Reliability & Accountability, Connected Culture, Undivided Attention, Integrity, and Transparency.