Financial Operations Analyst

Our Firm

Companies and investment firms built today are scaling faster than at any time in history, but the founders and investors building the defining businesses of our era face a paradox: the more value they create, the faster the demands and complexity of their own financial lives compound. Santa Barbara Management was founded by a small group of accomplished business builders and investors who lived this problem first-hand and decided to solve it. To make this vision a reality, we have reimagined the family office experience from first principles, relentlessly questioning industry norms.

At Santa Barbara Management, we engineer wealth for exceptional builders and their families. Our innovative model has been painstakingly designed to deliver a fully-integrated, client-aligned solution that combines investments, tax, trusts and estates, financial operations, and strategic finance under one roof, within one team.

Today, we serve some of the most accomplished founders and investors of our time — and we're just getting started.

The Role

The Financial Operations Analyst runs the books for a group of SBM client families and builds the AI tools and processes that automate that work. This is a hands-on role for someone who knows how the books should work and wants to build the systems that run them. You will design, test, and run the processes behind financial statements, general ledgers, journal entries, cash flow reporting, and month-end and year-end close across a portfolio of complex entities: operating businesses, trusts and estates, partnerships, private foundations, and individuals with extraordinary financial profiles.

Our Wealth Engineering model depends on tracking every dollar that moves in and out of a client’s accounts and entities. You will own that work for a small group of families and build the automation that lets us do it for many more. Our team already uses Claude skills to produce monthly cash flow analyses for clients, connects live brokerage data to our general ledger platform, and builds interactive dashboards our families use. You will take it further.

This role is based in our Chicago office and reports into our Financial Operations team, working as part of a pod that serves a small group of ultra-high-net-worth families. As SBM grows, there is room to take on client-facing work and broader responsibility.

What You'll Do

Build and Improve Our Operations

-Design the processes SBM uses for bookkeeping, financial reporting, expense classification, and paying expenses, capital calls, and taxes, and decide where AI and automation belong in each process

-Work with our engineering team to build AI tools (skills libraries, agentic processes) while working in the next-generation of AI-enabled platforms that generate general ledger reporting for our clients

-When you see a better way to do something, test it and see it through from first draft to rollout

Own the Financial Reporting Across a Complex Client Portfolio

-Own the accuracy of financial statements, GL reconciliations, consolidations, and transaction records across our client entities, using automation to pull data from multiple sources into a single view

-Deliver reporting on time and without errors, checking AI output against accounting standards before it reaches a client and fixing the process when it gets something wrong

-Take on the complex, one-off projects our clients bring us, such as fund administration and investor relations, loan analysis with interactive interest and principal dashboards, carried interest analysis, and credit card optimization, often with no playbook

Work With Clients and Across the Firm

-Work directly with our client families and their outside advisors, and earn their trust with accurate, responsive work

-Sit alongside our investments, tax, trusts and estates, and strategic finance teams, and see how the full model comes together for a client

-Help decide how accounting works at SBM as automation takes on more of the routine work and the team spends more of its time on clients

Who You Are

You have a strong foundation in accounting and want to apply it to more complex work. You are precise and reliable, and when a task repeats, your first instinct is to automate it. You are comfortable across accounting principles, pick up new skills and concepts quickly, and are curious about the tools changing how this work gets done.

You are high-energy and self-directed. You flag problems early, hold yourself to a high standard, and don’t need to be pushed to do your best work. You understand that our clients expect more from SBM than they have gotten from traditional family offices.

What We Look For

Accounting Foundation: 2+ years of accounting or accounting-related experience in a finance or start-up environment. A bachelor's degree in accounting or finance and solid working knowledge of Excel, U.S. GAAP. and the platforms behind modern financial reporting is preferred.

Automation Mindset: You are AI-pilled and use AI tools in your own work every day. You are always testing where AI can take on financial operations work so the team has more time for clients.

Operational Precision: A demonstrated ability to manage multiple entities and deadlines without sacrificing accuracy.

Communication and Presence: You engage directly with sophisticated clients, outside advisors, and teams across the firm, and you earn trust through the quality of your work and follow-through.

What We Offer

-Opportunity to Build Something Different: We are reimagining a significant, under-innovated category of financial services. The people who join us now will help shape how we serve our clients and what this firm becomes.

-Exceptional Colleagues: Join an ambitious and exceptionally talented team led by people who have built category-leading businesses before. The bar is high, and that's the point.

-Meaningful Scope, Real Impact: SBM is growing quickly. There are no small roles, there's no entrenched hierarchy, and the opportunities for professional growth are significant.

-A Culture That Takes Care of Its People: Competitive compensation, comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, a 401(k), paid parental leave for all parents, unlimited paid vacation, and flexible hours.

-The Conditions to Do Your Best Work: This role is based in our Chicago office. We work together in person 4 days a week because the best ideas and the strongest cultures are built in the same room.

Compensation at SBM reflects the unique background and experience each person brings to the role. The expected base salary range for this position is $75,000-$90,000. Beyond base salary, you will be eligible for a discretionary annual bonus.

Santa Barbara Management is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or any other legally protected status. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any of the above characteristics. Santa Barbara Management is enrolled in E-Verify to confirm the identity and employment eligibility of all new employees.