Associate, Turnaround & Value Creation

Meet the Company: We are MERU. A values-driven, impact-oriented team dedicated to fixing companies. We provide advisory services and data analytics support to middle-market companies ($50M - $2B in annual sales), and our clients include private equity firms, credit funds, investment banks, and law firms. We bring deep turnaround experience, a group of veteran operators, and an incentive-aligned approach to any situation. MERU was founded by professionals from Alvarez & Marsal and McKinsey and has seen rapid growth in the eight-plus years since its founding. The MERU Way & Valuing Our Team: **We're Partners, not consultants.** When you join MERU, you will help our clients solve their most pressing problems, supported by a team of people who will challenge you, support you, and inspire you. In order to be Partners, **we don't silo people into just one functional area of the business, instead advancing our team's capabilities by providing training for every service that MERU offers**. Additionally, we don't just focus on technical skills but also leadership style and soft skills, so MERU team members not only know what it means to manage a client engagement but to lead a team to success. **In training team members to be well-rounded individuals, we can deliver an overall higher impact to clients**, allowing the ability to gain experience in diligence, turnarounds, interim management, data science, and more. To aid this career advancement and development, MERU provides an internal Coach to each team member in order to guide and maintain their professional development plan goals. **Unlike most Firms, we actually focus on the achievement of those goals for each individual team member, providing opportunities that would not usually be offered.** Finally, **MERU values personal time, only traveling when necessary in order to celebrate and respect your personal life**. We believe that by encouraging and mandating balance, it will lead to happier and longer-tenured team members. **When you come to MERU, you come to further your career and maintain your entrepreneurial spirit, never losing sight of the desire to provide meaningful impact, solutions, and value to clients**. Learn more about our colleagues’ core characteristics and culture here: ### Associate Role Responsibilities: - Creates high-quality analytical models (e.g., 3-statement and 13-week forecasts, EBITDA opportunity assessments) with coaching and direction from senior team members (required) - Validates all data used in calculations, reconciles models and reports - Thinks critically and applies rules to produce accurate and reliable analyses independently - Quality check one’s own work product to ensure that it addresses the subject question, flows logically, and is free from error - Proactively communicates progress and roadblocks to senior team members on an ongoing basis; proactively develops solutions to the roadblocks - Develops high-quality presentation materials with coaching and direction from senior team members - Thinks critically about the information provided by clients and anticipates questions - Assist in the proposal preparation process by performing company and industry research and drafting situational overviews - Supports in developing Firm Contribution areas, such as Recruiting, Professional Development, Marketing, etc. ### Associate Role Qualifications: - 2-4 years of work experience in corporate restructuring or management consulting positions with a financial or accounting focus (required) - MUST be familiar with and have the ability to develop and maintain financial modeling needs (e.g., 3-statement models, 13-week forecasts, EBITDA opportunity assessments) - Undergraduate degree; MBA, CFA, or CPA preferred but not required - Ability to develop and analyze business plans and pro-forma financial models to identify key assumptions and value drivers - Conduct analyses from large sets of data to support strategic recommendations - Team player who can excel in a fast-paced, challenging work environment - Confident and efficient speaker, presenter, and business writer - Support internal firm initiatives (e.g., marketing, recruiting, client pitches) - Highly proficient in Microsoft Office (specifically Excel and PowerPoint) - Ability to work collaboratively in a team with people at all levels of an organization - Ability to travel (<10-30%) based on client and business needs - Ability to work full time in an office and remote environment; physically able to sit/stand at a computer and work in front of a computer screen for significant portions of the workday - Authorization to work in the United States - Commitment to living MERU’s values and core characteristics