Manager/ Senior Manager/ Associate Director - Transaction Advisory Services

Grant Thornton

Dubai, UAE

Ref: OP510-10

Job description / Role

Employment: Full Time

Position Summary:

Grant Thornton is collaborative, entrepreneurial and on the move. As part of a dynamic global organization of 47,000 people serving clients in more than 140 countries, we have the agility and focus it takes to be a leader.

Grant Thornton’s Advisory professionals are progressive thinkers who create, protect, transform value today, so our clients have the opportunity to thrive and grow. Our advisory practice creates holistic solutions delivered by innovative, curious professionals who bring technical depth and industry insight to our clients.

Our Transaction Advisory delivery model includes the entire transaction life-cycle enabling engagement opportunities throughout the lifetime of a deal. Transaction Advisory includes originating and providing corporate finance advice as a lead financial advisor on M&A transactions, providing valuations services on a range of transactional matters, due diligence advice to help our clients identify risks associated with deals and offer solutions that can help to mitigate such risks, act as an independent financial adviser on IPOs as well as on a range of other corporate transactions including financial modelling, fundraising and debt financing.

Job Description:

We are looking for an individual who has strong experience of advising companies on financial due diligence assignments as well as in debt advisory including lending, debt restructuring and debt advisory. Experience of managing financing stakeholders and delivering financing solutions as part of wider corporate, fundraising or restructuring activities would be considered favourably.

As an experienced member of the team, you will be expected to manage all aspects of transactions for the client and the firm, be active in helping to win new client work, negotiating and closing sales opportunities and managing client relationships.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Markets

• Manages situations in order to optimise financial returns for the client and the firm.
• Helps to drive business development/winning work/selling.
• Has the ability to externally network from which to generate and convert leads.
• Maintains and monitors their own and the team’s network using a structured approach.
• Helps to build profile in the external market.
• Plays a key role in marketing events, originating material and presenting to external audiences.
• Proactively supports in seeking out business development opportunities.
• Participates fully in new client proposal situations.
• Is active in winning new client work, negotiating and closing sales opportunities with minimum director and partner input.
• Suggests innovative selling solutions whilst pro-actively identifying cross-selling opportunities.
• Ensures all public relations on completed assignments is performed, as appropriate.

Clients

• Takes responsibility and ownership of the client relationship at the appropriate level in the client's organisation..
• Manages multiple complex client relationships.
• Ensures client needs are met in a way that is advantageous to both the client and the firm.
• Liaises with the work provider and/or the client regularly and will deal with new work enquiries from intermediaries.
• Takes responsibility for client take on/risk management.
• Consults effectively with specialists within the firm when faced with complex risk management.
• Identifies and evaluates risk management issues and mitigates risk appropriately.
• Instils a risk management culture within the team.
• Oversees and manages letters of engagement internally and with the client.

Report writing

• Oversees the report preparation process, ensuring a quality document is produced, which is relevant to the business.
• Reviews final drafts of reports ensuring broader market issues are included and consulting other senior members of the team appropriately, where required.

Technical competence

• Manages all aspects of the transaction competently, advising junior team members on technical aspects of the transaction.
• Develops solutions to increasingly complex technical issues.
• Interprets and analyses complex information, identifying business issues and applying technical knowledge appropriately.

Assignment management

• Takes responsibility for a task and gives direction, structure and responsibility to others in order to get the job done by appropriate delegation.
• Sets the fee estimate and oversees the drafting of the engagement letter.
• Ensures that the assignment is completed within budget and debt is collected on time.
• Leads the presentation of conclusions and recommendations to the client and discusses the implications and action points.

People

• Is an approachable and respected member of the team who takes a proactive interest in the team's performance and wellbeing.
• Leads, motivates and coaches managers by inducting effectively, giving regular feedback and timely performance reviews.
• Proactively maximises efficiencies by ensuring effective allocation of resource to assignments and providing development opportunities to the team.
• Demonstrates an understanding of how to build an effective team by understanding the components and strengths of the wider team and how this fits with the client and the department strategy.

Training/ self-development

• Proactively manages own career, seeking out opportunities to work on a variety of assignments to build on existing experience
• Takes proactive steps to ensure a career development plan is in place.

Credibility as a representative in TAS

• Able to lead and facilitate discussions between individuals and groups in either a client or an internal context.

Operations and results

• Prepares fee estimates and budgets for client assignments and manages client expectations about changes and overruns.
• Ensures assignments are delivered profitably and with full recovery of billable, chargeable time, with WIP write-outs kept to a minimum.
• Contributes to ensuring maximum utilisation of team members and identifies and implements opportunities to work more efficiently.
• Ensures bills are raised accurately and promptly, fees are collected in a timely manner and debtors are kept to a minimum.
• Ensures compliance with, and adherence to, the firm's risk management policies and procedures

Requirements

Experience and Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics, Business Administration, or related field. Advanced degree preferred.
• CA, ACA, CPA, ACCA, CFA or equivalent.
• 8+ years of related work experience in a similar consulting practice or function servicing cross-industry clients. You must currently be in an experienced manager, senior manager or associate director role with solid transactions, due diligence and debt advisory experience looking to grow your career in a rapidly growing practice in a global firm.
• Strong current knowledge and solid experience in the following: accounting, audit and transaction advisory services (due diligence/debt advisory experience is essential). It would be useful (but not essential) if you also have broader experience of supporting transactional work including M&A, valuations, fundraising and financial modelling.
• Strong leadership, business development, training, and mentoring skills. Excellent written, presentation, leadership, and interpersonal communications skills.
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft office applications.
• Excellent analytical, numeracy and problem solving skills.
• You must be flexible and willing to travel to client sites. In addition, flexibility is needed in working practices and hours due to the transaction-based nature of this work and tight reporting deadlines.

About the Company

Grant Thornton UAE is a member firm within Grant Thornton International Ltd. Grant Thornton UAE has been providing assurance and advisory services to growth oriented, entrepreneurial companies which are based in all markets and industries since 1966.

The extensive local and regional knowledge gained through the years has supported the development of the firm's reputation for providing a distinctive client service to its local, national and international client base.

The firm adopts best in class international tools, methodologies and independence/ risk management standards across all service lines in order to ensure the service provided is to the highest technical, professional and ethical standards for the benefit of all its clients.

The firm's mission is to be the adviser of choice to dynamic businesses, whilst being known as a bold and positive leader in its chosen markets.

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Associate Director salaries in UAE

Average monthly compensation
AED 33,000

Breakdown available for industries, cities and years of experience