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Managing Director, Office of the CFO

Ankura · Chicago, IL · Full time

Posted Mar 27, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

About your past

How do you originate new OCFO work? Give me an example of a relationship that turned into a significant engagement.

What they are checking: Whether they can build a book of business, which is the core expectation of a managing director.

Tell me about a time a client didn't accept your recommendation. What happened next?

What they are checking: Whether they can stay influential and keep the relationship when a client chooses a different path.

How do you develop senior directors so they can lead clients without you?

What they are checking: Whether they build leaders beneath them, which lets the practice grow beyond one person's capacity.

What would you do

A PE sponsor wants their new portfolio company's FP&A to give them a reliable forecast within one quarter. What's your plan?

What they are checking: Whether they know what to fix first to give a sponsor confidence quickly without overbuilding.

How do you price and staff an engagement so it's profitable and the team isn't overloaded?

What they are checking: Whether they manage the economics of the practice, not just client satisfaction.

A Fortune 500 client and a middle-market company both ask for finance transformation help. How does your approach differ?

What they are checking: Whether they tailor scope and solutions to client size and resources instead of applying one playbook.

About the work

Walk me through how you'd run a Quality of Finance assessment for a new client. What do you look at and what comes out of it?

What they are checking: Whether they can diagnose a finance function across strategy, operating model, process and technology in a structured way.

How do you help a CFO move finance from reporting history to being a real business partner?

What they are checking: Whether they understand business partnering as decision support with drivers and scenarios, not more reports.

What makes scenario modeling useful to a CEO, and what makes it noise?

What they are checking: Whether they focus scenarios on the few drivers that change decisions rather than endless variations.

How do you see technology and AI changing what a finance function needs to look like in the next few years?

What they are checking: Whether they have a grounded, practical point of view that clients would pay to hear.

Practice this interview out loud.

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The full job description

As published by Ankura.

Ankura is a team of excellence founded on innovation and growth. Practice Overview Ankura Office of the CFO™ (Ankura OCFO™) empowers CFO success through comprehensive, customized solutions that enhance business performance, drive operational efficiency, convert data into insights, and position finance as a strategic partner. Role Overview: Ankura OCFO professionals serve as trusted partners, consistently delivering long-term value and results to a diverse clientele, ranging from middle-market enterprises to Fortune 500 companies. Ankura OCFO works with both private equity firms and corporate companies, across all industries. Members of the Ankura Office of the CFO team embody a collaborative spirit and entrepreneurial mindset, fostering ongoing growth and innovation in our collective efforts. The selected candidate is ideally located in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, or Atlanta though other locations may be considered. The Managing Director’s primary focus will be to drive solutions for the following areas: • Ankura Quality of FinanceTM: Assess Finance organization’s vision and strategy, operating model and organization design, processes and technology; design and implement execution plans • Financial Planning & Analysis: Establish business partnering through strategic long-range planning, budgeting, forecasting and scenario modelling all enabled by technology • Reporting: Design management reporting packages with focus on key performance indicators to facilitate management and achievement of financial goals and targets i.e., EBITDA • Data Analytics & Visualization: Leverage analytics and visualization tools to influence decision-making and predict business outcomes with data-driven insights • Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Optimization: Drive working capital improvements and greater transparency into cash flow reporting and forecasting • Operational Effectiveness and Efficiency: Optimize Finance and Accounting processes, operations and service delivery model while managing overall cost of Finance • Transaction Preparation and Execution: Support Day One readiness and execution of a transaction or liquidity event and manage any transition service agreements or business integrations • Interim Management: Fill an interim or surge resource need specifically in a leadership or executive role; provide solutions to leverage human capital and experience • Financial Risk Management: Address audit committee and board concerns, remediate accounting, manage enterprise risk profile Responsibilities: • Manage the OCFO client service teams in designing and implementing holistic solutions to increase efficiency and effectiveness in finance organizations • Improve decision-making, enable business partnering, and drive value • Collaborate with client, colleagues, other professionals, and other stakeholders to achieve engagement objectives • Support sale of client engagements, including help with scoping and pricing work • Develop project work plans and effectively deliver engagements • Manage the development and presentation of reports, analyses, presentations, and other client deliverables • Participate in business development, marketing, recruiting, and practice development activities • Demonstrate the highest degree of professionalism, ethics, quality, and integrity Requirements : • Undergraduate degree: Master’s degree or MBA preferred • Minimum of 10 years of prior work experience, in a financial management consulting firm • Expertise in financial modeling and analysis • Experience leading and managing teams through solution planning, design, and implementation with a focus on delivery quality • Strong knowledge of core finance and accounting processes • General knowledge of financial ERP systems, BI technologies, and other finance performance management tools • Expertise in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint • Strong intellectual curiosity and problem-solving skills with the ability to synthesize complex unstructured information rapidly and develop insights and recommendations • Excellent written and oral communication skills; ability to define, influence, and drive change at executive levels and across the broader community of stakeholders • Expands relationships to highest level of client organization • Defines a compelling value proposition aligned with the client’s challenges and needs • Grit, passion, perseverance - ability to adapt to complex, dynamic situations and work hard to follow through on commitments • Ability and willingness to undertake extensive travel • Willingness to work at times, long hours during the week and on weekends due to client demands may be necessary • Candidate must be able to submit verification of his/her legal right to work in the U.S., without company sponsorship #LI-MJ1 #LI-Hybrid * Ankura is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against based on disability. Equal Employment Opportunity Posters, if you have a disability and believe you need a reasonable accommodation to search for a job opening, submit an online application, or participate in an interview/assessment, please email accommodations@ankura.com or call toll-free +1.312-583-2122. This email and phone number are created exclusively to assist disabled job seekers whose disability prevents them from being able to apply online. Only messages left for this purpose will be returned. Messages left for other purposes, such as following up on an application or technical issues unrelated to a disability, will not receive a response.

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