Jobs › Ankura

Senior Director, Turnaround & Restructuring

Ankura · Chicago, IL · $110,000–$240,000 a year · Full time

Posted Sep 24, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026

Apply at Ankura

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

Tell me about an engagement where you led day-to-day work and the client relationship at the same time.

What they are checking: Whether they can run the team and own the client, which separates senior directors from directors.

Tell me about a time you had to communicate layoffs or closures to employees or vendors on behalf of a client.

What they are checking: Whether they handle the human side of restructuring with clarity and respect.

How do you contribute to business development at the senior director level?

What they are checking: Whether they are already building relationships with lawyers, lenders and investors that lead to work.

What would you do

How do you prepare management for a difficult meeting with their lender group?

What they are checking: Whether they can coach executives on messaging and support it with numbers that hold up.

A creditor committee's advisor challenges your forecast in a public hearing. How do you respond?

What they are checking: Whether they can defend their work calmly with evidence and stay credible under adversarial pressure.

How do you decide what goes into the negotiation strategy with key customers during a turnaround?

What they are checking: Whether they can protect revenue while improving terms, since customers may flee a distressed supplier.

About the work

Walk me through how you would assess a distressed company's liquidity and build a plan to extend its runway.

What they are checking: Whether they can find real cash levers in working capital, spending and financing quickly and credibly.

What are the main steps and workstreams you'd expect in the first 30 days of a Chapter 11 case?

What they are checking: Whether they know first-day motions, DIP budgets, reporting and vendor management in practice.

How do you approach an operational improvement review at a manufacturing company that's losing money?

What they are checking: Whether they look at product margins, footprint, labor and procurement, not just overhead cuts.

What's your process for checking a complex financial model before it goes to a board?

What they are checking: Whether they have disciplined review habits that prevent embarrassing errors in high-stakes settings.

Practice this interview out loud.

Offer builds a real interview for this exact role at Ankura from your resume and this job description, asks the questions one at a time, and tells you what landed. The first one is free.

Practice this out loud

The full job description

As published by Ankura.

Ankura is a team of excellence founded on innovation and growth. Practice Overview: An underperforming or distressed company can often face tight liquidity constraints, unprofitable business units, and adverse industry conditions. Ankura advisors partner with senior management to assess the situation and quickly develop and implement a strategic plan that addresses multiple aspects of the business and the restructuring. Ankura’s team provides strategic and financial advice to companies, boards, and investors. Our consultants bring critical problem-solving skills to every engagement, thereby delivering innovative and practical solutions that can be executed in today’s marketplace. With a consistent process-driven approach aimed to stabilize, rehabilitate, and restructure the situation, Ankura experts bring a level of stability to unstable situations, allowing for successful resolutions focused on creating value and maximizing recoveries among stakeholders. Our firm specializes in the following company advisory services: • In-court and out-of-court restructuring advisory • Liquidity management • Financial modeling and forecasting • Operational improvement • Strategic business plan development • Management of communications with key stakeholders, including lenders, boards of directors, employees, investors, and creditor constituencies • Customer and vendor management • Negotiation and dispute resolution • Debt and capital restructuring • Expert witness testimony • Distressed and/or special situation M&A advisory • Post-transaction business stabilization Role Overview: We are currently recruiting a Senior Director to join our Turnaround & Restructuring (T&R) team. This role could be located in New York, Dallas, or Chicago. Responsibilities: • Leads the review of and provides guidance on complex analyses • Facilitates team in the development and understanding of analytical tools including and outside of Excel • Supervises and manages team working directly with Client to obtain relevant data • Provides direction on disaggregate complex problems and into simpler parts • Leads in challenging assumptions and hypotheses generated by early career consultants • Oversees the review of complex accounting and financial concepts to the situation at hand • Analyzes risks to existing or proposed covenant packages • Leads and provides guidance on analyses on different credit products • Delivers guidance and clearly articulates restructuring concepts and applies to the situation at hand • Responsible for building fully integrated financial and transaction models from start to finish including supervising all parts of the analysis and drawing preliminary conclusions • Takes ownership and manages key elements of bankruptcy case management • Effectively plans engagement workstreams and manages multiple sections of work plan • Prepares and supervises deliverables including identifying and writing issues and situations at hand for review by senior professional • Determines an effective approach / content level based on audience in most situations • Builds lasting relations with clients beyond initial engagement • Coordinates with team on prioritization plans • Provides leadership to junior professionals and shapes the work of the team Requirements: • Minimum 8 years of relevant restructuring / distressed experience in a professional service or consulting firm environment • An undergraduate degree from a top academic institution • Advanced degree(s) and applicable professional certification(s) are preferred (CFA, CIRA, CPA) • Prior hands-on experience building / developing / overseeing integrated 3-statement financial and 13-week cash flow models • High energy style, flexible and adaptive, with the ability to work well in a very fast paced environment • Ability to adapt to complex client environments and situations • Proven track record of effectively planning for and proactively mitigates risks on projects and work streams • Exceptional negotiation skills with complex/sophisticated situations involving senior level stakeholders • Able to develop credible recommendations under shortened time constraints and imperfect information • Quickly recognizes critical areas requiring analysis and review while understanding the big picture • Experience synthesizing complex unstructured information rapidly and applies good business judgment driving quickly to deep insights into possible impacts and solutions • Expert written communication skills, self-directed with preparation of client ready document and presentation development • Articulate, persuasive, communicator who is adept at handling executive and difficult audiences well including ability to adapt style to audience • Ability and willingness to undertake extensive travel is required • Willingness to work at times, long hours during the week and on weekends due to client demands may be necessary #LI-MJ1 #LI-Hybrid For individuals assigned and/or hired to work in California, Colorado, or New York, Ankura is required to include a reasonable estimate of the compensation range for this role. This compensation range is specific to the said markets and considers a broad range of factors including but not limited to skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. The disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled. The range does not include additional benefits outside of salary. At Ankura, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each role. A reasonable estimate of the current base pay range is between $110,000 to $240,000; this range is not a promise of a particular wage. * 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.

Apply at Ankura