Transaction Advisory Manager

About Us

At Common Trust, we're on a mission to make employee ownership the norm, not the exception. We help business owners sell their businesses to their employees, creating shared prosperity that strengthens companies, communities, and the broader economy. Common Trust has worked with businesses that have enabled over 63,000 workers to become employee-owners to date with a 93% client satisfaction rating, but for us, this is just the beginning.

With 75% of all business owners in the US looking to sell over the next decade, we believe that making employee ownership the transition of choice for small businesses is one of the most powerful ways for business owners to transition competitively, close the wealth gap in America, and build an economy worthy of passing on to the next generation. In this role, you'll be at the center of working with the business owners making it happen.

Learn more about us:  Common-Trust.com

Position Summary

In response to growing demand, our advisory team is now hiring a Transaction Advisory Manager to guide small and mid-sized business owners through the process of executing a sale to their employees.  

Reporting to the Chief Client Services Officer, you'll partner closely with clients to help them understand the financial, tax, estate, governance, and long-term business implications of an employee ownership transition. You'll prepare financial analyses, facilitate client discussions, and build trusted relationships that support a smooth and successful ownership transition.

This is a remote position that can be based anywhere in the United States. We work across multiple U.S. time zones and gather in person several times each year for team meetings and occasional industry events.

While we are seeking a highly motivated, intellectually curious individual who has strong foundational knowledge in business, legal, and financial matters, we are pleased to provide structured on-boarding and training to build fluency in employee ownership structures and Common Trust’s advisory approach.

Key Responsibilities

• Guide business owners through the process to sell their business to their employees, including analyzing the opportunities and risks associated with the sale, evaluating the sale proceeds, estate impact, tax outcomes, decision-making and governance, long-term company stability, and employee benefits alongside the client’s corporate counsel where relevant.
• Develop and maintain financial models to evaluate transaction structures, operating forecasts, financing alternatives, cash flow generation, debt repayment capacity, and scenario analyses that support client decision-making and long-term ownership transition planning.
• Translate complex information regarding financial, legal, estate, and tax matters in terms that clients can understand so they can make values-aligned decisions.
• Collaborate with and project manage trust, estate, and corporate attorneys to ensure clients receive the best legal advice and their goals are integrated into the legal documentation for the transaction.
• Collaborate with clients’ accounting and tax professionals to ensure clients receive thorough and actionable guidance with respect to the employee ownership sale and post-sale tax outcomes.
• Facilitate employee engagement meetings to help employees understand the impact of the employee ownership sale.
• Prepare clear, decision-oriented client deliverables, including financial models, scenario analyses, and recommendations that synthesize goals, risks, tradeoffs, and key transaction and governance terms and deliver these in a timely manner.
• Build long-term, trusted client relationships.    
• Contribute to our company culture of continuous learning by ensuring that learnings about our clients are captured and shared across the organization, and with company support, pursuing your own individual learning and development in your role. We view learning, feedback and growth as shared responsibilities.

Education and Experience

• Education in business, finance, entrepreneurship, public policy, sustainability, or a related program is a plus, however we place equal value on relevant work experience that demonstrates the skills and character traits needed to be successful in this role
• 3+ years of experience in a client-facing advisory role navigating complex business, legal, and/or financial decisions; such as in any of the following: corporate finance, corporate development, valuation, wealth management, financial services, management consulting, or paralegal with a particular focus on corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions for small and mid-sized businesses, and/or trust and estate law
• Experience developing multi-year operating forecasts, cash flow projections, financing models, or transaction analyses for privately held businesses is a plus
• First-hand experience (either personal or professional) that provides a knowledgeable and compassionate understanding of the decisions a business owner will face when they are ready to transition out of owning their company is a plus
• Experience building scalable systems and processes in an early-stage, entrepreneurial environment is a plus

Skills and Character Traits

• Strong attention to detail when dealing with complex legal and tax information and comfort with distilling the implications of such information for a range of audiences
• Advanced financial modeling skills, including the ability to build and modify integrated operating, cash flow, financing, and scenario models to evaluate transaction structures and long-term business performance
• Strong understanding of corporate finance principles, including cash flow forecasting, debt financing, capital structure, valuation, and financial statement analysis
• Advanced Excel skills, including experience building dynamic financial models
• Ability to translate complex financial analyses into practical recommendations for business owners and other non-financial stakeholders
• Ability to build authentic and trusted relationships with small business owners, senior leaders, and workers of various backgrounds across the U.S.
• Excellent organizational and project-management skills, with the ability to manage multiple stakeholders, timelines, and workstreams simultaneously
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including comfort communicating complex legal, corporate governance, and financial topics to an audience that may not be familiar with technical financial or legal language
• Adaptability and willingness to work on a small team and take on the range of tasks necessary to deliver a high-quality product to clients, solve hard problems, and take initiative in improving processes
• Comfort working in a fast-paced, remote environment
• Proactive communication style, including the ability to manage up and keep internal and external stakeholders aligned on progress, risks, and next steps
• Interest in learning how to integrate new technologies into our workflows, including AI
• Passion for our mission to build a more prosperous and competitive economy through shared ownership

Why Join Our Mission

Our clients are inspiring and successful small business owners. Our clients are industry agnostic, located anywhere in the US, and range from $300,000 to $5M+ in EBITDA. Most business owners launched their company 20+ years ago, have a strong track record of profitability, and want to reward their long-term employees who helped build the successful business.

You will join a small, elite team with opportunity to make a real impact. Common Trust has approximately 10-15 employees, and the advisory team currently includes three incredibly talented, dynamic individuals who are shaping the way we do business. Two members of the advisory team have been with the company since its founding, and every member of the team has driven key innovations that are helping us scale our work while maintaining exceptional customer satisfaction. We are seeking another dynamo who wants to help us learn and improve the way we work, with plenty of opportunity for innovation and sharing ideas!

The work is hard and interesting. The Employee Ownership Trust structure was first utilized for business ownership in 2014, and is growing in popularity. Common Trust has been a key player in pioneering the structure, supporting businesses worth over $813M in aggregate to transition to EOT ownership. The work to uncover the efficiencies with respect to transaction structure, tax, and estate impacts that will help take this model to scale is not done!

What We Offer

• Opportunity to shape the future of business ownership in the U.S.
• A values-driven culture that prioritizes integrity, inclusion, and long-term thinking
• Compensation: $100,000 - $130,000 base salary, commensurate with experience; and an equity incentive plan 
• Benefits:
  • Remote and flexible work schedule and environment
  • Monthly coworking stipend + one-time home office stipend
  • Health insurance: 99% medical and 50% vision/dental covered by employer
  • 401(k) retirement plan
  • Unlimited paid time off
  • Paid parental leave plan

Equal Opportunity Employer

Common Trust provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, familial status, military status, height and weight, genetic predisposition or carrier status, arrest record, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.  We strongly encourage people of color, people with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ candidates to apply.