Financial Accountant

Westaim is in the process of transforming into an integrated insurance and alternative asset management platform. Westaim is pivoting from an investment company to a financial services operating company with complementary businesses that are designed to drive a synergistic flywheel of growth across the platform. Westaim will be comprised of 2 main operating businesses: Arena Investors and Ceres Life Insurance Company. Arena Investors is a diversified credit asset manager formed in partnership with Westaim in 2015, and currently manages $3.3 billion of AUM managed across 8 offices globally. Arena has invested in over 25 countries with ~$5.6 billion deployed over its nearly 10 year history. Ceres Life Insurance Company is a de novo insurance company formed in partnership with CC Capital. Ceres Life will be led by Deanna Mulligan, former CEO and Chairperson of Guardian Life, who drove remarkable growth in Guardian’s business during her tenure. Deanna has over 30 years of professional experience, with over 25 years of direct insurance company leadership experience. Ceres Life is designed to be a highly scalable insurance platform with a differentiated cloud-native technology stack and key distribution partnerships, to focus on attractive spread-based annuity insurance products. Growth of Ceres Life will naturally drive growth of Arena and vice versa, creating the synergistic flywheel effect of a vertically integrated asset management and insurance platform. The common shares for Westaim are listed and posted for trading on the TSX-V in Canada under the trading symbol “WED-V”.

Position Summary:

We are a growing company in search of an exceptional Financial Analyst to join our team. This pivotal position will report directly into the company's Vice President of Finance and will work closely with the company’s Chief Financial Officer in the company’s NYC-based offices, presenting a remarkable opportunity for the right candidate to engage with senior finance leadership on a dynamic business poised for exceptional growth. The successful candidate will have the chance to take on considerable responsibilities, benefiting from the guidance and expertise of a seasoned and respected finance team.

Responsibilities Include:

• Support the financial accounting and month-end close responsibilities for the legal entities within the company’s holding company legal structure.
• Support the consolidation of financial results for the firm as a whole and certain sub-consolidated reporting.
• Support the implementation of a new general ledger (NetSuite) and platform for investment portfolio accounting (Clearwater)
• Support certain audited financial statement requirements, including direct interactions with external auditors
• Support the public reporting requirements of a publicly listed company, including current Canadian IFRS reporting requirements and the possibility of a listing on a major US exchange in the future.
• Support the firm’s financial planning & analysis requirements, including the preparation of management reporting packages for senior Westaim leadership and the Board of Directors, a budgeting and forecasting process, and certain other ad-hoc reporting requirements.
• Support the GAAP to tax reconciliations and tax ledgers.
• Support external tax preparers to ensure the firm’s tax returns are being prepared accurately.
• Support accounting and recordkeeping for equity compensation plans of the company, including restricted stock units (RSUs), director’s stock units (DSUs), and stock appreciation rights (SARs).
• Support accounting and other financial analytics for potential future equity and debt capital transactions for the company, including support of rating agency review processes.
• Hybrid work arrangements can be supported, but candidates are expected to be present in the company’s NYC-based offices at least 3-4 days per week.

Qualifications

• Overall 4-5+ years of financial services industry accounting and auditing experience, with 2-3+ years of financial services audit experience with a Big 4 accounting firm preferred
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Accounting or Finance
• CPA Preferred
• Experience in accounting and valuations for credit investment portfolio products
• Knowledge of both US GAAP and IFRS reporting experience a plus
• Experience with public company reporting a plus
• Experience working with life insurance companies and/or asset managers a plus.
• Strong technical accounting knowledge; Excellent research skills.
• Strong communication skills, both written and oral; Solution-oriented creative thinker.
• Strong attention to detail, highly organized with a robust work ethic and a positive attitude.
• A natural self-starter, striving to proactively and continuously expand their own skill sets along with the capabilities of the finance team they participate on.
• A team player that’s willing to wear multiple hats within a small finance team, with responsibilities spanning accounting, consolidations, financial reporting and analysis, public reporting and tax compliance

The duties and responsibilities described here are not exhaustive and additional assignments, duties, or responsibilities may be required of this position. Assignments, duties, and responsibilities may be changed at the sole discretion of the company.

Westaim is in the process of transforming into an integrated insurance and alternative asset management platform. Westaim is pivoting from an investment company to a financial services operating company with complementary businesses that are designed to drive a synergistic flywheel of growth across the platform. Westaim will be comprised of 2 main operating businesses: Arena Investors and Ceres Life Insurance Company. Arena Investors is a diversified credit asset manager formed in partnership with Westaim in 2015, and currently manages $3.3 billion of AUM managed across 8 offices globally. Arena has invested in over 25 countries with ~$5.6 billion deployed over its nearly 10 year history. Ceres Life Insurance Company is a de novo insurance company formed in partnership with CC Capital. Ceres Life will be led by Deanna Mulligan, former CEO and Chairperson of Guardian Life, who drove remarkable growth in Guardian’s business during her tenure. Deanna has over 30 years of professional experience, with over 25 years of direct insurance company leadership experience. Ceres Life is designed to be a highly scalable insurance platform with a differentiated cloud-native technology stack and key distribution partnerships, to focus on attractive spread-based annuity insurance products. Growth of Ceres Life will naturally drive growth of Arena and vice versa, creating the synergistic flywheel effect of a vertically integrated asset management and insurance platform. The common shares for Westaim are listed and posted for trading on the TSX-V in Canada under the trading symbol “WED-V”.

Position Summary:

We are a growing company in search of an exceptional Financial Analyst to join our team. This pivotal position will report directly into the company's Vice President of Finance and will work closely with the company’s Chief Financial Officer in the company’s NYC-based offices, presenting a remarkable opportunity for the right candidate to engage with senior finance leadership on a dynamic business poised for exceptional growth. The successful candidate will have the chance to take on considerable responsibilities, benefiting from the guidance and expertise of a seasoned and respected finance team.

Responsibilities Include:

• Support the financial accounting and month-end close responsibilities for the legal entities within the company’s holding company legal structure.
• Support the consolidation of financial results for the firm as a whole and certain sub-consolidated reporting.
• Support the implementation of a new general ledger (NetSuite) and platform for investment portfolio accounting (Clearwater)
• Support certain audited financial statement requirements, including direct interactions with external auditors
• Support the public reporting requirements of a publicly listed company, including current Canadian IFRS reporting requirements and the possibility of a listing on a major US exchange in the future.
• Support the firm’s financial planning & analysis requirements, including the preparation of management reporting packages for senior Westaim leadership and the Board of Directors, a budgeting and forecasting process, and certain other ad-hoc reporting requirements.
• Support the GAAP to tax reconciliations and tax ledgers.
• Support external tax preparers to ensure the firm’s tax returns are being prepared accurately.
• Support accounting and recordkeeping for equity compensation plans of the company, including restricted stock units (RSUs), director’s stock units (DSUs), and stock appreciation rights (SARs).
• Support accounting and other financial analytics for potential future equity and debt capital transactions for the company, including support of rating agency review processes.
• Hybrid work arrangements can be supported, but candidates are expected to be present in the company’s NYC-based offices at least 3-4 days per week.

Qualifications

• Overall 4-5+ years of financial services industry accounting and auditing experience, with 2-3+ years of financial services audit experience with a Big 4 accounting firm preferred
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Accounting or Finance
• CPA Preferred
• Experience in accounting and valuations for credit investment portfolio products
• Knowledge of both US GAAP and IFRS reporting experience a plus
• Experience with public company reporting a plus
• Experience working with life insurance companies and/or asset managers a plus.
• Strong technical accounting knowledge; Excellent research skills.
• Strong communication skills, both written and oral; Solution-oriented creative thinker.
• Strong attention to detail, highly organized with a robust work ethic and a positive attitude.
• A natural self-starter, striving to proactively and continuously expand their own skill sets along with the capabilities of the finance team they participate on.
• A team player that’s willing to wear multiple hats within a small finance team, with responsibilities spanning accounting, consolidations, financial reporting and analysis, public reporting and tax compliance

The duties and responsibilities described here are not exhaustive and additional assignments, duties, or responsibilities may be required of this position. Assignments, duties, and responsibilities may be changed at the sole discretion of the company.