Financial Analyst - Investor Relations

SM Energy is seeking a Financial Analyst to join the Investor Relations & Finance team in Denver, Colorado. In this hands-on role, you will support financial and valuation work tied to earnings, guidance, and external investor materials, collaborating closely with senior leadership and market-facing stakeholders across the sell-side and investor community.

Role Overview

• Perform detailed financial, operating, and valuation analysis of SM Energy and its peer group.
• Maintain and improve comparative-company analyses, including trading multiples, free cash flow yields, leverage, returns, capital efficiency, operating performance, and related metrics.
• Evaluate relative valuation to explain key drivers behind differences in market performance and investor expectations.
• Conduct independent research on peers, industry trends, commodity markets, capital allocation, transactions, and other topics relevant to SM Energy’s strategy and valuation.
• Support scenario analysis and other strategic finance projects for senior management.

Investor and Earnings Analysis

• Review and analyze sell-side financial models, including production, pricing, operating costs, capital expenditures, cash flow, earnings, and balance-sheet assumptions.
• Maintain and analyze consensus expectations, identifying meaningful variances among analyst estimates and against company expectations.
• Investigate the drivers behind changes in analyst estimates and help surface emerging areas of investor concern or opportunity.
• Assist in preparing management for quarterly earnings calls, analyst discussions, and investor meetings.
• Develop analyses that connect operating and financial performance with external expectations and valuation.
• Analyze actual and forecast performance versus company guidance, internal plans, and external expectations.
• Identify risks and opportunities related to guidance and help develop supporting analysis for senior management.

Cross-Functional Support and Content Development

• Partner with Operations Planning and asset teams to understand operating performance, production trends, capital activity, timing, and other drivers of company results.
• Translate operating plans and performance into financial expectations, company guidance, and external messaging.
• Partner with Financial Reporting, Treasury, and other Accounting/Finance functions to support quarterly earnings and external financial communications.
• Conduct financial and accounting diligence needed for investor materials, earnings analysis, and management decision-making.
• Assist in reviewing and validating non-GAAP financial measures, reconciliations, and supporting schedules.
• Trace financial information back to source data to investigate discrepancies or unusual trends.
• Develop financial-statement and accounting fluency to independently research and resolve financial questions in coordination with subject-matter experts.
• Build high-quality analytical materials for senior management and the Board of Directors, owning work from initial data collection through final presentation.
• Create financial and strategic content for investor presentations, quarterly earnings materials, and other external communications.
• Translate complex financial, operating, and market information into clear, concise, decision-useful presentations.
• Support ad hoc strategic projects and analyses for the Vice President of Investor Relations and senior Finance leadership.
• Support interactions with institutional investors and sell-side research analysts.
• Research investors, analysts, and market developments to identify relevant themes for management.
• Assist with responding to investor and analyst information requests and performing follow-up analysis.
• Participate in investor conferences and non-deal roadshows, with periodic travel required.
• Other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business, or a related analytical discipline.
• Strong financial modeling, valuation, and financial-statement analysis skills.
• Demonstrated ability to independently research and analyze complex financial or business questions.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
• Strong attention to detail with the ability to produce accurate, high-quality work under tight deadlines.
• Ability to synthesize large amounts of information and identify the issues most relevant to management and investors.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Intellectual curiosity and demonstrated interest in capital markets, corporate finance, and the energy industry.
• High degree of initiative, ownership, and personal accountability.
• Ability and willingness to work across organizational boundaries, including Operations, Accounting, Financial Reporting, Finance, Treasury, and executive leadership.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment with limited supervision.

Technologies

• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Bloomberg
• FactSet
• S&P Capital IQ

Benefits

• Variable pay
• Health care coverage
• Retirement plan
• Protection coverage
• Time off and leave programs
• Training and development opportunities
• A range of allowances connected to specific work situations

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in investment banking, equity research, corporate development, strategic finance, FP&A, transaction advisory, or another analytically rigorous finance environment.
• Experience in or demonstrated knowledge of the energy industry, particularly upstream oil and gas.
• Experience with Bloomberg, FactSet, S&P Capital IQ, or comparable financial-data and market-information platforms.
• Experience analyzing public-company financial statements, earnings materials, and financial models.
• Familiarity with corporate valuation methodologies, including trading comparables, precedent transactions, discounted cash flow, and other financial analyses.
• Experience developing executive-level or Board-level presentation materials.
• Demonstrated proficiency using artificial intelligence and other emerging analytical tools to improve the speed and quality of research, analysis, and presentation development while maintaining appropriate data-security and confidentiality standards.

Salary and Location

• Denver, CO (onsite)
• USD 100,000 - 125,000 per year