Finance Consultant

Katalyst Group; Illinois; On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Katalyst Group is partnering with a large industrial manufacturing and recycling organization to engage a hands-on Senior Finance Consultant to strengthen forecasting, reporting, financial analysis, and operational decision support capabilities. This role works directly with senior finance leadership and requires digging into details rather than broad strategic work.

Ideal candidate has 8+ years in FP&A or finance transformation, strong Excel modeling, ERP experience, and proven ability to

Qualifications

• 8+ years of progressive experience in FP&A, corporate finance, financial reporting, or finance transformation.
• Strong financial modeling and advanced Excel skills.
• Experience working through ERP implementations, post-implementation stabilization, or financial system transformations.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze complex business processes and improve reporting accuracy and efficiency.
• Comfortable working independently with limited direction while managing multiple priorities.
• Ability to quickly learn new industries, business models, and operational processes.
• Strong communication and business partnering skills with both finance and operational teams.

Responsibilities

• Partner directly with Finance leadership to improve financial planning, forecasting, and reporting processes.
• Evaluate and enhance financial reporting following a recent ERP implementation.
• Develop decision-ready reporting and analysis that provides actionable insights to business leaders.
• Improve existing FP&A processes and identify opportunities for automation and efficiency.
• Analyze large volumes of operational and financial data across multiple business streams.
• Support monthly forecasting, budgeting, variance analysis, and management reporting.
• Investigate data integrity issues and help build more reliable financial reporting structures.
• Collaborate with operations, accounting, and business leaders to understand key performance drivers.
• Create scalable reporting tools, dashboards, and models that improve decision-making.
• Act as an additional senior-level resource for a lean finance team managing significant transformation initiatives.

Job description

Katalyst Group is working with a large industrial manufacturing and recycling organization to engage a hands-on Senior Finance Consultant to support a rapidly evolving business unit. This is an opportunity to work directly with senior finance leadership and play a critical role in strengthening forecasting, reporting, financial analysis, and operational decision support capabilities.

The ideal consultant is a versatile finance professional who thrives in complex environments, can quickly become a trusted advisor, and enjoys rolling up their sleeves to solve problems. This is not a role for someone who wants to operate at a high level only. Success requires digging into the details, improving processes, and transforming raw data into meaningful business insights.

What You'll Be Doing

• Partner directly with Finance leadership to improve financial planning, forecasting, and reporting processes.
• Evaluate and enhance financial reporting following a recent ERP implementation.
• Develop decision-ready reporting and analysis that provides actionable insights to business leaders.
• Improve existing FP&A processes and identify opportunities for automation and efficiency.
• Analyze large volumes of operational and financial data across multiple business streams.
• Support monthly forecasting, budgeting, variance analysis, and management reporting.
• Investigate data integrity issues and help build more reliable financial reporting structures.
• Collaborate with operations, accounting, and business leaders to understand key performance drivers.
• Create scalable reporting tools, dashboards, and models that improve decision-making.
• Act as an additional senior-level resource for a lean finance team managing significant transformation initiatives.

Ideal Background

• 8+ years of progressive experience in FP&A, corporate finance, financial reporting, or finance transformation.
• Strong financial modeling and advanced Excel skills.
• Experience working through ERP implementations, post-implementation stabilization, or financial system transformations.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze complex business processes and improve reporting accuracy and efficiency.
• Comfortable working independently with limited direction while managing multiple priorities.
• Ability to quickly learn new industries, business models, and operational processes.
• Strong communication and business partnering skills with both finance and operational teams.

Preferred Experience

• Manufacturing, metals, steel, recycling, commodities, or other industrial industry experience.
• Experience supporting businesses with complex operational workflows and multiple production or material streams.
• Familiarity with reporting environments where products, inputs, and outputs follow numerous operational pathways.
• Experience building reporting frameworks from the ground up.

What Success Looks Like

• Improved forecasting and reporting processes.
• More efficient FP&A workflows and reporting cycles.
• Greater visibility into business performance drivers.
• Reliable, decision-ready financial information for leadership teams.
• Enhanced utilization of ERP and reporting systems.