Chicago, United States | Posted on 08/26/2026
Senior FP&A Manager will serve as a key financial partner to manufacturing operations, providing the analysis, forecasting, and financial insight needed to improve operating performance and support business decisions. Reporting to the Vice President of Finance, this position will work closely with Plant Operations and Supply Chain to understand cost drivers, identify performance gaps, model operational decisions, and improve financial visibility across the manufacturing operation.
This is a hands‑on, highly analytical role requiring strong manufacturing finance experience and the ability to turn complex operational and financial data into clear, actionable information. The position is primarily forward‑looking FP&A rather than traditional accounting and will have significant responsibility for forecasting, budgeting, costing, working capital, and operational analysis.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead financial forecasting and budgeting activities supporting manufacturing operations.
- Develop financial models and scenario analyses to support operational decisions, capacity planning, cost initiatives, and business planning.
- Analyze manufacturing performance, identifying trends, risks, opportunities, and underlying cost drivers.
- Analyze overhead spending and absorption variances and work with Operations to understand root causes and financial impact.
- Support product costing and provide analysis around changes in material, labor, overhead, volume, and manufacturing costs.
- Monitor and analyze working capital, including inventory levels, turns, and other operational drivers impacting cash.
- Partner directly with Plant Operations and Supply Chain leadership to provide financial analysis and improve business performance.
- Develop reporting and dashboards that provide greater visibility into manufacturing costs, operating performance, and financial results.
- Translate operational data into financial impact and provide recommendations to leadership.
- Analyze labor, productivity, utilization, throughput, and other manufacturing metrics to understand their impact on cost and profitability.
- Evaluate cost‑saving and operational improvement initiatives and validate expected financial benefits.
- Develop business cases and financial models for manufacturing initiatives and operational investments.
- Perform sensitivity and scenario analysis to understand the financial impact of changes in volume, cost, capacity, productivity, and other operating assumptions.
- Identify opportunities to improve forecasting accuracy, financial reporting, data visibility, and decision‑making.
- Support the Vice President of Finance with ad hoc financial analysis and strategic projects.
Qualifications
- 5+ years of progressive Financial Analyst, FP&A, manufacturing finance, plant finance, cost accounting, Plant Controller, or related financial experience.
- Manufacturing experience required.
- Strong experience with financial forecasting, budgeting, financial modeling, and variance analysis.
- Demonstrated ability to analyze manufacturing costs and understand the operational drivers behind financial performance.
- Experience with product costing, overhead analysis, working capital, and manufacturing financial metrics.
- Advanced analytical and problem‑solving skills with the ability to work with large and complex data sets.
- Ability to move beyond reporting results and identify the operational reasons behind financial performance.
- Strong business‑partnering skills with experience working directly with Operations and Supply Chain.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel skills required.
- Experience with Power BI or comparable business‑intelligence and data‑visualization tools.
- Experience working within an enterprise‑level ERP environment.
- Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, Business Management, Economics, or a related business/quantitative discipline preferred.