Senior Financial Manager

Katalyst Systems Impact; Cedar Rapids (IA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

401(k) match

Direct exposure to CFO

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Katalyst Systems Impact is seeking a Senior Financial Manager in Cedar Rapids, IA, on-site, to partner with the CFO and lead financial execution across portfolio companies. This role focuses on diagnosing issues, enabling data-driven decisions, and delivering practical financial solutions in a growing shared-services environment.

You’ll engage in profitability analyses, process improvements, and ERP-related initiatives, while preparing for potential M&A activity and integration work.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in accounting or financial analysis with root-cause problem solving and financial systems work
• Track record of delivering delegated projects with minimal oversight
• Comfort handling sensitive information and partnering with senior finance leaders
• Strong communication skills with executive-level interaction
• Willingness to travel to portfolio companies 10–15%

Responsibilities

• Serve as the CFO's right hand on delegated projects, analyses, and initiatives across the portfolio
• Drive project-level profitability analysis, margins, WIP, and drivers behind the numbers
• Diagnose financial and operational issues at portfolio companies and implement on-site solutions as needed
• Evaluate end-to-end processes to link operations, data, systems, and accounting to financial results
• Support ERP and financial system implementations, conversions, and integrations
• Translate business problems into practical financial, process, and system improvements
• Improve the quality and usability of financial data and reporting
• Identify and drive process improvements across the portfolio, including automation and AI opportunities
• Support M&A due diligence and post-close integration

Skills

Financial analysis

ERP systems

Data interpretation

Communication

Problem solving

Travel

Tools

Epicor

QuickBooks Online

Acumatica

Job description

Senior Financial Manager

Cedar Rapids, IA | On-site

A locally owned shared service company in Eastern Iowa is supporting a growing group of 30+ independently owned construction, manufacturing and industrial companies with strategic and financial solutions. They are seeking a motivated financial professional to join their finance team in Cedar Rapids, Iowa as a Senior Financial Manager. This is a newly created position to serve as the CFO’s right hand in the field as an execution-focused financial systems expert and operational fixer.

This is not a traditional accounting role centered on month-end close. You’ll serve as an execution-focused partner to the CFO, to diagnose financial and operational issues, improve systems and processes, and turn analysis into action. You won't always walk into clean data, standardized processes, or perfectly configured systems. Technology is a tool in this role, not the end goal — you'll start with the business problem and work backward to the right financial, process, data, or technology solution. Part of the job is figuring out what is actually happening, creating structure, and getting the right people aligned around a solution.

The financial team is growing an interest in M&A as they evaluate additional companies to bring into the shared-services model, and this person will be pulled into that work as it develops — assessing the financials of prospective add-ons and supporting integration once they join.

This is initially an individual-contributor leadership role with significant influence across portfolio companies; team leadership opportunities may develop as the platform grows.

What You’ll Own

• Serve as the CFO's right hand — taking ownership of delegated projects, financial analysis, and initiatives across the portfolio, with increasing autonomy as you build trust

• Drive project-level profitability analysis — digging into job profitability, gain/fade, margins, WIP, and other operational drivers to help leadership understand not just what the numbers are, but why

• Work directly with portfolio companies to diagnose the root cause of financial and operational issues and help implement solutions, including on-site support when needed

• Evaluate financial and operational processes end to end — understanding how operations, processes, systems, data, and accounting ultimately flow through to financial results rather than fixing one piece in isolation

• Support ERP and financial system implementations, conversions, and integrations across portfolio companies — from requirements and data validation through testing, transition, and user adoption

• Translate business problems into practical financial, process, and systems solutions, partnering with company leadership and users to ensure improvements actually work in the field

• Improve the quality and usability of financial data and reporting by identifying gaps in processes, system configuration, workflows, and underlying data

• Identify and drive process improvements across the portfolio, including opportunities to use automation, better reporting tools, and emerging AI capabilities to reduce manual work and improve decision-making

• Support M&A activity — assisting with financial due diligence on prospective add-on companies and post-close integration into the shared-services model

What We’re Looking For

Required

• 6+ years in accounting or financial analysis, with real exposure to root-cause problem solving and financial systems work – not just reporting

• A track record of taking ambiguous, delegated projects and running them to completion with minimal oversight

• Comfortable being trusted with sensitive information and operating as a genuine partner to a senior finance leader

• A strong communicator with high EQ — equally comfortable in an office setting or working directly with portfolio company leadership and their teams

• Travel to portfolio companies as needed, approximately 10–15%

Preferred

• Experience translating financial or operational needs into system, reporting, workflow, or process improvements

• Experience with hands-on ERP implementations or integrations (Epicor, QuickBooks Online, Acumatica, or similar industrial platforms), along with advanced data/reporting skills

• Exposure to WIP accounting, job costing, or plant inventory in construction or manufacturing environments

• M&A due diligence or post-acquisition integration experience

• Experience in multi-entity or small-business environments

Compensation & Perks

• $100,000–$120,000, dependent on experience

• Annual performance bonus, tied to systems execution and portfolio performance

• Comprehensive benefits and 401(k) match

• Direct partnership with and exposure to the CFO and executive leadership team

Why This Role

You'd be working alongside a CFO who is actively building out a growing platform, with direct exposure to how a multi-entity operation actually runs — real variety, real ownership, and a front-row seat to the M&A side of the business as it develops. If you're the kind of person who gets more energy from solving a problem than closing a book, this is built for you.