Senior Manager - Financial Planning and Analysis

Lathrop GPM LLP; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 147,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health care

Retirement plan

Paid days off including PTO

Parental leave

Short/long-term disability

Job summary

Lathrop GPM LLP in Chicago, IL is seeking a Senior Manager for Financial Planning & Analysis. This role involves leading planning, forecasting, and analytics to drive performance across the firm. The successful candidate will manage reporting processes and collaborate with stakeholders to implement improvements.

Applicants should possess a Bachelor's degree and extensive FP&A experience, preferably within a law firm. A competitive salary range of $147,000 - $200,000 is offered alongside a comprehensive benefits package.

Qualifications

• 8–10+ years progressive FP&A experience in a law firm setting.
• 3+ years of management experience.
• Demonstrated leadership in modeling and forecasting.
• Meticulous validation and reconciliation of data.

Responsibilities

• Own reporting rhythm covering revenue and profitability.
• Manage the annual budgeting process.
• Lead cross-functional projects with defined outcomes.
• Mentor FP&A analysts and set goals.

Skills

Leadership of proactive reporting programs

Advanced Excel

Stakeholder influence

Scenario analysis

Change leadership

Storytelling with data

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics or related field

MBA or CPA preferred

Tools

Business intelligence software

ERP/financial systems (Elite 3E/Enterprise, Intapp)

Job description

Overview

Lathrop GPM, one of the nation’s leading law firms, has an immediate opening for a Senior Manager – Financial Planning & Analysis to serve one of our locations in Kansas City, MO; Dallas, TX; Minneapolis, MN; or Chicago, IL. The Senior Manager – FP&A leads the firm’s planning, forecasting, and performance analytics, turning data into action. This role designs and operates a proactive reporting cadence, governs data integrity across financial systems, and delivers business intelligence with real‑time visibility to executives, practice leaders, and operations. The successful candidate combines rigorous analytical acumen with strong stakeholder management, ensuring that insights translate into measurable improvements in pricing, profitability, resourcing, and growth.

Duties and Responsibilities

Proactive Reporting & Executive Insights

• Own a predictable reporting rhythm (weekly, monthly, quarterly) covering revenue, margin, utilization, rate realization, pricing and client/matter profitability.
• Publish early warning dashboards and variance bridges (actual vs. budget/forecast) with root cause analysis and recommended actions.
• Drive rolling 12–18 month forecasts; scenario and sensitivity modeling for economic, rate, and volume changes.
• Deliver KPIs, narratives and visualizations.

Business Intelligence (BI) & Automation

• Manage data models that standardize metrics across finance and operations.
• Build self-service analytics for practice leads and managers; create certified datasets, measures, and report templates.
• Automate recurrent reporting (scheduling, alerting) to reduce cycle times and manual touchpoints.

Data Integrity & Governance

• Establish and enforce data quality standards: definitions, validation rules, reconciliation routines.
• Partner with Technology Services to maintain secure data pipelines, access controls, and audit trails.
• Lead periodic data quality reviews (rates, arrangements, timekeeping, client/matter attributes) and remediations.

Planning Process Leadership

• Manage the annual budgeting process and quarterly reforecasts; set calendars, templates, assumptions, and milestones.

Stakeholder Management & Change Leadership

• Serve as the finance liaison to practice groups and administrative leaders; translate insight into action plans.
• Lead cross‑functional projects with defined outcomes and timelines.

Team Leadership & Development

• Manage and mentor FP&A analysts; set goals, review performance, and build modeling and capability.
• Establish standards of work for models, decks, and dashboards to ensure consistency, accuracy, and readability.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics or related field; MBA or CPA preferred.
• 8–10+ years progressive FP&A experience in a law firm setting and 3+ years of management experience.
• Demonstrated leadership of proactive reporting programs, modeling and forecast cycles.
• Advanced Excel (modeling) and business intelligence software experience.
• Experience with ERP/financial systems (e.g., Elite 3E/Enterprise, Intapp, or comparable) and data tools.
• Strong command of scenario analysis, driver-based modeling, and profitability frameworks.
• Data integrity champion: meticulous validation and reconciliation.
• Storytelling with data: ability to distill complexity into clear, compelling recommendations.
• Bias for action: converts insights into prioritized initiatives with measurable impact.
• Stakeholder influence: earns trust with partners, practice leaders, and executives.
• Change leadership: designs repeatable processes and improves adoption of analytics.

Salary & Benefits

Current anticipated salary range for applicants in MN as required by applicable state laws is $140,000 - $190,000. Current anticipated salary range for applicants in IL as required by applicable state laws is $147,000 - $200,000. The actual salary will vary and may be above or below the range.

Full comprehensive benefit plan includes health care, retirement plan, paid days off including PTO, parental leave, and short/long‑term disability.

Application window is anticipated to close on or after July 1, 2026.

EEO Statement

We celebrate and support diversity and the benefits it brings to our workplaces, clients and communities. Lathrop GPM LLP is an equal‑opportunity workplace. It is the employment policy and practice of Lathrop GPM to recruit and hire employees without discrimination because of race, color, sex, gender, religion, age, national origin, military status, genetic information, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other status protected by applicable law.

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