Sr Financial Analyst, Operations

Farmer's Fridge; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 115,000 - 125,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) with employer match vesting

Paid time off

Paid sabbatical after 5 years

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Job summary

Farmer’s Fridge seeks a highly analytical, hands-on finance leader to partner with Manufacturing and Fulfillment and drive cost performance across operations. The role blends FP&A with cost management, building models and targets, and delivering actionable insights to leaders.

Approximately 75% of the time is in Operations Finance, focusing on labor, materials, packaging, distribution, and other cost drivers, while the remainder supports the Director of FP&A with planning, reporting, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required in a finance-related field.
• 5+ years of FP&A, operations finance, or manufacturing finance experience.
• Experience partnering with operational teams in manufacturing or distribution.
• Strong modeling, data analysis, and storytelling skills.

Responsibilities

• Partner with FP&A Director on annual planning, budgeting and forecasting.
• Prepare monthly/quarterly financial reporting and management materials.
• Support executive and board-level presentations with insights and actions.
• Perform ad-hoc analyses to support strategic and day-to-day decisions.
• Lead special projects at the intersection of finance, operations and strategy.
• Drive cost reduction opportunities and improve cost-structure visibility.

Skills

Cost modeling

Operations finance

Excel/Sheets

BI tools

ERP

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in Finance/Accounting/Economics

Tools

Excel / Google Sheets

BI tools

ERP systems

Job description

Farmer’s Fridge makes fruits and vegetables accessible and approachable for everyone. We offer a variety of fresh, healthy, ready-to-eat meals and snacks through our fresh food vending machines, wholesale partners, and our office pantry solution — providing chef-curated meals to customers within seconds. Today, we operate a network of Fridges and partner with clients nationwide in high-foot-traffic areas, such as airports, hospitals, universities, and large office buildings — where there is limited accessibility to fresh, healthy, grab-n-go options.

We care deeply about what we’re creating and aspire to make sure our customers feel that through every touchpoint. This shows up in many ways across the business. We are committed to prioritizing food safety, we are passionate about product quality, we value our employees, we champion the best idea no matter where it comes from, and we’re committed to making an overall positive impact as we scale.

About this Role:

Farmer’s Fridge is looking for a highly analytical, hands‑on finance leader to partner closely with our Manufacturing and Fulfillment teams and help drive the cost performance of our business. This role sits at the intersection of finance and operations, with a primary focus on understanding the drivers of our cost structure, building the tools and models needed to manage those costs, establishing clear financial targets, and partnering with our teams to deliver against them.

Approximately 75% of this role will be dedicated to Operations Finance across our manufacturing plant and distribution network. You will work directly with operational leaders and cost owners to understand what is driving performance, identify opportunities to improve efficiency and profitability, and translate financial insights into concrete actions. This is not a role for someone who wants to sit on the sidelines and report on the business—we are looking for someone who wants to roll up their sleeves, get into the details, solve problems, and help the business get better.

The remaining portion of the role will support the Director of FP&A across financial reporting, forecasting, management presentations, strategic and operational finance initiatives, diligence requests, and other high-priority projects.

The ideal candidate combines strong financial modeling and analytical skills with business judgment, curiosity, and a bias toward action. You should be comfortable working with detailed operational data one day and presenting the key takeaway to senior leadership the next. Most importantly, you are motivated by making a tangible difference in the performance of the business and enjoy working shoulder‑to‑shoulder with operators to get results.

What You’ll Do…

Operations Finance & Cost Management

• Serve as the primary finance partner to Manufacturing and Fulfillment leadership, developing a deep understanding of the operational and financial drivers of our cost structure.
• Own financial models and analyses across labor, materials, packaging, distribution, transportation, waste, productivity, and other key cost drivers, translating operational activity into financial outcomes.
• Establish cost targets, operating benchmarks, and performance expectations with operational leaders, and develop recurring reporting to measure performance, trends, risks, and opportunities.
• Partner directly with plant and distribution teams to investigate variances, identify root causes and efficiency opportunities, quantify their financial impact, and translate insights into actionable plans.
• Develop and maintain driver-based models and clear views of unit economics and cost per unit to support forward‑looking planning and operational decision‑making.
• Analyze labor productivity, staffing, throughput, utilization, waste, distribution costs, and other operational metrics to identify opportunities to improve efficiency and profitability.
• Build business cases for process improvements, capital investments, staffing changes, vendor decisions, and other initiatives that impact the cost structure.
• Lead root‑cause analysis of material cost variances and work with operators to determine the actions required to get performance back on track.
• Help create a culture of financial accountability across Manufacturing and Fulfillment by making financial information accessible, actionable, and relevant to operational teams.
• Serve as a thought partner to operational leadership, challenging assumptions when appropriate while remaining focused on practical solutions and better business outcomes.

FP&A & Strategic Finance

• Partner with the Director of FP&A on annual planning, budgeting, and forecasting, with a particular focus on operating expenses and the broader cost structure.
• Prepare monthly and quarterly financial reporting and management materials, translating results into concise insights and recommended actions.
• Support executive and board‑level presentations, including analysis of business performance, key drivers, risks, and opportunities.
• Perform ad‑hoc financial and operational analyses to support strategic and day‑to‑day decision‑making across the organization.
• Support diligence requests, investor‑related analyses, and other time‑sensitive financial projects as needed.
• Identify opportunities to improve financial processes, reporting, and analytical tools as the company continues to scale.
• Take on special projects at the intersection of finance, operations, and strategy.

What Success Looks Like

In this role, success means becoming a trusted financial and business partner to our Manufacturing and Fulfillment teams. You will understand the economics of our operations deeply enough to identify where we are performing well, where we are missing targets, and where the biggest opportunities exist.

You will build the models, reporting, and analytical tools that make those opportunities visible—but you will also work alongside our operational teams to turn those insights into action. Over time, you should become someone our operators proactively seek out when making decisions with financial implications and someone our finance leadership trusts to independently own complex operational finance questions from analysis through execution.

Who You Are…

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business, or a related field.
• 5+ years of relevant experience in FP&A, Operations Finance, Supply Chain Finance, Manufacturing Finance, or a similar analytical role.
• Experience partnering directly with operational teams; experience in manufacturing, food production, distribution, logistics, or supply chain environments is strongly preferred.
• Strong financial modeling skills, including the ability to build driver‑based models from scratch and translate complex operational data into clear financial insights.
• Advanced Excel / Google Sheets skills and comfort working with large, detailed datasets. Experience with BI, ERP, planning, or data visualization tools is a plus.
• Strong understanding of cost accounting and operational cost drivers; experience with standard costing, variance analysis, unit economics, or activity‑based costing is a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to move beyond reporting the numbers to understand why performance is changing and what the business should do about it.
• Strong business judgment, communication, and storytelling skills, with the ability to distill complex analyses into concise recommendations for audiences ranging from frontline operators to senior leadership.
• Highly organized, detail‑oriented, and comfortable managing multiple priorities in a fast‑paced environment.
• Self‑starter with a high level of ownership, a bias toward action, and the ability to build trust and credibility with operational leaders and finance partners.
• Genuine desire to make a tangible difference in business performance and work closely with the people responsible for running the business.

The base salary range for this role is $115,000 - $125,000. The base pay offered will be determined by factors such as experience, skills, training, certifications, education, and any applicable minimum wage requirements.

In addition to base salary, this position is eligible for company performance‑based bonuses and equity.

We Provide a Comprehensive Benefits Package, Including

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance (multiple plans available)
• 401(k) with immediate employer match vesting
• Paid time off (including vacation, sick leave, and holidays)
• Paid sabbatical after 5 years of service
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Farmer’s Fridge Diversity Statement

"Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Farmer’s Fridge, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles."

Farmer’s Fridge is an equal‑opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity in all employment practices, including hiring, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. View our disclosures related to External Agencies and Applicants below: https://www.farmersfridge.com/careerdisclosures