Sr Manager Finance

ADTRAN, Inc.; Huntsville (TN); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Adtran, Inc. in Huntsville, AL, seeks an experienced FP&A leader to own the planning, forecasting, and performance management. You will drive cross-functional partnerships with Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, Product Management, and HR to align financial plans with strategic goals.

The role emphasizes automating processes, improving forecast accuracy, and enabling data-driven decision-making across global finance teams and board-ready materials.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, Mathematics, or a related discipline.
• 7+ years of progressive experience in FP&A or related roles, including 3+ years of people leadership.
• Demonstrated experience in manufacturing, telecom, technology, or similarly complex product-based business.
• Strong budgeting, forecasting, financial modeling, scenario planning, and management reporting.
• Proven track record of building or redesigning finance processes and reducing manual work through automation.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and experience with BI, ERP, and FP&A platforms.

Responsibilities

• Lead the annual operating plan, long-range plan, rolling forecasts, scenario analysis, and monthly business performance reviews.
• Develop integrated financial models covering operating expenses, workforce planning, capital expenditures, cash, and key operational drivers.
• Improve forecast accuracy through driver-based planning, clear assumptions, disciplined risk and opportunity tracking, and post-forecast performance reviews.
• Translate business dynamics into concise executive-level insights, recommendations, and decision alternatives.
• Partner with leaders to evaluate investments, product and customer opportunities, cost actions, and resource trade-offs.
• Assess current forecasting, budgeting and reporting workflows; design standardized, scalable processes with clear ownership and controls.
• Automate manual data preparation, forecast consolidation, reporting, and variance analysis using planning and analytics tools.
• Apply agentic AI, generative AI, machine learning to streamline planning activities and accelerate scenario analysis.
• Establish governance, data security and controls for AI-enabled finance processes.
• Lead monthly, quarterly, and annual performance reporting; support executive presentations and audit readiness.

Skills

Leadership

Forecasting

Scenario analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Finance/Accounting/Economics/Business Admin/Math

MBA or professional certification (preferred)

Tools

SAP

SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC)

ERP systems

Job description

Key Responsibilities

• Financial Planning, Forecasting & Decision Support
  • Lead the annual operating plan, long-range plan, rolling forecasts, scenario analysis, and monthly business performance reviews.
  • Develop integrated financial models covering operating expenses, workforce planning, capital expenditures, cash, and key operational drivers.
  • Improve forecast accuracy through driver-based planning, clear assumptions, disciplined risk and opportunity tracking, and post-forecast performance reviews.
  • Translate business dynamics into concise executive-level insights, recommendations, and decision alternatives.
  • Partner with leaders to evaluate investments, product and customer opportunities, cost actions, and resource trade-offs.
• Process Transformation, Automation & AI Enablement
  • Assess current forecasting, budgeting, and reporting workflows; design standardized, scalable processes with clear ownership, controls, calendars, and service expectations.
  • Automate manual data preparation, forecast consolidation, reporting, and variance analysis using fit-for-purpose planning, analytics, workflow, and integration tools.
  • Apply experience with agentic AI, generative AI, machine learning, or intelligent automation to streamline planning activities, surface anomalies, generate first-draft variance narratives, and accelerate scenario analysis.
  • Establish appropriate human review, data security, documentation, and control practices for AI-enabled finance processes.
  • Define and track transformation outcomes such as planning cycle time, forecast accuracy, manual touchpoints, adoption, data quality, and decision speed.
• Business Partnership & Cross-Functional Collaboration
  • Serve as a finance business partner to Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, Product Management, Corporate Accounting, Human Resources, and other functional leaders.
  • Collaborate with international colleagues and teammates across time zones in a global, matrixed environment.
  • Challenge assumptions constructively, influence without direct authority, and align stakeholders around fact-based decisions and enterprise priorities.
  • Communicate complex financial and operational topics clearly to both finance and non-finance audiences.
• Workforce Planning & Resource Allocation
  • Partner with Human Resources and business leaders to connect workforce plans with financial plans, operating priorities, and productivity objectives.
  • Develop headcount, compensation, hiring, attrition, vacancy, and organizational scenario models; improve visibility into workforce-related risks and opportunities.
  • Enable disciplined resource allocation by linking roles, skills, capacity, and costs to strategic outcomes.
• Performance Management, Governance & Leadership
  • Lead monthly, quarterly, and annual performance reporting; identify trends, root causes, risks, opportunities, and corrective actions.
  • Support executive presentations, Board materials, and management reviews with accurate, decision-oriented analysis.
  • Partner with Accounting to ensure planning and reporting are aligned with company policies, financial controls, accounting standards, and audit requirements.
  • Lead, mentor, and develop finance professionals while fostering accountability, curiosity, inclusion, continuous learning, and operational excellence.
  • Promote collaboration and consistent practices across global finance and business teams.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, Mathematics, or a related discipline.
• 7+ years of progressive experience in FP&A, corporate finance, operational finance, or related roles, including 3+ years of people leadership experience.
• Demonstrated experience supporting a manufacturing, telecommunications, networking, technology, or similarly complex product-based business.
• Strong command of budgeting, forecasting, financial modeling, scenario planning, management reporting, and performance analysis.
• Proven track record of building or redesigning finance processes and reducing manual work through automation, analytics, or workflow improvement.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and experience with business intelligence, enterprise resource planning, and financial planning platforms.
• Ability to operate effectively when priorities, inputs, or business conditions are evolving; skilled at creating structure, clarifying assumptions, and moving decisions forward.
• Excellent executive communication, cross-functional collaboration, stakeholder influence, organization, and problem-solving skills.
• Experience working across functions and with international colleagues in a global or matrixed organization.

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA, CPA, CMA, or another relevant advanced degree or professional certification.
• Direct experience in telecommunications or network equipment, including hardware, software, services, supply chain, and project-based models.
• Hands-on experience with SAP and SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC), including planning, forecasting, analytics, reporting, dashboards, or data integration.
• Practical experience using agentic AI, generative AI, machine learning, robotic process automation, or related capabilities in forecasting, budgeting, reporting, or decision support.
• Experience with workforce planning and associated systems, data, and governance.
• Experience supporting a publicly traded company and preparing executive or Board-level materials.

Leadership Profile

• Builder: Creates scalable processes, standards, and capabilities rather than relying on workarounds.
• Change leader: Brings others along, converts ideas into adoption, and balances speed with governance.
• Enterprise thinker: Connects commercial, operational, people, and financial drivers to the broader business strategy.
• Comfortable with ambiguity: Makes progress with incomplete information while clearly communicating assumptions, risks, and decision points.
• Collaborative and globally minded: Builds trust across functions, levels, cultures, and geographies.
• Hands-on and outcomes focused: Moves comfortably between strategic thinking, detailed analysis, and execution.

Adtran is a leading global provider of fiber-based networking solutions and SaaS applications, focused on the broadband access market. Our comprehensive portfolio spans from the metro core to the customer premises, enabling network providers to deliver Gigabit broadband to every home and business. Our vision is to enable a fully connected world where the power to communicate is available to everyone, everywhere. At Adtran, we believe in our people. With a diverse and inclusive team spread across the globe, our culture embraces creativity and seeks innovation and quality in everything we do. Built on a foundation of communication, trust, collaboration, and an entrepreneurial spirit enables us to be a global technology leader and a strong customer advocate. Adtran began operations in January 1986. Headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, Adtran is located in Cummings Research Park - the second-largest research park in the U.S. and fourth-largest in the world. Our mailing address is 901 Explorer Boulevard, Huntsville, Alabama, 35806. Adtran, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adtran Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN and FSE: QH9). Find out more at adtran.com, or follow our story on LinkedIn and Twitter.