Strategic Finance Manager

Grayson Search Partners; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 135,000 - 155,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Job summary

Grayson Search Partners is partnering with a growing, private equity-backed company in Chicago to hire a Strategic Finance Manager. This role goes beyond budgeting, digging into business drivers to turn financial analysis into actionable decisions.

You will partner with operating leaders, build models and forecasts, and evaluate performance across a portfolio of businesses to drive improved returns. The position is hybrid in Chicago with a base salary of 135,000–155,000 and an annual bonus.

Qualifications

• 5–9 years of experience in FP&A, strategic finance, operating finance, transaction advisory, or related analytical roles.
• Strong financial modeling skills and ability to understand drivers of performance.
• Experience translating financial analysis into practical recommendations for business leaders.
• Analytical mindset and willingness to dig into details to find root causes.
• Strong communication to explain complex numbers to non-financial stakeholders.
• Experience in a private equity-backed, acquisitive, multi-location or business services environment is attractive.

Responsibilities

• Partner with operating leaders across a portfolio of businesses to evaluate financial performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Analyze revenue growth, pricing, customer retention, labor costs, margins and other drivers of profitability.
• Investigate underperforming businesses, identify root causes and develop recommendations to improve results.
• Build financial models, forecasts and business cases to support operating and investment decisions.
• Evaluate the performance of acquired businesses against original investment expectations and identify opportunities to improve returns.
• Work closely with senior leadership to communicate findings, challenge assumptions and track the results of improvement initiatives.

Skills

FP&A

Strategic Finance

Financial Modeling

Management Communication

Private Equity

Multi-location experience

Job description

Chicago, IL | Hybrid | $135,000-$155,000 Base + Bonus

Grayson Search Partners is partnering with a growing, private equity-backed company in Chicago to hire a Strategic Finance Manager.

This is an opportunity for someone who enjoys getting beyond the numbers to understand what actually drives business performance. Our client is growing through acquisitions and is building a strategic finance team to work closely with leadership across its portfolio of operating businesses.

Rather than focusing primarily on traditional budgeting and reporting, this role is about digging into individual businesses, identifying opportunities to improve performance, and helping management turn financial analysis into actionable decisions.

What You'll Be Doing

• Partner with operating leaders across a portfolio of businesses to evaluate financial performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Analyze revenue growth, pricing, customer retention, labor costs, margins and other drivers of profitability.
• Investigate underperforming businesses, identify root causes and develop recommendations to improve results.
• Build financial models, forecasts and business cases to support operating and investment decisions.
• Evaluate the performance of acquired businesses against original investment expectations and identify opportunities to improve returns.
• Work closely with senior leadership to communicate findings, challenge assumptions and track the results of improvement initiatives.

What We're Looking For

• Approximately 5-9 years of experience in FP&A, strategic finance, operating finance, transaction advisory, or a related analytical role.
• Strong financial modeling skills and the ability to understand the drivers behind a company's financial performance.
• Experience working with business leaders to translate financial analysis into practical recommendations.
• An analytical, curious mindset and a willingness to dig into the details to understand why something is happening.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to explain complex financial information to non-finance stakeholders.
• Experience in a private equity-backed, acquisitive, multi-location or business services environment is particularly attractive.

Why This Opportunity?

This is a highly visible position with meaningful exposure to senior leadership and the opportunity to influence how individual businesses operate and perform.

You'll work across multiple businesses, tackle a variety of financial and operational challenges, and play an important role in helping a growing platform scale.

If you enjoy financial analysis but want to be closer to business decisions and tangible results, this is a compelling opportunity.

Compensation: $135,000-$155,000 base salary plus annual bonus.