Senior Manager, Financial Planning & Analysis and Commercial Strategy

Position Overview

The Senior Manager, Financial Planning and Analysis and Commercial Strategy will be a high-impact role that will help shape Ready’s next stage of growth, and it goes well beyond reporting. Reporting to the CFO, the Senior Manager, FP&A & Commercial Strategy will lead planning, forecasting and cash, and act as a strategic business partner to the CEO, the CFO, the leadership team and the Board, as well as to Sales, Marketing and Operations, using the numbers to shape where we play, how we win and where we invest.

You will own FP&A end to end: the annual plan, forecasts, the cash forecast and working capital, monthly reporting, Board materials and commercial strategy support. You will also help build and scale the frameworks that support our growth: a performance management rhythm, S&OP, an innovation and launch gate process, and FP&A reporting that leaders use to make decisions. As the function grows, this role is expected to build and lead a small team; the exact structure will be defined over time.

You will own the month, the forecast and the story. Functional leaders own and explain their line items; you own what rolls into the company P&L, cash and forecast. And you will do it the modern way. We want someone at the leading edge of technology and AI, who uses it every day to automate the routine and spend their time on insight, judgment and action. This is a fast-paced environment, and you will be trusted to operate independently, set priorities and deliver with minimal direction.

This role is remote (US), with a preference for candidates based in or near Pittsburgh, PA. You must work Eastern Time zone hours, and travel is up to 10%, as needed.

Responsibilities

1. Planning & Forecasting

•    Lead the annual operating plan and budget process, from top-down targets to bottom-up builds by brand, channel, customer and product line.

•    Run the monthly landing and forecast cadence: pre-close risk and opportunity reviews, bridges and executive narratives.

•    Deliver accurate, driver-based rolling forecasts from revenue to gross margin, EBITDA and cash, with clear ranges of outcomes.

•    Build and maintain the company’s integrated financial model (P&L, balance sheet and cash flow) and run scenario and sensitivity analysis on pricing, volume, mix, input costs and trade.

•    Partner with the CFO on the 3-year plan and the financial case for strategic choices, and set and monitor guardrails on price, mix, trade, marketing, COGS, overheads and working capital.

2. Cash & Working Capital

•    Own the cash forecast, including a rolling 13-week cash forecast and daily and weekly cash reporting, and partner with the CFO on cash management and liquidity planning.

•    Own the working capital forecast, actuals and reporting (DSO, DIO, DPO and cash conversion cycle), with targets, an actions log and accountable owners.

•    Support lender reporting and compliance tracking with the CFO.

3. Corporate Reporting & Board Support

•    Own the monthly management reporting pack: P&L by segment and product line, variance analysis versus budget, forecast and prior year, and the story behind the numbers.

•    Prepare the Board and leadership materials: clear, concise and decision-ready.

•    Define and maintain the company’s KPIs and dashboards (revenue, gross margin, trade spend, marketing return, cost to serve, working capital).

•    Partner with the Controller on month-end close (cut-off, accruals and late postings) so the P&L, balance sheet and cash views are timely, accurate and consistent with the forecast.

•    Standardize a KPI dictionary, reporting templates and the business review calendar so everyone works from one version of the truth.

4. Commercial Strategy & Business Partnering

•    Be a strategic partner to Sales, Marketing, Operations, Supply Chain and the leadership team: bring an independent point of view, challenge assumptions and help leaders improve results.

•    Shape commercial strategy with the CEO, CFO and commercial leaders, including customer and channel strategy, revenue growth management, pricing and price pack architecture, and new retailer and channel opportunities.

•    Bring the financial view into customer joint business plans, retailer programs and promotional calendars, and evaluate incremental opportunities (for example, displays, club events and new item launches) on return on investment before we commit.

•    Build customer, channel and product profitability to guide where we invest and grow.

•    Build price, volume and mix bridges and gross margin bridges (material costs, yield, waste, freight and logistics) that reconcile to the P&L.

•    Analyze pricing, trade promotion and marketing return on investment, and recommend where to invest and where to pull back.

•    Lead overheads planning, forecasting and spend governance with functional owners and HR.

•    Support major commercial decisions, such as customer negotiations, price changes, co-manufacturing and sourcing, with sound financial analysis.

5. Build and Scale the Frameworks

•    Performance management. Design and launch a performance management framework: a monthly business review rhythm with clear owners, targets and follow-through.

•    S&OP. Lead and strengthen the Sales & Operations Planning process with Sales, Operations and Supply Chain that links the demand plan to supply, inventory and the financial forecast, bringing the financial view into consensus planning.

•    Innovation & launch gates. Lead a stage-gate process for new products and customers, including cost structure, margin hurdles and post-launch reviews, so every launch is set up to make money.

•    FP&A reporting. Build standard, repeatable FP&A reporting that is trusted, timely and easy to read.

•    Team. Build and lead a small, high-performing FP&A and commercial finance team over time (structure to be defined), and coach and develop analysts across Finance.

6. Technology, Data & AI

•    Use NetSuite as the system of record. Build clean, automated links from the ERP into planning and reporting.

•    Be an AI-first finance leader: use AI tools (for example, Claude or Copilot), agents and automation every day to speed up analysis, reporting and forecasting, and stay ahead of what is next.

•    Champion technology and AI adoption across Finance and the business, build repeatable AI-enabled workflows, and help the wider team learn and use them.

•    Deploy automated dashboards and AI-assisted analysis to shorten the cycle from data to insight to decision.

•    Own a single source of truth for models, queries and master data logic, and recommend the right planning and BI tools as we scale (for example, Power BI, Adaptive or similar).

Qualifications

Must Haves

·         Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related field. MBA, CPA, or CFA preferred.

·         6-8 years of progressive experience in FP&A, corporate finance or commercial finance, including at least 3 years in consumer packaged goods, food or beverage.

•    A track record of building and scaling FP&A processes in a growing, entrepreneurial company.

•    Expert three-statement and driver-based modeling, 13-week cash forecasting, and price, volume and margin bridges.

•    Experience partnering closely with Accounting on the month-end close, ideally across multiple segments or entities.

•    Strong understanding of CPG economics: gross-to-net, trade spend, COGS, co-manufacturing, retailer and club channel dynamics.

•    Experience preparing Board and executive materials and presenting them with confidence.

•    Experience partnering with Sales and Marketing on commercial decisions (pricing, trade, customer and channel strategy), and the credibility to influence senior leaders, including the CEO.

•    Advanced Excel skills and hands-on use of NetSuite or a similar ERP.

•    At the leading edge of technology, automation and AI: you already use AI tools in your day-to-day work, have used them to automate models, reporting or workflows, and are always looking for what is next.

•    A clear, simple communicator who can turn complex numbers into a story and a recommendation, with excellent PowerPoint skills and crisp, executive-ready materials.

•    A self-starter who operates independently with minimal direction, thrives in a fast-paced and ambiguous environment, proactively surfaces risks and opportunities, and drives results across stakeholders.

Nice to Have

•    Experience leading S&OP or a stage-gate innovation process.

•    Experience with planning and BI tools (Adaptive, Anaplan, Power BI, Tableau) and syndicated data (Circana, Nielsen, SPINS).

•    Experience with lender reporting or private equity-backed companies.

•    Experience leading, coaching or developing analysts.

Ready® is one of the fastest-growing functional snack and beverage companies in North America, experiencing 300% growth in the past three years. Ready® is a mission-driven brand focused on fueling athletes and achievers at all levels. We were recently named to Bain & Company’s prestigious 2026 Insurgent Brands list for the second consecutive year, affirming our position as a disruptor in the food and beverage industry.