Senior Financial Analyst

Job Summary
The Senior Financial Analyst plays a key role in driving gross margin improvement across the organization. This position owns the development of gross margin reporting and analytics, partners closely with plant managers and operations leadership to translate data into operational action, and works cross-functionally to identify, quantify, and execute opportunities that improve profitability.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities 
Gross Margin Reporting & Analytics
•    Leads the design and development of gross margin reporting across plants, product lines, and customers, ensuring consistency and accuracy of financial data.
•    Builds and maintains dashboards that break down margin performance by key drivers: material cost, labor, scrap/yield, freight, overhead absorption, and price/mix.
•    Conducts variance analysis comparing actual margin to standard/budgeted margin and identifies and communicates root causes.
•    Tracks margin trends over time and by SKU/customer to identify areas of erosion or improvement.
•    Automates recurring margin reporting to improve turnaround time and data reliability.
Operational Partnership
•    Partners directly with plant managers and operations leaders to translate margin data into concrete operational action items (scrap reduction, labor efficiency, throughput improvement).
•    Participates in production and operations reviews to connect shop-floor performance to financial outcomes.
•    Works with plant teams to validate cost inputs (standards, BOMs, routings) that drive margin calculations.
•    Helps plants prioritize which margin levers (yield, downtime, changeover time, material substitution) will have the greatest P&L impact.
Cost & Pricing Analysis
•    Analyzes cost inputs (materials, labor, freight) and their impact on margin by product and customer.
•    Supports pricing decisions and quote reviews with margin impact analysis.
•    Identifies and quantifies margin leakage, including rebates, freight absorption, expedite fees, and warranty/scrap costs.
•    Monitors customer- and product-level profitability, flagging low-margin accounts or SKUs for review.
Action-Oriented Analysis & Continuous Improvement
•    Converts findings into prioritized, quantified margin improvement opportunities, not just reporting.
•    Builds and maintains a margin bridge/waterfall to track the dollar impact of improvement initiatives.
•    Presents findings and recommendations to plant and commercial leadership.
•    Maintains a margin improvement tracker and follows up on action item ownership and status.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
•    Works with finance and accounting to reconcile standard costs and actual results.
•    Collaborates with sales and commercial teams on customer profitability and pricing strategy.
•    Partners with engineering and operations on cost-reduction and process improvement projects.
Systems & Data
•    Owns and maintains margin-related data models and queries across ERP, MES, and BI tools.
•    Ensures data accuracy and consistency of cost standards across plants.
•    Builds self-service reporting tools so plant managers can access margin data in real time.
Other Duties as Assigned
•    This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. The employee may be required to perform other related duties as assigned to meet the ongoing needs of the organization. Responsibilities and tasks may be modified, expanded, or adjusted to reflect business needs or management requests.

Competencies
•    Analytical and Problem-Solving
•    Communication
•    Attention to Detail
•    Team Collaboration
•    Ethical Judgement and Integrity
•    Strategic Thinking and Business Acumen
 

Minimum Qualifications
Education: Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or related field.

Experience and/or Training: 
•    3 years of experience in financial analysis, preferably in the manufacturing, sheet metal fabrication, or coatings industries.
•    Experience with ERP systems (e.g., SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Epicor, or similar).
•    Familiarity with cost accounting, budgeting, forecasting, and financial modeling.
•    Knowledge of financial performance metrics (e.g., ROI, EBITDA, cash flow analysis).
•    Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel (financial modeling, pivot tables, VLOOKUP, and macros).
•    Strong analytical skills to interpret complex financial data and make actionable recommendations.
•    Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, to present financial findings to non-financial stakeholders.
•    Strong attention to detail and ability to work under pressure to meet deadlines.
•    Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams (sales, operations, accounting) to gather data and insights.

Preferred Qualifications
Education: Master’s degree in Finance, Business Administration (MBA), OR CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) or CPA (Certified Public Accountant)

Experience and/or Training:  

Physical and Mental Demands
•    While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit and use hands to finger, handle, or touch objects, tools, or controls. 
•    The employee frequently is required to talk or hear. 
•    The employee is occasionally required to stand and walk. 
•    Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus.
•    The employee must be able to lift and or carry up to 10 lbs occasionally.
•    Travel: This position requires an estimated 20% annual travel between local offices. The travel will primarily involve visiting other local facilities to collaborate with different teams and support projects across our multiple, local locations and the entire organization. 20% = 1 day/week

The mental and physical requirements described here are representative of those that must be met by an individual to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position.

Working Environment
Work is performed in a general office environment with limited noise exposure and usually moderate. Noise may be loud when frequenting the production floor. Additionally, there will be occasional exposure to dust, metal debris, changes in ambient temperature, and requires the use of appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an individual will encounter while performing the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position.