Business Unit Finance Director

Business Unit Finance Director

System One is partnering with a client seeking a Business Unit Finance Director serving as the co-owner of the BU P&L alongside the Business Unit Executive Vice President (EVP). This role leads BU-level financial planning, forecasting, and performance management and translates financial outcomes into executive-ready insights that enable disciplined growth, profitability, and capital allocation.

Manufacturing and plant-level decision support (cost drivers, operational analytics, plant KPI execution support) is delivered primarily through the plant finance leadership structure—namely the Plant Controllers and the Operations Finance Director. The BU Finance Director synthesizes these inputs into BU-level narratives, trade-offs, and decisions with BU leadership.

Primary duties may include, but are not limited to:

• Serve as the primary finance partner to the BU EVP and BU leadership team, co-owning BU financial outcomes and reinforcing a disciplined operating cadence.
• Bring strong manufacturing finance experience and ensure disciplined job/program-level financial visibility—owning job-level margin, cost-to-complete, and cash views, including project-system reporting and job WIP analysis—to support timely BU decision-making and accountability.
• Support the BU EVP in commercial activities including negotiation of customer/channel terms and pricing; provide quotation decision support through standardized margin and cash-impact analytics; and lead finance support for the BU strategic planning process through multi-year modeling, scenarios, and capital allocation trade-offs.
• Lead BU-level annual budget, rolling forecasts, and long-range financial planning, including scenario and sensitivity analysis and clear recommendations.
• Analyze and communicate BU results, performance trends, and KPIs; translate insights into actionable recommendations for BU leadership.
• Own standardized BU financial outputs for the enterprise cadence; prepare, consolidate, and submit required packages on schedule.
• Produce concise BU-level variance narratives (actuals vs. plan/forecast) highlighting root causes, leading indicators, and forward implications.
• Partner with Plant Controllers and the Operations Finance Director to ensure plant-level analytics, escalation items, and KPI packs roll up cleanly into BU reporting and decision forums.
• Lead financial evaluation of significant BU investments and initiatives (e.g., capital expenditures, restructuring, footprint changes) including feasibility and return/risk assessment.
• Own BU reporting tools, templates, and processes; drive improvements in efficiency, consistency, and scalability across planning and reporting workflows.
• Facilitate BU deliverables to Corporate Accounting and other stakeholders as needed, supporting audit and disclosure-related requests when applicable.
• Build and lead a high-performing BU finance team; attract, develop, and retain talent while instilling accountability and continuous improvement.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

• BU Forecast Package (Monthly + rolling updates): BU P&L forecast, key assumptions, risks/opportunities, and scenario sensitivities.
• BU Performance Review Materials (Monthly / QBR): Executive-ready performance deck with results vs plan/forecast, drivers, forward implications, and recommended actions.
• Standardized BU Financial Outputs for enterprise cadence: consolidated submissions in required format and timelines.
• BU Top Issues & Decision Log (ongoing): prioritized list of highest-impact risks/opportunities, decision points, owners, and actions.
• Capital Request / Investment Memos (as needed): ROI cases, alternatives, assumptions, risk assessment, and post-investment tracking approach.
• Reporting Tooling & Process Improvement Roadmap (quarterly): planned enhancements to templates, governance, definitions, and data quality processes.

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business, Economics, or a related discipline required.
• 10+ years of progressive finance experience, including significant experience in manufacturing environments.
• Demonstrated experience leading BU-level planning, forecasting, and performance management with senior leadership visibility.
• MBA, CPA, CMA, or other relevant professional certification preferred.

• Strong financial analysis, forecasting, and modeling capabilities (including scenario and sensitivity analysis).
• Excellent communication and presentation skills; ability to translate complex financial information into concise, decision-ready insights.
• Executive presence and ability to influence senior leaders in high-visibility forums.
• Systems orientation: experience with ERP and reporting/BI/FP&A tools; strong proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• People leadership capabilities: ability to hire, coach, develop, and retain high-performing teams.