Location: Huntsville, AL or Atlanta, GA
Employment Type: Direct Placement
Experience Level: Senior Leadership
Functional Area: Finance / Financial Planning & Analysis
Position Overview
HRecruit is recruiting a Senior Director of Finance for a direct placement opportunity supporting a complex, global organization.
This senior leadership position oversees financial planning and analysis (FP&A), financial performance management, reporting, analytics, and finance transformation. The Senior Director will partner with executive leadership to strengthen financial decision-making, improve operational visibility, and establish scalable planning and reporting processes.
The role requires a combination of strategic financial leadership, operational finance expertise, and the ability to develop high-performing teams. The successful candidate will lead finance managers and professionals while improving forecasting accuracy, strengthening financial accountability, and advancing the use of enterprise systems, automation, and data analytics.
This opportunity is particularly well suited for a finance leader who has successfully improved FP&A operations and can connect financial performance with the underlying drivers of business results.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Financial Leadership
- Partner with senior executives to provide financial insights, evaluate business performance, and support strategic and operational decisions.
- Translate complex financial and operational results into actionable recommendations for leadership.
- Support strategic planning, investment evaluations, resource allocation, and enterprise financial priorities.
- Develop financial models and scenario analyses to evaluate business alternatives, risks, and opportunities.
- Prepare and support executive-level financial reviews, presentations, and decision-making processes.
Financial Planning, Forecasting & Performance Management
- Lead annual operating plans, long-range financial planning, rolling forecasts, and recurring performance management activities.
- Establish consistent forecasting methodologies, planning assumptions, schedules, and accountability across business functions.
- Develop driver-based financial planning models incorporating operating expenses, workforce costs, capital expenditures, cash, and other operational factors.
- Improve forecasting accuracy through scenario analysis, risk assessments, forecast validation, and performance reviews.
- Oversee monthly and quarterly financial performance reporting, including variance analysis and identification of underlying business drivers.
- Establish meaningful financial and operational KPIs to support management decisions and performance improvement.
Operational Finance & Business Partnership
- Lead financial partnerships with business functions such as Sales, Operations, Supply Chain, Engineering, Product Management, Human Resources, and Accounting.
- Support business leaders in evaluating investments, cost management initiatives, staffing decisions, and resource allocation.
- Strengthen financial accountability by establishing clear ownership of assumptions, commitments, risks, and corrective actions.
- Analyze relationships between operational metrics and financial performance to identify opportunities for improvement.
- Provide financial guidance on operating expense management, workforce planning, and business performance.
Finance Transformation, Systems & Analytics
- Develop and execute initiatives to modernize FP&A processes, reporting capabilities, and financial analytics.
- Improve efficiency through automation and standardization of budgeting, forecasting, financial modeling, variance analysis, and management reporting.
- Provide leadership for enterprise financial planning and reporting technologies, including ERP systems and business intelligence platforms.
- Partner with IT and other stakeholders to improve financial data integrity, reporting structures, system integration, and governance.
- Evaluate opportunities to apply advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and intelligent automation to financial processes and decision support.
- Reduce manual reporting activities by implementing scalable financial systems and analytical solutions.
- Measure process improvement through forecasting accuracy, reporting efficiency, data quality, automation adoption, and other performance indicators.
Financial Reporting, Controls & Governance
- Oversee the accuracy, consistency, and timeliness of management reporting and financial analysis.
- Collaborate with Corporate Accounting to align financial plans, management reporting, accounting results, and established policies.
- Support financial reporting requirements, internal controls, audit activities, and quarterly and annual reporting processes.
- Establish appropriate governance for financial models, planning methodologies, reporting definitions, and system changes.
Workforce Planning & Resource Management
- Lead financial planning and analysis related to organizational staffing, compensation, hiring, attrition, and workforce costs.
- Partner with Human Resources and business leadership to align workforce plans with financial forecasts and strategic priorities.
- Develop workforce scenario models to evaluate staffing decisions, productivity expectations, and long-term resource needs.
- Improve visibility into headcount trends, personnel costs, and workforce-related financial risks.
Team Leadership & Development
- Lead, mentor, and develop finance managers and professionals across FP&A, financial reporting, analytics, and related functions.
- Build organizational capabilities in financial analysis, forecasting, business partnership, systems, and automation.
- Identify talent and capability gaps and support hiring, succession planning, and professional development.
- Establish clear performance expectations and promote accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Coordinate effectively across finance teams and business stakeholders within a global, matrixed organization.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, Mathematics, or a related discipline.
- 10+ years of progressive experience in FP&A, corporate finance, operational finance, or related disciplines, including significant leadership responsibility.
- Demonstrated experience leading managers and developing high-performing finance teams.
- Advanced expertise in financial planning, forecasting, financial modeling, scenario analysis, performance management, and executive decision support.
- Experience operating within a complex, global organization and influencing senior leaders across multiple business functions.
- Proven success improving or transforming FP&A processes, reporting systems, financial planning capabilities, or finance operating models.
- Strong understanding of financial and operational performance drivers, including revenue, margins, operating expenses, workforce costs, capital expenditures, and cash.
- Ability to translate complex financial information into clear recommendations that support executive decision-making.
- Advanced experience with enterprise ERP systems, financial planning platforms, reporting technologies, business intelligence, and analytical tools.
- Demonstrated ability to establish priorities, lead cross-functional initiatives, and execute effectively in evolving business environments.
- Strong leadership, stakeholder management, and organizational capabilities.
Preferred Qualifications
- MBA, CPA, CMA, or another relevant advanced degree or professional certification.
- Experience working within a publicly traded, global organization.
- Background in telecommunications, networking, technology, hardware, software, manufacturing, or another complex product-based industry.
- Experience supporting international business operations, including teams in the United States and Europe.
- Experience with SAP and SAP Analytics Cloud, including financial planning, reporting, analytics, and data integration.
- Practical experience applying generative AI, agentic AI, machine learning, or intelligent automation within finance operations.
- Experience leading finance transformation, enterprise system implementations, reporting modernization, or FP&A operating-model improvements.
- Experience preparing or supporting executive and Board-level financial presentations and strategic decision-making.
About the Opportunity
This is an opportunity for an experienced finance executive to shape how a complex organization plans, measures, and manages financial performance.
The Senior Director will have responsibility for strengthening FP&A capabilities, improving financial visibility, developing finance leadership talent, and advancing technology-enabled planning and reporting processes.
The ideal candidate combines strategic thinking with practical execution and has a track record of building effective finance organizations, improving business partnerships, and using financial insights to drive measurable operational results.
