Strategic Finance Manager

Strategic Finance Manager 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. Location: Chicago, IL (hybrid).