Senior Manager / Director of Finance

Founded in 1983, Kele Inc. is a leading distribution, and solutions partner with national reach and a global presence. Built around our customers and powered by our people, Kele provides millions of in-stock parts from more than 300 brands to drive automation & efficiency in nearly every type of facility, from office towers and factories to data centers and hospitals.

Our goal is to empower progress for maintenance managers, engineers, contractors, and all those building the future. We do this by delivering parts rapidly, providing custom assemblies upstream, and offering unmatched support to ensure projects run smoothly and downtime is minimized.

With 12 locations nationwide and headquarters in Tennessee, Kele combines deep technical expertise, rapid logistics, and a solutions-first mindset to help customers simplify supply chains, meet tight schedules, and deliver high-quality outcomes.

Kele fosters a culture rooted in collaboration, innovation, and customer obsession, empowering associates at every level to contribute, grow, and make a meaningful impact.

We are currently hiring for the role of Director of Finance.

Summary

The Director of Finance will serve as a strategic analytical partner to Kele’s finance and business leadership teams, leveraging data and financial analysis to identify opportunities, evaluate complex business questions, and drive informed decision-making across the organization. This individual will operate at the intersection of strategy, analytics, and finance, tackling dynamic, high-impact projects across areas such as growth, pricing, marketing, operations, M&A, and capital investment. While the role sits within FP&A, it is not a traditional budgeting and reporting position; rather, Kele is seeking a highly analytical problem solver who can turn the company's significant data resources into insights that help determine where the business should invest, how it should grow, and which opportunities will create the greatest value.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

• Analyze complex, ambiguous business questions and develop data-driven recommendations that inform strategic and operational decision-making.
• Lead strategic analytical projects from initial problem definition through analysis, recommendation, and implementation, often working on questions that do not have a predefined solution or playbook.
• Evaluate growth opportunities across the business, including new markets, facilities, distribution capabilities, customer segments, and other investments.
• Assess the financial and strategic impact of major business decisions, balancing quantitative analysis with qualitative factors such as customer behavior, competitive positioning, and operational considerations.
• Leverage Kele's extensive data and technology resources to uncover trends, identify opportunities, and develop insights that can improve business performance.
• Develop financial analyses and business cases to support investment decisions, including evaluating the expected return and broader strategic implications of potential initiatives.
• Analyze pricing, marketing, and commercial strategies, including evaluating the ROI of marketing investments, customer economics, commission structures, and other drivers of profitable growth.
• Partner cross-functionally with leaders across finance, operations, sales, marketing, IT, and other functions to gather information, pressure-test assumptions, and develop comprehensive recommendations.
• Support M&A and other strategic initiatives, including evaluating acquisition opportunities and helping leadership understand the financial and operational implications of potential transactions. Kele expects to pursue approximately one acquisition per year.
• Identify opportunities to improve processes, systems, and analytical capabilities as Kele continues to scale and professionalize its infrastructure.
• Build a repeatable analytical framework for evaluating strategic opportunities, helping Kele prioritize its significant pipeline of potential initiatives and investments.

Core Competencies

• Strategy Consulting Experience: The ideal candidate will have 2 years of post-MBA consulting experience (or 2+ years at the pre-MBA level) at a top-tier strategy consulting firm with a strong track record of performance.
• Relevant Industry Experience: The ideal candidate will have direct experience supporting distribution and/or industrial clients in or outside of consulting.
• Relevant Cross-Functional Experience: The ideal candidate will have experience working on large cross-functional projects across multiple areas in consulting, including transformation, commercial and operational initiatives, post-merger integration, etc.
• Structured & Logical Thinking: Superior critical thinking skills are critical to this role, including the ability to identify and define problems, collect data, establish facts and demonstrate a “nose for value” to discern what is important and draw valid conclusions.
• Analytical Aptitude: This person must possess the ability to run and manage highly complicated quantitative analysis in a defect-free manner to support strategic recommendations.
• Communication Tools: Excellent communication skills with the ability to communicate data-driven information, verbally and written, in a manner that inspires confidence.

Personal Qualifications

The candidate selected for this position will be a creative, out-of-the-box thinker who is intellectually curious with a demonstrated interest in learning. This person will also need to be a self-motivated, high-energy individual who can easily function in a high demand, performance-driven environment. He/she must be accustomed to working on multiple tasks in parallel. This professional must demonstrate strong leadership skills, best demonstrated by the individual’s ability to gain credibility with team members and senior management.

The Successful Candidate Will

• Be modest in nature, recognizing the accomplishments of the team before the individual
• Be highly motivated and possess vision and enthusiasm
• Be comfortable acting as an individual contributor and as a team manager (Player/Coach)
• Understand how to deliver on short time frames and be committed to meeting deadlines
• Communicate in an open and honest way that quickly builds trust and respect

Kele Companies offers all full-time associates the following benefits and perks:

• Medical, vision, and dental insurance
• HSA
• FSA (medical and dependent care)
• 401(k) with employer match up to 4% with immediate vesting
• Employer-paid short- and long-term disability coverage
• Employer-paid basic life and AD&D insurance; supplemental life for employees and dependents available
• Paid time off and paid holidays
• Tuition reimbursement
• Paid maternity leave

Benefits found in job post

Dental insurance, Medical insurance, Vision insurance, 401(k), Paid maternity leave