Senior Manager, Category Finance

A growing, private equity-backed consumer products company is seeking a Senior Manager of Category Finance to join its Chicago-based finance team. This is not a traditional corporate FP&A role. The Senior Manager will serve as a strategic finance partner to Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Growth Management, helping the business make stronger decisions across pricing, innovation, customer investment, portfolio strategy, and profitable growth. The ideal candidate has owned the financial performance of a brand, category, or customer portfolio within a CPG organization and can translate financial and commercial data into clear recommendations and measurable business actions. Senior Manager, Category Finance Responsibilities: Own financial planning, forecasting, and performance management across brands, categories, customers, and channels Partner with Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Growth Management on pricing, trade investment, promotions, and margin improvement opportunities Own gross-to-net forecasting and analysis, including trade spend, customer deductions, pricing, promotions, and other commercial investments Analyze category and customer performance across volume, price, mix, distribution, consumption, and profitability Develop customer, category, SKU, and channel-level P&Ls to improve visibility into commercial performance Evaluate innovation and new-product opportunities, including pricing, volume assumptions, costs, investment requirements, and expected returns Lead pre- and post-event analysis of promotions and customer investments to improve effectiveness and ROIIdentify opportunities across SKU rationalization, portfolio mix, pricing, cost management, and resource allocation Lead annual planning, rolling forecasts, and risk and opportunity reviews Present financial performance, business drivers, and recommendations during executive and cross-functional business reviews Bring structure to fragmented data and evolving processes by building practical reporting and decision-support tools Operate comfortably between strategy and execution, independently working through ambiguity and delivering timely recommendations to leadership Build scalable financial models, reporting, and processes within a lean, fast-moving organization Senior Manager, Category Finance Qualifications:7+ years of progressive finance experience, including direct experience within CPG, food, beverage, or another branded consumer-products business Direct experience in Category Finance, Brand Finance, Sales Finance, Customer Finance, or Commercial Finance Experience owning or supporting a category, brand, customer, or business-unit P&LStrong understanding of pricing, trade investment, gross-to-net, promotional effectiveness, customer profitability, and revenue growth drivers Experience partnering directly with Sales, Marketing, Revenue Growth Management, and cross-functional leadership Experience evaluating innovation, new-product launches, or SKU-level profitability Demonstrated ability to turn financial analysis into commercial recommendations and measurable business actions Builder mentality with the ability to create structure, improve processes, and operate effectively with imperfect data Advanced financial modeling, forecasting, and Excel capabilities Experience with Power BI, Tableau, or similar reporting tools is preferred Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related discipline This is a highly visible, hands-on role for someone who wants to help build the commercial finance function, work directly with senior leadership, and influence how a growing consumer business invests, innovates, and expands profitability.The expected base salary range for this position is $139,499-$175,000, plus an annual bonus. Final compensation will be determined based on experience, qualifications, and overall fit for the role.