Director, Financial Planning Analysis
Company Overview
Soules Foods is a thriving family‑owned food company that has made a positive difference for its customers and consumers for nearly 50 years. Based in Tyler, Texas, the company is a leading national producer of ready‑to‑eat and ready‑to‑cook chicken and beef products and is the number one producer of chicken and beef fajitas in the USA. It serves a broad portfolio of great‑tasting, high‑quality products sold throughout the US via retail, food‑service distributors, and restaurants. National customers include Walmart, Costco, Sam’s Club, Sysco, and HEB. Established in 1975, the business is now in its second generation of family leadership, employs over 2,000 individuals, and generates approximately $1 billion in annual sales across three manufacturing facilities in Gainesville, Georgia; Valley, Alabama; and its headquarters in Tyler, Texas.
Job Summary
The Director, Financial Planning & Analysis is responsible for enterprise financial planning, business performance analytics, and strategic decision support across the growing food manufacturing business. This highly visible, hands‑on builder role partners with Finance, Operations, Supply Chain, Sales, Commercial, and senior leadership to improve forecasting, performance management, cash and working‑capital visibility, capital governance, and profitable growth. The individual will work through detailed financial and operational data, develop executive‑level insights, challenge assumptions, and partner directly with business leaders to improve performance while building scalable FP&A processes, reporting capabilities, analytical tools, and decision routines.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics or related field.
- 10+ years of progressive experience in FP&A, manufacturing finance, supply‑chain finance, commercial finance or related areas.
- Strong background with budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, financial modeling and performance management.
- Proven ability to influence senior business leaders, constructively challenge assumptions and decisions, and communicate effectively with C‑suite executives.
- Demonstrated ability to analyze financial and operational data and translate findings into actionable business recommendations.
- Experience partnering with Operations, Supply Chain, Sales, Commercial and other business functions.
- Deep understanding of P&L drivers, cost structures, margin analysis, working capital and business profitability.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel, Power BI, financial modeling and comparable analytical capabilities.
- Hands‑on professional with a proven track record of developing executive‑level reporting, KPIs, and financial analysis for business leadership.
Preferred Qualifications
- Master’s degree in finance, accounting, economics or related field.
- Experience within food manufacturing, consumer packaged goods, food service or other high‑volume manufacturing environment.
- Experience with customer, product, channel or SKU‑level profitability analysis.
- Experience with S&OP/Integrated business planning, capital governance and finance transformation.
Key Responsibilities
- Financial Planning & Performance Management: Own and drive the annual budgeting, forecasting and long‑range planning processes; develop driver‑based financial forecasts and scenario analyses; partner with the S&OP leader; lead the 13‑period performance‑management cadence; develop driver‑based variance analysis; continuously improve forecasting methodologies, financial models, and planning processes.
- Cash Flow & Working Capital: Own cash‑flow forecasting; develop working‑capital analytics covering inventory, accounts receivable/DSO, accounts payable/DPO and other cash conversion drivers; partner with Supply Chain and Operations to improve inventory visibility; identify and act on opportunities to improve cash conversions.
- Manufacturing & Supply Chain Finance: Partner with Operations and Supply Chain leadership to analyze manufacturing performance, productivity, cost, capacity and profitability; develop financial models for capacity decisions, productivity initiatives, sourcing alternatives, and manufacturing investments; improve visibility into manufacturing costs within the actual‑costing methodology.
- Commercial & Profitability Analytics: Partner with Sales and Commercial teams to analyze customer, product, channel and SKU profitability; evaluate financial impact of pricing, volume, product mix, and customer investments; develop models for customer economics, new products, capacity trade‑offs, and strategic initiatives; translate analysis into clear recommendations.
- Capital Governance & Strategic Decision Support: Own financial governance of the capital planning process, including business‑case standards, hurdle rates, prioritization, approval cadence and financial tracking; develop and challenge business cases, ROI analyses, and financial models; perform scenario and sensitivity analyses; lead post‑investment reviews.
- Reporting, Analytics & Finance Transformation: Develop and enhance management reporting, dashboards, and KPI frameworks; identify opportunities to automate and simplify reporting, forecasting, and analytical processes, including AI and advanced analytics tools; lead evaluation, selection and implementation of the FP&A planning and forecasting platform; support ERP, reporting and analytics optimization.
- Business Partnership: Serve as a trusted financial partner to Operations, Supply Chain, Sales, Commercial, and Finance leadership; present financial analysis and recommendations to both financial and non‑financial audiences; constructively challenge assumptions, identify root causes and drive fact‑based decisions.
- Leadership & Team Development: Lead, develop and mentor a small team of finance professionals; set clear expectations, priorities and accountability; provide coaching and feedback; raise analytical standards across finance; build bench strength and succession for key analytical roles.