Jobs · Finance · California

Director, Financial Planning

Kinder's Premium Quality Seasonings & Sauces · Walnut Creek, CA · 2 wk ago
Finance$195k–$225k/yrFull-time

About the role

The Director of Financial Planning at Kinder’s is responsible for overseeing the company’s budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning processes. This role ensures that financial plans are accurate, timely, well-governed, and aligned with strategic and operational priorities. The Director serves as a key advisor to executive leadership, driving planning discipline, enforcing forecasting standards, and delivering clear visibility into performance, risks, and outlook.

Responsibilities

  • Budget & Forecast Stewardship
    • Own and govern the annual budgeting process, rolling forecasts, and multi-year financial plans across the organization.
    • Establish and ensure adoption of forecasting standards, assumptions, timelines, and review cadences to ensure consistency and accountability.
    • Maintain version control, change management, and documentation of key assumptions and forecast drivers.
    • Lead forecast accuracy analysis, post-mortems, and continuous improvement initiatives to enhance predictability.
  • Planning Governance & Executive Alignment
    • Act as the central point of accountability for enterprise financial plans presented to executive leadership and the board.
    • Facilitate executive review meetings, highlighting variances, risks, trade-offs, and recommended actions.
    • Ensure alignment between budget, forecast, long-range plan, and external financial commitments where applicable.
  • Performance Management & Reporting
    • Partner with VP of FP&A to lead variance analysis versus budget and forecast, clearly explaining drivers and implications.
    • Deliver executive-ready dashboards, KPIs, and financial narratives that link performance to forecast outcomes.
    • Proactively identify gaps to plan and recommend corrective actions to maintain financial targets.
  • Cross-Functional Planning Leadership
    • Lead cross-functional planning efforts in partnership and as a trusted business partner with senior leaders in Sales, Brand/Marketing, and Operations.
    • Challenge assumptions and inputs constructively to ensure plans are realistic, data-driven, and aligned with strategy.
  • Systems, Process & Data Integrity
    • Own financial planning tools, models, and data flows supporting budget and forecast processes.
    • Drive improvements in planning efficiency, automation, and data quality.
  • Leadership & Team Development
    • Coordinate with and effectively leverage a contractor to support deliverables, including budgeting, forecasting, and reporting.
    • Set analytical and forecasting quality standards; review outputs for accuracy, clarity, and strategic relevance.
    • Build a scalable planning organization capable of supporting increased complexity and growth.

Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting or related field; MBA, CPA, or CFA preferred.
  • 8+ years of progressive experience in FP&A or corporate finance, with deep ownership of budgeting and forecasting processes.
  • CPG or Food & Beverage experience preferred.
  • Expert-level budgeting, forecasting, and financial modeling expertise.
  • Strong command of financial statements, GAAP, and planning methodologies.
  • Exceptional attention to detail balanced with the ability to synthesize insights for executives.
  • Strong executive presence and ability to enforce planning discipline while maintaining collaborative partnerships.
  • Advanced proficiency in Excel, experience with modern planning platforms (Anaplan) and BI tools preferred.

Skills

  • Expert-level budgeting, forecasting, and financial modeling expertise.
  • Strong command of financial statements, GAAP, and planning methodologies.
  • Exceptional attention to detail balanced with the ability to synthesize insights for executives.
  • Strong executive presence and ability to enforce planning discipline while maintaining collaborative partnerships.
  • Advanced proficiency in Excel, experience with modern planning platforms (Anaplan) and BI tools preferred.

Benefits

We offer a range of total rewards that may include paid time off, 401k, bonus / incentive eligibility, equity grants, competitive health benefits, and other family-friendly benefits, including parental leave. Kinder’s benefits vary based on eligibility and can be reviewed in more detail during the interview process.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Kinder’s is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, gender, citizenship, marital status, religion, age, disability, gender identity, results of genetic testing, veteran status, as well as any other legally-protected characteristic.

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