Senior Manager, CFO Advisory - Cost Optimization & Value Creation

West Monroe is seeking a Senior Manager to lead cost optimization and value creation engagements within our growing CFO Advisory team in our Operations Excellence practice. This role is designed for a finance transformation leader who combines financial rigor, operating model expertise, analytical depth, and practical implementation experience to help CFOs and private equity sponsors deliver sustainable cost improvement.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end cost optimization and value creation engagements, including rapid diagnostics, opportunity validation, initiative design, implementation support, and benefits realization.
• Establish defensible cost baselines across labor, third-party spend, technology, facilities, and other operating expenses using general ledger, payroll, procurement, vendor, organizational, and operational data.
• Identify and quantify opportunities across workforce productivity, spans and layers, organizational simplification, shared services, outsourcing, process standardization, automation and AI, strategic sourcing, application rationalization, real estate, and discretionary spending.
• Distinguish sustainable structural savings from temporary reductions or timing shifts, and develop models that show gross and net savings, one-time costs, cash impact, recurring EBITDA improvement, stranded costs, and reinvestment.
• Translate opportunities into executable initiatives with clear owners, milestones, dependencies, decision rights, risks, and implementation requirements.
• Design transformation governance and benefits tracking that reconciles approved initiatives to the budget, forecast, income statement, cash flow, and management reporting.
• Connect cost optimization to broader finance transformation, transaction, operating model, planning, reporting, data, automation, control, and performance management priorities.
• Own engagement delivery across scope, budget, profitability, staffing, risk, quality, and client satisfaction while serving as a trusted advisor to CFOs, business leaders, and private equity operating partners.
• Apply AI, advanced analytics, process mining, and data visualization to accelerate analysis and improve outcomes while validating outputs and managing control, confidentiality, and business risk.
• Build and expand executive relationships with CFOs, finance leaders, transformation executives, business unit leaders, and private equity operating partners.
• Identify and shape follow-on opportunities across finance transformation, operating model redesign, shared services, automation, performance management, procurement, technology rationalization, and implementation support.
• Lead or support proposals, statements of work, solution design, pricing, and executive presentations that balance measurable client value with strong engagement economics.
• Contribute market-facing thought leadership on enterprise cost optimization, finance-led value creation, productivity, and the role of AI in reshaping the cost base.
• Develop and maintain cost optimization methodologies, cost taxonomies, baseline models, benchmark interpretation guides, opportunity libraries, business case tools, benefits tracking models, and implementation playbooks.
• Lead, coach, and mentor Managers, Senior Consultants, and Consultants, providing hands-on quality review and clear feedback on analyses, deliverables, business cases, and client communications.
• Serve as a Career Advisor and actively participate in performance management, recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, and capability development.
• Collaborate across Operations Excellence, Technology and Experience, Mergers and Acquisitions, Organization and People, Data and AI, procurement, and industry teams to deliver integrated solutions.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in finance, accounting, business, or a related discipline, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of experience in cost optimization, performance improvement, finance transformation, restructuring, or value creation, including substantial client-facing consulting experience.
• Demonstrated leadership of multiple material cost optimization programs from baseline development and opportunity validation through implementation and benefits realization.
• Experience advising CFOs, finance executives, business leaders, or private equity operating partners on difficult cost, organization, service delivery, and investment decisions.
• Strong understanding of financial statements, budgeting, forecasting, cost accounting, and business cases that distinguish gross and net savings, one-time costs, cash impact, stranded costs, and reinvestment.
• Experience analyzing general ledger, payroll, procurement, vendor, organizational, and operational data, with fluency in cost and productivity benchmarks and the judgment to recognize when a benchmark is misleading.
• Practical experience in at least four areas such as workforce optimization, spans and layers, shared services, process automation, strategic sourcing, technology rationalization, zero-based budgeting, transaction support, and benefits realization.
• Experience advising mid-market and private equity-backed organizations, with the ability to scale solutions to businesses with approximately $200 million to $2 billion in revenue.
• Proven success leading complex engagements and executive client relationships, including scope, budget, profitability, risk management, team leadership, and quality assurance.
• Demonstrated contribution to business development through relationship expansion, opportunity shaping, proposals, and project origination.
• Exceptional communication skills and the ability to translate complex analyses into concise executive recommendations and difficult decisions.
• Experience using AI tools in day-to-day work to improve productivity and insight generation, paired with strong critical thinking to evaluate accuracy, bias, controls, confidentiality, and business relevance.
• Ability to work permanently in the United States without sponsorship.
• Commitment to inclusion and diversity, and openness to new ideas and perspectives.
• Ability to travel up to 50 percent based on client and engagement needs.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting private equity value creation plans, post-acquisition transformations, or rapid EBITDA improvement programs.
• Experience in a leading consulting, restructuring, transaction advisory, or performance improvement firm, or an in-house value creation role.
• CPA, CMA, MBA, or another relevant advanced degree or professional credential.

Pay

Based on pay transparency guidelines, the salary range for this role varies by location:

• Seattle or Washington, D.C.: $194,100—$228,400 USD
• Los Angeles: $203,400—$239,300 USD
• New York City or San Francisco: $212,600—$250,100 USD
• A location not listed above: $184,900—$217,500 USD

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance coverage for employees and their families.
• Enrollment in the company’s 401k plan.
• Opportunity to purchase shares from the employee stock ownership program.
• Eligibility for annual bonuses.
• Unlimited flexible time off and ten paid holidays throughout the calendar year.
• Ten weeks of paid parental leave available upon hire date.