Senior FP&A Manager

Empire Auto Parts is building a new Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) team to bring rigor, speed, and strategic insight to how we plan, forecast, and measure the business. The FP&A Manager will lead this function day-to-day, owning the monthly forecast and annual budget processes, building executive-level reporting, and working closely with senior leadership to support strategic decision-making. This role offers a dynamic and collaborative environment, where you will work with various departments to profitably grow sales, support warehouse and delivery performance, and improve inventory turns. This is a highly visible, build-from-scratch role for someone who wants ownership over how a growing distribution business plans and measures itself. The FP&A Manager will lead one analyst and report directly to the CFO.

What Success Looks Like in Year One

• A well-functioning FP&A team with clear processes and growing scope

• A documented, repeatable monthly forecast process in place and adopted by the organization

• A smooth, on-time annual budget cycle with strong department engagement

• Executive reporting package delivered monthly/quarterly that leadership relies on to track strategic initiatives

• Measurable improvement in inventory turns and at least one quantified operational efficiency win in warehouse or delivery

Duties/Responsibilities

Forecasting and Budgeting

• Design, implement, and own a repeatable monthly forecast process across revenue, gross margin, operating expenses, working capital and cash flow

• Lead the annual budget process end-to-end to develop accurate and actionable financial plans: calendar, templates, department submissions, consolidation, and CFO/executive review

• Manage budget-vs-actual and forecast-vs-actual variance analysis, with clear narrative on drivers and corrective actions

• Develop and maintain financial models to assess business performance and forecast future trends

Executive Reporting

• Build monthly and quarterly executive reporting packages that translate financial and operational results into a clear view of progress against the company's strategic initiatives

• Prepare regular financial reports and presentations for senior management and stakeholders, highlighting key performance metrics, trends, and insights

• Present financial results and forecasts to senior leadership, including risks, opportunities, and recommended actions

• Continuously improve reporting efficiency and accuracy through standardized templates, automation, and single source of truth for key metrics

Strategic Support and Performance Monitoring

• Build and maintain driver-based financial models that connect operational KPIs (order volume, fill rate, delivery routes, labor hours) to financial outcomes

• Partner with the CFO and executive team to define the KPI framework and scorecards used to run the business

• Act as the finance business partner to sales and operations leadership, delivering insightful and reliable analyses and supporting key initiatives

• Own inventory analytics in partnership with Procurement: track inventory turns, aging, and carrying cost, and lead initiatives to improve turns without harming service levels

• Build the business case and ROI analysis for operational and capital investment decisions

Technology and Process Efficiency

• Champion the use of AI tools to accelerate variance analysis, commentary drafting, data cleansing, and report generation. Shift time away from manual data-gathering and toward analysis and business partnership

• Partner with IT to continuously improve the company’s dashboards as the primary vehicle for executive and operational reporting

• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance the quality and accuracy of financial information and improve overall efficiency within the FP&A function

Team and Process Leadership

• Manage, coach, and develop the FP&A Analyst; set priorities and quality standards for the team's work

• Establish FP&A processes, documentation, and calendars from the ground up as a foundational member of a new team

Required Skills/Abilities

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, or related field; MBA or CPA preferred

• 6+ years of progressive FP&A, corporate finance, or related analytical experience; prior people management experience preferred

• Experience in distribution, wholesale, retail, or a similarly operations-intensive industry strongly preferred; auto parts or similar durable goods experience a plus

• Strong understanding of inventory economics (turns, carrying cost, obsolescence) and warehouse/logistics cost drivers

• Demonstrated experience building or significantly improving forecasting, budgeting, or management reporting processes

• Advanced Excel/financial modeling skills, experience with BI tools and hands-on experience using AI tools

• Comfortable operating with significant ambiguity and building processes from scratch

• Strong attention to detail and a genuine curiosity about how the operational side of the business (warehouse, delivery, inventory) drives financial results

• Analytical Mindset: Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret complex financial data and generate actionable insights

• Strategic Thinker: Strategic mindset with the ability to think critically and contribute to strategic decision-making processes

• Effective Communicator: Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to effectively communicate financial information to diverse stakeholders

• Collaborative Nature: Team player with a roll-up-your-sleeves attitude who can collaborate with cross-functional teams to gather data and insights

• Continuous Improvement Champion: Knack for identifying opportunities to streamline financial processes, enhance reporting capabilities, and improve overall efficiency