Senior Finance Business Partner - SalesPosition SummaryThe Senior Finance Business Partner - Sales will serve as the primary finance business partner to the Vice President of Sales and the broader Sales organization. Reporting directly to the Vice President of Sales, with a dotted-line relationship to the Chief Financial Officer, this role will provide financial planning, analysis, reporting, and decision support to improve commercial performance and profitable growth.
This individual will lead sales forecasting and performance reporting, support annual planning and long-range planning, develop financial business cases, assist with sales compensation planning, and provide financial analysis related to pricing, customer profitability, channel strategy, sales resources, market opportunities, and other commercial initiatives.
This is a high-visibility individual contributor role requiring a self-sufficient finance professional who can navigate fragmented data sources, reconcile inconsistent information, and develop practical reporting and analytical solutions in an environment where systems and processes are evolving. The successful candidate will combine strong financial and analytical skills with commercial acumen, business judgment, intellectual curiosity, and the confidence to challenge assumptions and provide clear recommendations to Sales leadership.
Key ResponsibilitiesSales Finance Business Partnership- Serve as the primary finance advisor to the Vice President of Sales and Sales leadership team.
- Provide financial guidance on pricing, discounting, customer negotiations, sales incentives, channel strategies, commercial investments, and growth initiatives.
- Translate commercial decisions into impacts on revenue, gross margin, EBITDA, cash flow, and working capital.
- Identify financial and commercial risks and opportunities and recommend actions to improve performance.
- Challenge assumptions and promote accountability for sales commitments and financial targets.
- Build strong relationships with Sales leaders and serve as a trusted, objective financial advisor.
Planning & Performance Management- Lead the annual sales planning, periodic forecasting, and long-range planning processes in partnership with Sales leadership and FP&A.
- Develop driver-based forecasts using bookings, backlog, pipeline, conversion rates, pricing, customer demand, sales capacity, and other relevant commercial inputs.
- Partner with Sales leaders to establish clear assumptions, targets, and forecast ownership.
- Analyze performance against budget, forecast, prior year, and commercial targets.
- Communicate variances, risks, opportunities, and forecast changes in clear business terms.
- Improve forecast accuracy, consistency, and accountability across the Sales organization.
Sales Reporting & Analysis- Develop recurring reporting covering bookings, revenue, backlog, pipeline, conversion, pricing, gross margin, customer performance, and other key commercial metrics.
- Establish consistent metrics, definitions, and reporting standards across regions, channels, product lines, and customer segments.
- Connect sales KPIs to gross margin, cash flow, and overall financial performance.
- Support monthly and quarterly sales and operating reviews with actionable insights and recommendations.
- Reconcile commercial reporting to financial results and investigate material differences.
- Identify trends and underlying business drivers and translate findings into actionable recommendations.
Sales Compensation Planning- Assist with the annual sales compensation planning process, including analysis of sales incentive structures, quotas, targets, and financial implications.
- Partner with Sales leadership and Human Resources to evaluate compensation plan alternatives and ensure alignment with company financial and commercial objectives.
- Model the financial impact of proposed incentive plans, quota structures, payout scenarios, and changes in sales performance.
- Analyze historical compensation results and develop insights to support plan effectiveness and profitability.
- Monitor sales compensation performance and identify potential risks, opportunities, and unintended financial outcomes.
- Support periodic reviews and adjustments to sales compensation plans as business conditions and commercial priorities change.
Commercial Decision Support- Evaluate the financial implications of pricing, discounting, contract terms, customer opportunities, channel strategies, and other commercial decisions.
- Support Sales leaders in balancing revenue growth with profitability, cash generation, and strategic priorities.
- Analyze customer and product profitability and identify opportunities to improve commercial performance.
- Participate in sales operating reviews, forecast meetings, pipeline reviews, and other commercial leadership forums.
- Provide fact-based financial recommendations and constructively challenge assumptions.
Business Cases & Investment Analysis- Develop business cases for new customers, new markets, new products, channel expansion, sales resources, strategic accounts, and other commercial investments.
- Build financial models addressing revenue potential, costs, margins, cash requirements, risks, sensitivities, and expected returns.
- Establish appropriate financial criteria for evaluating commercial opportunities and investments.
- Present clear recommendations to Sales and executive leadership.
- Track approved business cases against actual results and identify lessons learned.
Data & Process Improvement- Independently identify, extract, reconcile, and analyze information from ERP systems, CRM platforms, data warehouses, spreadsheets, and other available sources.
- Work through incomplete, inconsistent, or difficult-to-access data to deliver timely analysis and decision support.
- Develop practical interim solutions while partnering with Finance, Sales, IT, and other stakeholders on sustainable improvements.
- Standardize reporting, data definitions, assumptions, and recurring analytical processes.
- Reduce manual effort through automation and improved use of business intelligence tools.
- Improve the quality, consistency, and accessibility of commercial financial information.
Cross-Functional Collaboration- Partner closely with Sales, FP&A, Accounting, Operations Finance, Marketing, Product Management, Supply Chain, HR, IT, and other functions.
- Ensure commercial assumptions are aligned with the consolidated company forecast and financial results.
- Connect sales activity to operational capacity, product availability, margin performance, inventory, working capital, and company financial results.
- Maintain clear accountability between business decision support and controllership responsibilities.
- Support additional financial and strategic projects requested by the Vice President of Sales or Chief Financial Officer.
Qualifications- Strong financial analysis, modeling, reporting, and business-partnering capabilities.
- Demonstrated ability to translate complex, incomplete, or inconsistent data into useful business insights.
- Strong understanding of revenue, pricing, gross margin, customer profitability, forecasting, sales performance, and commercial drivers.
- Understanding of sales compensation structures and financial modeling preferred.
- Ability to independently access, organize, validate, and analyze data from multiple systems and sources.
- Strong business judgment and ability to distinguish information that is analytically interesting from information that drives business decisions.
- Ability to communicate financial concepts clearly to non-financial stakeholders and senior leaders.
- Confidence to challenge assumptions, identify risks, and provide an independent financial perspective.
- Strong attention to detail without losing sight of broader commercial and strategic priorities.
- Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and financial modeling.
- Experience with Power BI or similar business intelligence tools strongly preferred.
Experience- 5-8 years of progressive experience in commercial finance, sales finance, FP&A, financial analysis, or a related field.
- Prior experience directly supporting a Sales or commercial organization strongly preferred.
- Experience with sales performance reporting, forecasting, pricing analysis, customer profitability, business cases, or commercial investment analysis.
- Experience supporting sales compensation planning or incentive-plan analysis preferred.
- Experience working with fragmented data, manual reporting processes, or evolving financial systems highly desirable.
- Experience partnering directly with senior commercial leaders and influencing decisions without direct authority.
- Experience with ERP systems, CRM platforms, and business intelligence tools.
- JD Edwards (JDE) and Power BI experience preferred.
- Manufacturing, industrial, engineered-products, or private equity-backed company experience preferred.
Education- Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, Data Analytics, or a related field required.
- MBA or other relevant advanced degree preferred, but not required.
