Title:  Senior Manager, Commercial Finance

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Start your career journey with Univar Solutions!  Here you can make an impact on the world around you and accelerate your career in areas that energize and excite you. 

Senior Manager, Commercial Finance:

The Senior Manager, Commercial Finance will play a critical role in driving financial and operational performance across the organization. The team owns a portfolio of high-value strategic projects that improve both financial and commercial performance. This position will lead a portfolio of high-impact strategic initiatives focused on accelerating revenue growth, optimizing pricing strategies, and improving margin performance through data-driven insights and cross-functional collaboration. The role requires close partnership with Sales and Operations leadership to influence strategy and guide critical commercial decisions. The ideal candidate will bring a strong background in Commercial Finance, Sales Finance, Strategy, or Consulting, along with exceptional analytical capabilities and a proven ability to lead complex, cross-functional projects.

What You'll Do:

Business Analysis

• Analyze commercial, operational, and financial data to develop and test hypotheses about performance drivers, particularly for complex decisions involving multiple stakeholders and downstream impacts.
• Design and implement commercial finance initiatives that align with growth objectives and drive measurable business outcomes.
• Translate pain points, observations, and current-state KPIs into clearly defined opportunities for strategic transformation, supported by data and business context.
• Model and quantify the financial and operational impact of proposed improvements, identifying key value levers and mapping outcomes to the P&L.
• Monitor and interpret sales performance metrics to generate actionable insights that support revenue growth and margin expansion.

Process Improvement

• Streamline financial processes to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of sales forecasting and budgeting.
• Implement automation tools to improve the speed, consistency, and depth of reporting and analytical capabilities.
• Map current-state business processes with a focus on how strategic and operational decisions are made across the organization.
• Lead cross-functional teams to design future-state processes and define the enablers required to bring them to life.
• Design and execute change management initiatives that support growth, including commercial team enablement and the deployment of technology solutions that accelerate revenue.
• Interpret sales analytics to identify root causes and market dynamics, leveraging deep commercial acumen to convert data into actionable insights that drive strategic decisions and business growth.

Program Management

• Build comprehensive business cases to validate ROI, assess feasibility, and secure funding for high-impact transformation initiatives.
• Lead cross-functional projects through structured frameworks, ensuring delivery aligns with defined scope, timeline, budget, and quality standards.
• Identify and document project risks and dependencies, proactively coordinating mitigation strategies across the enterprise to maintain momentum and delivery timelines.
• Facilitate requirements gathering, proposal development, and vendor selection in collaboration with key stakeholders.
• Oversee build and deployment phases, managing multiple consulting partners, contractors, and internal teams to ensure successful execution.
• Conduct regular Steering Committee meetings with executive sponsors to report progress, escalate issues, and drive alignment through key decision points and stage gates.

Stakeholder Management

• Align diverse stakeholders around a single vision, set of priorities, and understanding of portfolio finances, timelines, risks, and status
• Organize portfolio review meetings for multiple audiences
• Escalate potential roadblocks quickly and with urgency to mobilize resources proactively          

What You'll Need:

• Bachelor’s degree required
• Advanced degree – MBA or quantitative field (ex. Finance, Economics, Statistics) – preferred
• Minimum of 7 years of experience, preferably in Commercial Finance, Sales Finance, Strategic Finance, Consulting, or similar
• Experience leading multiple large ($1mil+) projects, preferably around process improvement or finance transformation
• Profiecient in financial software and tools; experience in ERP systems preferred
• Proven ability to lead projects across the entire range of Commercial, Operations, and Business functions.
• Strong communication skills (both written and verbal)
• Strong analytical skills with a proven track record in data analysis and reporting
• Strong planning and organizing skills
• Experience managing consultants, contractors, and internal project teams

• Influence strategy and outcomes without formal operational authority
• Open-minded questioning, “What would need to be true for this to work?”
• Creativity in problem solving, especially complex processes involving many teams and decisions
• Project Management best practices across all lifecycle phases, including extensive risk management
• Business process mapping, future state design, and change management to bridge the gap
• Technology design fluency – both workflows and analytics – including agile development approaches
• Adaptable communication with many very different stakeholder groups
• Presentation preparation and delivery to senior leadership
• Ability to work across all levels of the organization, including frontline, analysts, executives, and Board
• Independence and a desire to function autonomously with limited direction
• Management of consultants, contractors, and internal project teams
• Strong data fluency and data storytelling required
• MS Office (PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Outlook), Tableau reporting required

Where You'll Work

This is a hybrid-based role that will sit out of our corporate headquarters in Downers Grove, IL

Pay & Benefits:

• The salary range is $131,840 - $164,800. This role is also eligible for incentive pay.
• The specific salary offered to a candidate may be motivated by a variety of factors including the candidate’s meaningful experience, education, training, certifications, qualifications, and work location.
• Available employee benefits include health, vision, and dental. We also provide 401k matching for retirement and flexible time off.

What You Can Expect: 

• Strong work/life flexibility
• To be surrounded by an inclusive team who is collaborative and committed to the achievement of the company
• To be rewarded for your contributions with a targeted annual company bonus and annual salary reviews
• Competitive pay and benefits

Univar Solutions is a leading, global distributor of chemicals and ingredients essential to the safety, health, and wellbeing of our daily lives from life-saving medicines and vitamins to hand sanitizers and industrial materials used for cleaning, construction, and more.  Our global team of more than 9,500 employees support our vision to redefine distribution and be the most valued chemical and ingredient distributor on the planet!

We offer a Total Rewards package that includes market aligned pay and incentives as well as a diverse benefits offering to support our employees’ physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing.

Univar Solutions supports sustainable solutions for the world around us so that we can do our part to help keep our communities healthy, fed, clean, and safe! 

We are committed to a diverse workforce and a culture of inclusion.  Together, we are building a culture that acknowledges the unique experiences, perspectives and expertise of individuals and provides the development and growth opportunities to empower us to redefine our industry. 

Univar Solutions is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or other protected classification.

Univar Solutions does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters, employment agencies, or staffing firms (collectively Recruiting Firms). Recruiting Firms must enter into a Master Services Agreement (MSA) with Univar Solutions prior to submitting any information relating to a potential candidate. All searches must be initiated by Univar Solutions' Talent Acquisition team and candidates must be submitted via Applicant Tracking System (ATS) by approved vendors who have been expressly requested to make a submission for a specific job opening. No placement fees will be paid to any firm unless the aforementioned conditions have been met. Contacting our hiring managers directly is prohibited.

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