Budget Manager

Position Summary

The Budget Manager leads the companywide budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning processes and provides management with clear analysis to support operating and strategic decisions. This position partners with department leaders to develop realistic budgets, monitor performance, explain financial results, and identify risks and opportunities. The role requires strong financial judgment, attention to detail, and the ability to translate operational activity into reliable financial plans in a manufacturing and distribution environment.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Budget Development and Forecasting

• Lead the annual operating budget process, including calendars, assumptions, templates, departmental submissions, reviews, revisions, and final consolidation.
• Prepare and maintain monthly, quarterly, and annual forecasts for revenue, gross margin, operating expenses, headcount, capital expenditures, cash requirements, and other key financial measures.
• Partner with department leaders to develop budgets, validate assumptions, understand business drivers, and improve financial accountability.
• Assist with long-range planning, liquidity planning, capital planning, and financial risk assessments.

Financial Analysis and Decision Support

• Analyze actual results against budget, forecast, and prior periods; identify significant variances and provide clear explanations and recommended actions.
• Develop financial models and scenario analyses to evaluate pricing, product launches, sourcing decisions, inventory levels, staffing plans, capital investments, and other business initiatives.
• Support product, customer, channel, and departmental profitability analysis, including margin trends and cost drivers.
• Monitor labor, overhead, material, freight, inventory, and other operating costs that affect manufacturing and distribution performance.

Management Reporting and Business Partnership

• Prepare management reports, dashboards, and presentations for the CFO, executive leadership, ownership, and other stakeholders.
• Coordinate budget inputs across Finance, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Procurement, Engineering, Human Resources, and other departments.
• Communicate financial results, risks, opportunities, and recommended actions clearly to financial and nonfinancial leaders.

Financial Systems and Process Improvement

• Maintain accurate budget data, account mappings, cost-center structures, assumptions, and version controls within financial and ERP systems.
• Recommend improvements to budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and financial planning processes, including appropriate automation and standardized controls.
• Support the effective use and continued improvement of ERP, budgeting, reporting, and business intelligence tools.

Accounting Support and Financial Controls

• Support month-end and year-end close activities by reviewing accruals, spending trends, and financial results for consistency with operational activity.
• Assist external auditors and internal stakeholders with budget documentation, reconciliations, supporting schedules, and requested analyses.
• Ensure financial information is handled confidentially and in accordance with company policies and applicable controls.
• Perform other related duties and special projects as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This position may supervise financial analysts or budget personnel as the function grows. When assigned supervisory responsibility, the Budget Manager will select and train employees, establish priorities, review work, provide feedback, and manage performance in accordance with company policies.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Five or more years of progressive experience in budgeting, forecasting, financial planning and analysis, cost accounting, or corporate finance.
• Demonstrated experience leading an annual budget process and preparing variance analysis and management reporting.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including financial models, pivot tables, lookup functions, and data analysis.
• Experience working with ERP, financial planning, reporting, or business intelligence systems.
• Strong understanding of financial statements, accounting principles, cost structures, and business performance drivers.
• Ability to manage multiple deadlines, organize detailed information, and maintain accuracy in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain financial information to nonfinancial leaders.

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA, CPA, CMA, or FPAC certification.
• Experience in manufacturing, distribution, consumer products, durable goods, or a regulated industry.
• Experience with standard costing, inventory valuation, product margins, capital expenditure analysis, and multi-location operations.
• Experience with Epicor CMS or a comparable manufacturing ERP system and modern budgeting or business intelligence tools.

Core Competencies

• Financial analysis and business judgment
• Budgeting and forecasting discipline
• Cross-functional partnership and influence
• Accuracy and attention to detail
• Problem solving and continuous improvement
• Clear communication and executive-level presentation
• Confidentiality, integrity, and accountability

Working Conditions

Work is normally performed in a climate-controlled office environment and throughout a heated manufacturing and warehouse facility. Exposure to conditions of extreme heat/cold, poor ventilation, fumes and gases is very limited. Noise level is moderate and includes sounds of light manufacturing, shipping and receiving, and normal office equipment (computers, telephones, etc.). No known environmental hazards are encountered in normal performance of job duties.

Physical Demands

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions:

• Be able to lift objects up to 35 lbs.
• Ability to move objects as requested and necessary.
• Be able to lift, push and pull objects as necessary.
• May be required to stand and walk throughout the workday.
• May be required to operate small hand tools.
• Occasionally required to bend, stoop, kneel and crouch.

Disclaimers

• This job description should not be interpreted to be a complete list of all the duties and responsibilities performed by the jobholder. To maintain organizational flexibility, management has the discretion to add, drop or change at any time the duties, responsibilities and expectations of this job.
• This job description does not constitute an offer of employment, continuous employment or an employment contract. We are an at-will employer and either you or the employer may terminate the employment relationship at any time, for any legal reason or for no reason.