Financial & Operations Analyst
Location: Canton, Ohio (On Site)
Company: Canton Drop Forge
Schedule: Monday – Friday: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Canton Drop Forge is a worldwide leader in Custom and Closed Die Forgings. Thanks to our over 100 years of prosperity as a company, we provide top benefits for our valued employees to prosper and reach their greatest potential. Becoming a member of Canton Drop Forge means joining a team that benefits from more than a century of learned knowledge and industry skills.
At Canton Drop Forge, you'll gain valuable experience in servicing our six major markets of expertise. We lead the way in closed die forging innovation for the aerospace, oilfield, power generation, mechanical power transmission, off-highway and railway industries.
Position Overview:
The Financial & Operations Analyst serves as the primary financial and operations analytical partner for Canton Drop Forge (CDF). Reporting to the Director of Finance, this role leads site forecasting, planning, operations and commercial performance analysis and financial decision support.
This is a hands-on role at the intersection of finance, manufacturing operations, systems, and business intelligence. In addition to traditional responsibilities, this Analyst position will leverage existing ERP, BI, and reporting platforms to improve the automation, integration, and accessibility of financial and operational information. The successful candidate will have the technical aptitude to understand existing data structures, identify opportunities for automation, and develop scalable reporting and analytical solutions that improve business decision-making.
Key Responsibilities:
- Financial Planning & Forecasting: Lead budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning for Canton Drop Forge. Develop driver-based financial models aligned with operational performance, business conditions, and site objectives.
- Financial & Operational Analysis: Analyze performance against forecast, budget, prior year, and operating plan. Identify trends, risks, opportunities, and root causes, and partner with leadership to address performance gaps.
- Business Partnership: Serve as a key financial partner to CDF leadership and functional teams, translating financial and operational data into actionable insights supporting business, operational, and investment decisions.
- Business Intelligence & Reporting: Develop and maintain KPIs, dashboards, financial models, and management reporting that improve visibility into business performance and support data-driven decision-making.
- Systems, Data & Automation: Leverage ERP, BI, and financial systems to extract and analyze data, automate recurring reporting, reduce manual processes, and improve the accuracy, efficiency, and scalability of financial information. Support system enhancements and optimization initiatives.
- Cost, Profitability & Working Capital: Analyze cost, margin, profitability, inventory, cash flow, and working capital to identify opportunities to improve financial and operational performance.
- Strategic Analysis & Continuous Improvement: Provide financial analysis supporting capital investments, capacity decisions, operational improvements, and strategic initiatives. Identify opportunities to simplify, standardize, and improve financial processes and reporting.
- Business & Operational Understanding: Develop a strong end-to-end understanding of CDF operations and how manufacturing activity drives financial performance. Maintain an active presence within the manufacturing facility, engaging with operational teams and navigating production areas to understand processes and validate business drivers.
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Operations Management, Engineering or Accounting with a minimum of 5 years of progressive experience preferably in manufacturing, operations finance, or a related financial role.
- Strong understanding of industrial manufacturing and the financial drivers of cost, margin, inventory, working capital, capacity, and operational performance.
- Demonstrated experience with budgeting, forecasting, financial modeling, variance analysis, KPI development, and management reporting.
- Strong proficiency with ERP and BI systems, including experience extracting, validating, and analyzing data across financial and operational systems. Advanced Excel and experience with Power BI or comparable BI tools strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated ability to leverage existing systems and technology to automate reporting, reduce manual processes, improve data accuracy, and streamline financial and analytical workflows.
- Ability to interpret complex financial and operational data, identify root causes and business drivers, and translate findings into practical recommendations.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to work effectively in teams with Finance, Operations, and site leadership and communicate financial concepts to non-financial audiences.
- Comfortable working within an industrial manufacturing environment, including regularly navigating production areas and engaging directly with operational teams to understand the business end-to-end.
Preferred: CMA, and/or MBA; lean/continuous improvement experience; advanced Power BI or similar BI experience; ERP implementation or optimization experience; working knowledge of SQL/data querying; and exposure to M&A or post-acquisition integration. The underlying description specifically identifies, lean manufacturing, ERP improvement, working capital, and M&A experience.
Canton Drop Forge is an equal opportunity employer qualified applicants are considered for and treated during employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, protected veteran status, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by law.
Canton Drop Forge offers a comprehensive and competitive benefit package including medical, dental, life disability, 401k matching, vacation, and sick time.
Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of a background investigation and a thorough drug screen.