Director, College Go-to Market Finance

Herff Jones•Indianapolis, IN

About The Position

The Director, College Go-to Market Finance serves as the primary financial and strategic partner to the College General Manager and a key member of the College leadership team. Working across sales, operations, finance, and strategy, the role helps shape the College segment’s direction by driving profitable growth, improving cash generation, strengthening business performance, and translating data into actionable decisions. The position calls for an experienced leader who can advise on long-term growth strategy, partner with Sales on customer economics and pricing, and lead teams responsible for licensing, customer rebates, segment accounting, and related financial processes. The Director partners with the College General Manager and leadership team on strategy, planning, investments, and business performance. The role owns the segment financial outlook, including forecasting, budgeting, reporting, and variance analysis; develops profitability insights by customer, product, geography, channel, and territory; and recommends improvements to pricing, product mix, margins, working capital, and cash conversion. It also evaluates strategic initiatives and commercial arrangements, strengthens financial controls and processes, and develops a high-performing team. Herff Jones is an Indianapolis-based provider of graduation and educational products and services, including class rings and jewelry, caps and gowns, diplomas and announcements, and motivation and recognition programs. The company works through a nationwide network of more than 1,400 employees and sales partners and has served students for more than 100 years.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance.
10–15 years of relevant Finance and/or Accounting experience in a manufacturing environment.
Strong financial modeling, forecasting, executive communication, Excel, and presentation capabilities.
Demonstrated experience partnering directly with a General Manager, Sales leader, or business-unit president.
Experience improving profitability through pricing, customer economics, sales effectiveness, product mix, or cost-to-serve initiatives.
Experience leading and developing a team.
Ability to communicate complex financial issues as concise recommendations and develop clear insights from complex or imperfect information.
Ability to constructively challenge assumptions and influence general management, Sales, operations, finance, and executive leaders.
Ability to shape strategy while staying close to details, identifying risks, and driving execution.
Demonstrated analytical rigor, decision orientation, and accountability.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree or certification, such as an MBA or CPA.
Commercial Finance or FP&A experience.
Power BI or comparable analytics experience.
Experience in manufacturing, consumer products, education, seasonal, or multi-channel businesses.
Experience with licensing, customer rebates, commissions, or complex commercial agreements.

Responsibilities

Serve as the principal finance partner and thought partner to the College General Manager and College leadership team.
Jointly develop the segment strategic plan, annual operating plan, growth priorities, and investment agenda.
Provide an independent financial perspective, constructively challenge assumptions, and help leaders make fact-based trade-offs.
Lead scenario analyses and business cases for strategic initiatives, investments, territory changes, and new commercial programs.
Build visibility into profitability by customer, product, geography, channel, and sales territory.
Partner with Sales, Revenue Operations, and plant leadership to improve pricing, product mix, customer economics, and contribution margin.
Establish financial guardrails for proposals, discounts, promotions, gifts with purchase, commissions, and special agreements.
Evaluate territory acquisitions and buyouts, including expected returns, cash requirements, risks, and post-transaction performance.
Own the College segment financial outlook, including forecasting, budgeting, management reporting, and variance analysis.
Develop leading and lagging performance indicators for the College leadership team.
Translate complex financial and operating data into clear recommendations and decisions.
Improve the accuracy, transparency, and actionability of unit, net revenue, margin, SG&A, and cash forecasts.
Partner with operations and plant finance to connect commercial decisions with capacity, service, cost, and execution implications.
Improve working capital and cash conversion across the College segment.
Partner with Sales and Accounts Receivable to reduce aged customer and partner balances and resolve underlying commercial issues.
Strengthen oversight of deferrals, OD payback, commissions, ISP economics, partner balances, rebates, and other contractual obligations.
Identify financial and commercial risks early, establish corrective actions, and ensure appropriate accountability.
Lead, develop, and elevate the team responsible for licensing across the business, College customer rebates, College accounting, and other College financial support.
Ensure licensing and rebate obligations are forecasted, accurately recorded, supported, and administered in accordance with contractual requirements.
Improve visibility into the financial impact and commercial effectiveness of licensing and rebate programs.
Standardize processes, strengthen controls, clarify ownership, and reduce manual or reactive work.
Recommend and help establish College pricing and discount guardrails; review or approve commercial proposals within defined authority levels.
Influence resource allocation and investment priorities, and escalate customer, territory, and contractual arrangements that do not meet financial return expectations.
Establish financial performance routines for the College leadership team and define expectations for licensing and rebate administration.
Create a multi-year financial roadmap supporting sustainable growth and improved profitability.