Director, Marketing & Innovation Finance

Simple Mills • Chicago, IL

4d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Marketing & Innovation Finance is a critical finance leadership role responsible for driving profitable growth, shaping investment strategy, and improving business performance across the company’s brand, category, and innovation agenda. Serving as the lead finance partner to Marketing, Innovation, and R&D, this individual will influence key decisions related to portfolio strategy, marketing investment, innovation prioritization, and long-range growth planning. The role requires a commercially minded finance leader with strong strategic judgment, analytical rigor, and executive presence. As the organization continues to scale, this leader will help strengthen planning rigor, elevate decision quality, and bring structure and financial discipline to an increasingly complex business environment. The ideal candidate is agile, collaborative, and comfortable operating through ambiguity while balancing strategic leadership with hands-on execution.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, Accounting, Economics, or related field required
• 10+ years of progressive finance experience within CPG, food & beverage, or related consumer industries.
• Proven commercial finance leadership experience supporting Marketing, Brand, Category, or Innovation within growth-oriented CPG organizations
• Strong strategic planning, forecasting, annual operating plan, and long-range planning (LRP) capabilities with advanced proficiency in Excel and financial planning systems.
• Deep financial acumen across marketing investment, pricing, mix, profitability, category economics, and innovation commercialization.
• Strong financial modeling, scenario analysis, and business performance management capabilities with the ability to translate insights into action.
• Executive presence with the ability to influence, challenge, and align cross-functional stakeholders while building credibility and strong partnerships across functions and leadership levels.
• Agile and adaptable leader comfortable operating through ambiguity, shifting priorities, and increasing organizational complexity.
• Proven ability to strengthen processes, improve planning rigor, and bring greater structure and accountability within fast-moving environments.
• Strong communication, judgment, and problem-solving capabilities with the ability to balance speed, pragmatism, and financial rigor.

Responsibilities

• Lead category and brand planning processes, including forecast development, annual operating plan, and long-range planning (LRP), ensuring assumptions, risks, and growth expectations are financially grounded and aligned to business objectives.
• Drive financial analysis that generates actionable insights on key business performance drivers (revenue, profitability, pricing, mix, marketing effectiveness, and innovation performance) to inform business decisions.
• Build and leverage financial models to evaluate growth opportunities, pricing actions, innovation launches, and resource allocation decisions, including sensitivity analysis tied to volume, margin, spend, and profitability assumptions.
• Challenge and validate business assumptions by partnering with cross-functional leaders to identify risks, gaps, and performance dependencies before decisions are finalized.
• Translate analysis into clear recommendations that guide prioritization, trade-offs, and improved business outcomes
• Drive financial discipline and performance management by strengthening planning rigor, accountability, forecast accuracy, and timely risk identification in a dynamic environment
• Operate effectively within a fast-moving environment, balancing strategic thinking with hands-on execution and responsiveness to evolving business needs.
• Lead category and brand performance reviews, analyzing drivers of variances across revenue, gross margin, pricing, mix, promotional activity, and profitability versus forecast, plan, and prior year.
• Diagnose business performance trends and translate findings into actionable recommendations to improve profitability, strengthen brand performance, and address emerging risks.
• Evaluate pricing strategies, promotional plans, and growth initiatives to quantify financial impact, margin implications, and expected return prior to execution.
• Identify opportunities to optimize spend, improve resource allocation, and increase return across category, marketing, and growth initiatives.
• Develop reporting and business insights that help leadership teams identify performance gaps, understand underlying business drivers, and make informed operating decisions tied to growth and profitability objectives.
• Perform scenario analysis tied to category strategy, portfolio changes, and growth initiatives to support prioritization, resource allocation, and business planning decisions.
• Analyze marketing spend effectiveness to identify opportunities to improve return on investment, optimize allocation across initiatives, and increase efficiency of brand and promotional spending.
• Lead budgeting, forecasting, accrual management, and ongoing financial oversight of marketing spend across brands, campaigns, and growth initiatives.
• Lead financial evaluation of innovation initiatives, including business case development, pricing assumptions, launch forecasts, commercialization economics, and post-launch performance analysis.
• Assess innovation pipeline opportunities through financial modeling focused on volume expectations, margin contribution, launch investment requirements, and long-term profitability potential.
• Monitor innovation and growth initiative performance against financial assumptions, identify drivers of underperformance, and recommend actions needed to improve outcomes, mitigate risk, or adjust expectations.
• Partner with Marketing, Innovation, and R&D leadership to ensure growth initiatives are supported by sound financial assumptions, measurable performance expectations, and clear success metrics.
• Performs other projects as assigned

Benefits

• Competitive Compensation: This role offers a salary range of $145,000 to $170,000
• Annual Bonus Opportunity: Eligible for an annual bonus as part of our commitment to recognizing team contributions and company success.
• Holistic Benefits: A variety of health, financial, and wellness programs to help you feel your best and plan for the future.
• Time to Recharge: We believe your best work comes when you have space to rest, refocus, and show up fully—our time off approach is built with that in mind.
• Everyday Well-Being: From lifestyle perks to innovation shipments, we find meaningful ways to support you in living simply and feeling well.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director