Finance Sr. Director, Strategy & Business Development

Woodward, Inc.•Fort Collins, CO

11d•$221,000 - $298,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Director, Finance, Strategy & Business Development serves as the senior finance partner to the EVP, Strategy and Business Development and is a member of the SBD leadership team. This role provides finance leadership across mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and other strategic transactions, shaping deal economics, evaluating risks and tradeoffs, and aligning enterprise finance expertise throughout the deal lifecycle. The successful candidate will bring deep M&A experience, commercial judgment, and executive presence to influence key decisions, challenge assumptions, and protect and create transaction value. Why Join This Team Supporting Strategy & Business Development? This is an opportunity to play a visible leadership role in shaping strategic growth through mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and other high-impact transactions. The Senior Director, Finance will partner closely with senior leadership, influence enterprise-wide finance alignment, protect deal value, and help ensure strategic decisions are supported by disciplined financial insight and execution.

Requirements

Deep M&A and strategic transaction experience, including acquisitions, divestitures, integrations, separations, due diligence, deal structuring, purchase agreements, and closing mechanisms.
Strong working knowledge of the finance disciplines that influence transactions, with the judgment to engage subject-matter experts at the right points.
Advanced financial analysis and modeling capability, including valuation, discounted cash flow analysis, forecasting, accretion/dilution analysis, gain/loss analysis, and executive-level transaction materials.
Commercial judgment and value-creation mindset, with the ability to identify value drivers, assess risks and tradeoffs, and connect technical details to enterprise business outcomes.
Executive presence and trusted advisor capability, with the ability to influence senior leaders, challenge assumptions constructively, and bring clarity to complex transaction decisions.
Strong communication, negotiation, and presentation skills, including the ability to translate complex financial, accounting, tax, and valuation concepts into practical recommendations for non-financial stakeholders.
Cross-functional leadership and partnership orientation, with a track record of building trust across finance, legal, strategy, business development, business leaders, and external partners.
Disciplined project and workstream management, including stakeholder coordination, issue escalation, execution follow-through, and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
Effective external advisor management, including oversight of consultant scope, deliverables, cost, quality, accountability, and alignment to transaction priorities.
High integrity, discretion, ownership, and sound judgment in handling confidential information, leading through ambiguity, and driving alignment, accountability, and results.
Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or related field required; Master’s degree or MBA preferred.
CPA, CFA, or equivalent certification highly desirable.
10+ years of progressive experience in finance, accounting, corporate development, M&A, transaction advisory, or related roles; prior leadership experience.

Responsibilities

Serve as the senior finance partner to the EVP, Strategy and Business Development and as a member of the SBD leadership team, providing executive-level guidance on transaction priorities, risks, decision points, and value-creation opportunities.
Connect the deal team with enterprise finance functions, ensuring tax, treasury, accounting, SEC reporting, technical accounting, operational finance, and other specialists are engaged at the right points to support disciplined decision-making and execution.
Lead financial diligence for acquisitions, divestitures, and other strategic transactions, including financial statement analysis, risk identification, mitigation strategies, and assessment of key value drivers.
Evaluate deal models and transaction economics, including valuation outputs, gain/loss analysis, accretion/dilution analysis, working capital considerations, tax implications, purchase accounting, and integration/separation assumptions.
Bring a commercially informed perspective to transaction decisions, helping senior leaders understand financial tradeoffs, risks, and opportunities before decisions are finalized.
Partner with legal, business development, and finance stakeholders to shape transaction structure and review purchase agreements, disclosure schedules, representations and warranties, and other financially significant deal terms.
Support negotiations involving purchase price adjustments, net working capital targets, accounting principles, closing methodologies, post-closing adjustments, purchase price allocation, and other financial considerations.
Provide finance leadership for regulatory, antitrust, financing, sell-side diligence, virtual data room, carve-out financial statement, quality of earnings, and management presentation activities, as applicable.
Engage and manage external advisors, including diligence, accounting, tax, valuation, and integration consultants, ensuring scope, deliverables, timelines, quality, and costs are aligned with transaction priorities.
Lead or guide finance integration planning for acquisitions and separation planning for divestitures, ensuring smooth transitions, clear accountability, and alignment with business objectives.
Ensure completed transactions inform future deal processes, models, controls, governance practices, and value-capture opportunities.

Benefits

All members included in annual cash bonus opportunity.
401(k) match (4.5%)
Annual Woodward stock contribution (5%)
Tuition reimbursement and Training/Professional Development opportunities for all members
12 paid holidays
Industry leading medical, dental, and vision Insurance upon date of hire
Vacation / Sick Time / Vacation Buy-up / Short Term Disability / Bereavement leave.
Paid parental leave.
Adoption Assistance
Employee Assistance Program, including mental health benefits.
Member Life & AD&D / Long Term Disability / Member Optional Life
Member referral bonus
Spouse / Child Optional Life / Optional AD&D / Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending
Voluntary benefits, including: Home / Auto Insurance discounts, Whole Life Insurance / Critical Illness Insurance / Legal Assistance / Military Leave