Senior Financial Analyst

Troutman Pepper • Washington, DC

1d • $85,000 - $125,000 • Remote

About The Position

The Senior Financial Analyst is responsible for independently performing financial and business analysis, recurring and ad hoc reporting, budgeting and forecasting support, financial modeling, and process improvement. The Senior Financial Analyst is responsible to take ownership of assigned analyses, processes, and deliverables; independently organize and advance work toward completion; identify issues, risks, opportunities, and next steps; and engage Finance leadership for direction and review when appropriate. The Senior Financial Analyst will move beyond reporting financial results to interpret those results, identify underlying business drivers, and communicate clear, decision-ready insights and recommendations. The Senior Financial Analyst will also contribute to the continued improvement of the Finance function through process standardization, automation, business intelligence, and responsible adoption of approved analytical and AI-enabled technologies.

Requirements

• Strong analytical and critical-thinking skills, with demonstrated ability to independently investigate financial questions and synthesize complex information.
• Strong ability to translate financial and operational data into concise insights, business narratives, and actionable recommendations.
• Strong understanding of accounting principles and financial statements.
• Understanding of financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, and financial modeling.
• Working knowledge of law firm or professional services economics and key performance drivers, including realization, utilization, leverage, productivity, profitability, WIP, and accounts receivable dynamics, or demonstrated ability to learn these concepts quickly.
• Strong project and task ownership, with demonstrated ability to independently organize work, advance deliverables, identify obstacles, and meet deadlines.
• Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills, including the ability to explain complex financial concepts to non-financial audiences.
• Ability to balance meticulous attention to detail with an understanding of the broader business question and purpose of an analysis.
• Proactive, solutions-oriented mindset and willingness to investigate issues rather than wait for detailed direction.
• Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and adapt as needs change.
• High level of integrity, professionalism, objectivity, and confidentiality.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in remote, hybrid, and in-office environments.
• Commitment to continuous learning and improving analytical, technical, and business-partnering capabilities.
• Ability to work effectively both independently and collaboratively while maintaining a strong service orientation.
• Minimum five (5) years of progressive experience in finance, FP&A, financial analysis, or a related analytical role.
• Demonstrated experience independently performing complex financial analysis, financial modeling, budgeting, forecasting, or management reporting.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel, including complex formulas, PivotTables, financial modeling, and data analysis.
• Experience with ERP/GL, financial reporting, or time-and-billing systems.
• Experience with business intelligence and data visualization tools such as Power BI or Tableau.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree, CPA, or another relevant advanced credential.
• Experience in a law firm or professional services environment.
• Experience supporting senior leaders or other business decision-makers with financial analysis and presentations.
• Working knowledge of SQL, Power Query, Power Pivot, or comparable data extraction and transformation tools.
• Practical experience with approved AI-enabled analytical or productivity tools.
• Experience improving, standardizing, or automating recurring analytical or reporting processes.

Responsibilities

• Perform detailed financial and business analyses that link financial performance to underlying business drivers at the firm, office, practice group, client, and matter levels.
• Prepare monthly and quarterly variance analyses versus budget, forecast, and prior periods, identifying key revenue and expense drivers, risks, opportunities, and potential actions.
• Synthesize complex financial and operational information into clear, concise, decision-ready insights for Finance and firm leadership.
• Prepare executive summaries, dashboards, presentations, trend analyses, and other materials for discussions with senior leadership.
• Develop conclusions and recommendations from analysis rather than simply presenting data or reporting results.
• Adapt analytical presentations and the level of detail to the needs of financial and non-financial audiences.
• Respond to recurring and ad hoc analytical requests from the Finance Manager, Director of Finance, Chief Financial Officer, and other internal stakeholders.
• Support annual budgeting, periodic reforecasting, and multi-period outlook processes for the firm, offices, practice groups, and administrative departments.
• Develop and maintain financial and statistical models supporting revenue and expense forecasting, headcount and compensation planning, productivity, utilization, and other performance metrics.
• Analyze key performance indicators, including realization, utilization, leverage, productivity, cost efficiency, and other measures relevant to law firm financial performance.
• Perform detailed analyses of practice group and office profitability, matter-level economics, staffing mix, leverage, and other cost and revenue drivers affecting financial performance.
• Conduct rate and realization analyses focused on performance trends and operational drivers rather than pricing decisions.
• Support working capital analysis, including WIP and accounts receivable trends, aging, collections, and other factors affecting cash flow.
• Assist in preparing financial analysis and responses for external industry publications, benchmarking studies, and surveys as needed.
• Take ownership of assigned recurring processes, analyses, reports, and projects and independently advance work toward completion within established deadlines.
• Develop work plans, identify dependencies, resolve routine issues independently, and proactively communicate significant risks, decisions, or obstacles requiring management input.
• Maintain high standards for accuracy, consistency, documentation, and data integrity in all analytical work.
• Evaluate existing reports and analytical processes and recommend opportunities to simplify, standardize, or eliminate unnecessary work.
• Document recurring processes, analytical methodologies, assumptions, data sources, and validation procedures to promote consistency and knowledge transfer.
• Collaborate across Finance, Accounting, Information Technology, and other administrative departments to obtain information, resolve data issues, and complete analytical work.
• Effectively manage multiple priorities and adjust work as business needs and leadership priorities change.
• Identify opportunities to improve the accuracy, speed, scalability, and reliability of financial reporting and analytical processes through technology and process redesign.
• Develop and maintain analytical tools, dashboards, models, and reporting solutions using technologies such as Excel, Power BI, Tableau, SQL, Power Query, and other approved platforms.
• Partner with Finance, Accounting, Information Technology, and data teams to improve data quality, reporting structures, and analytical workflows.
• Look for opportunities to reduce repetitive manual work through standardization and automation while maintaining appropriate validation and financial controls.
• Participate actively in Finance transformation initiatives and contribute ideas for improving how the department produces, reviews, communicates, and retains financial analysis.
• Responsibly use approved AI-enabled tools to support planning, analysis, research, quality review, documentation, and other appropriate Finance workflows.
• Personally validate analytical and AI-assisted outputs and maintain appropriate professional judgment, confidentiality, data security, and quality standards.
• Maintain curiosity regarding emerging technologies and continuously develop technical and analytical skills that can improve Finance capabilities.
• Build productive relationships with Finance colleagues, practice management, Accounting, Information Technology, and other business professionals.
• Develop an understanding of the operational and financial factors affecting the firm’s practices, offices, departments, clients, and matters.
• Communicate financial concepts clearly to non-financial stakeholders and provide appropriate context around analytical findings.
• Own assigned work and analytical processes; independently push work toward completion; identify issues, insights, and next steps; and engage management when direction, escalation, or review is needed.
• Ask thoughtful questions, respectfully challenge assumptions when supported by analysis, and seek to understand the business context underlying financial results.
• Maintain strict confidentiality of all firm, client, and employee information.

What This Job Offers

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