Senior Manager, CFO Advisory - Cost Optimization & Value Creation

West Monroe•Chicago, IL

1d•$184,900 - $250,100•Hybrid

About The Position

West Monroe is seeking a Senior Manager to lead cost optimization and value creation engagements within its growing CFO Advisory team in the Operations Excellence practice. This role is for a finance transformation leader who combines financial rigor, operating model expertise, analytical depth, and practical implementation experience to help CFOs and private equity sponsors deliver sustainable cost improvement. The Senior Manager will lead complex cost optimization programs from diagnostic through implementation and benefits realization, establish cost baselines, quantify opportunities, translate recommendations into executable initiatives, and build governance to ensure savings are realized. The role also involves developing people, expanding client relationships, and strengthening West Monroe's cost optimization and value creation capabilities.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in finance, accounting, business, or a related discipline, or equivalent experience.
10+ years of experience in cost optimization, performance improvement, finance transformation, restructuring, or value creation, including substantial client-facing consulting experience.
Demonstrated leadership of multiple material cost optimization programs from baseline development and opportunity validation through implementation and benefits realization.
Experience advising CFOs, finance executives, business leaders, or private equity operating partners on difficult cost, organization, service delivery, and investment decisions.
Strong understanding of financial statements, budgeting, forecasting, cost accounting, and business cases that distinguish gross and net savings, one-time costs, cash impact, stranded costs, and reinvestment.
Experience analyzing general ledger, payroll, procurement, vendor, organizational, and operational data, with fluency in cost and productivity benchmarks and the judgment to recognize when a benchmark is misleading.
Practical experience in at least four areas such as workforce optimization, spans and layers, shared services, process automation, strategic sourcing, technology rationalization, zero-based budgeting, transaction support, and benefits realization.
Experience advising mid-market and private equity-backed organizations, with the ability to scale solutions to businesses with approximately $200 million to $2 billion in revenue.
Proven success leading complex engagements and executive client relationships, including scope, budget, profitability, risk management, team leadership, and quality assurance.
Demonstrated contribution to business development through relationship expansion, opportunity shaping, proposals, and project origination.
Exceptional communication skills and the ability to translate complex analyses into concise executive recommendations and difficult decisions.
Experience using AI tools in day-to-day work to improve productivity and insight generation, paired with strong critical thinking to evaluate accuracy, bias, controls, confidentiality, and business relevance.
Ability to work permanently in the United States without sponsorship.
A commitment to inclusion and diversity, and openness to new ideas and perspectives.
Ability to travel up to 50 percent based on client and engagement needs.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting private equity value creation plans, post-acquisition transformations, or rapid EBITDA improvement programs.
Experience in a leading consulting, restructuring, transaction advisory, or performance improvement firm, or an in-house value creation role.
CPA, CMA, MBA, or another relevant advanced degree or professional credential.

Responsibilities

Lead end-to-end cost optimization and value creation engagements, including rapid diagnostics, opportunity validation, initiative design, implementation support, and benefits realization.
Establish defensible cost baselines across labor, third-party spend, technology, facilities, and other operating expenses using general ledger, payroll, procurement, vendor, organizational, and operational data.
Identify and quantify opportunities across workforce productivity, spans and layers, organizational simplification, shared services, outsourcing, process standardization, automation and AI, strategic sourcing, application rationalization, real estate, and discretionary spending.
Distinguish sustainable structural savings from temporary reductions or timing shifts, and develop models that show gross and net savings, one-time costs, cash impact, recurring EBITDA improvement, stranded costs, and reinvestment.
Translate opportunities into executable initiatives with clear owners, milestones, dependencies, decision rights, risks, and implementation requirements.
Design transformation governance and benefits tracking that reconciles approved initiatives to the budget, forecast, income statement, cash flow, and management reporting.
Connect cost optimization to broader finance transformation, transaction, operating model, planning, reporting, data, automation, control, and performance management priorities.
Own engagement delivery across scope, budget, profitability, staffing, risk, quality, and client satisfaction while serving as a trusted advisor to CFOs, business leaders, and private equity operating partners.
Apply AI, advanced analytics, process mining, and data visualization to accelerate analysis and improve outcomes while validating outputs and managing control, confidentiality, and business risk.
Build and expand executive relationships with CFOs, finance leaders, transformation executives, business unit leaders, and private equity operating partners.
Identify and shape follow-on opportunities across finance transformation, operating model redesign, shared services, automation, performance management, procurement, technology rationalization, and implementation support.
Lead or support proposals, statements of work, solution design, pricing, and executive presentations that balance measurable client value with strong engagement economics.
Contribute market-facing thought leadership on enterprise cost optimization, finance-led value creation, productivity, and the role of AI in reshaping the cost base.
Develop and maintain cost optimization methodologies, cost taxonomies, baseline models, benchmark interpretation guides, opportunity libraries, business case tools, benefits tracking models, and implementation playbooks.
Lead, coach, and mentor Managers, Senior Consultants, and Consultants, providing hands-on quality review and clear feedback on analyses, deliverables, business cases, and client communications.
Serve as a Career Advisor and actively participate in performance management, recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, and capability development.
Collaborate across Operations Excellence, Technology and Experience, Mergers and Acquisitions, Organization and People, Data and AI, procurement, and industry teams to deliver integrated solutions.