Manager, Operations Finance

Simple Mills is a rapidly-growing company on the forefront of the clean food movement, transforming center store grocery aisles with products made from nutritious, purposeful ingredients. Simple Mills is a female-founded business, started by Katlin Smith in 2012 out of her own Kitchen. In the company’s short history, Simple Mills has disrupted the market to become the #1 bestselling natural baking mix, the #1 bestselling natural cracker, and the #1 bestselling natural cookie.

The company’s mission is to advance the holistic health of the planet and its people by positively impacting the way food is made. Simple Mills is distributed in 25,000+ stores nationally including Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, Kroger, Costco and more, and available online at retailers like Amazon and Thrive Market. The brand’s newest products include: Organic Seed Flour Crackers, Seed & Nut Flour Sweet Thins, and Soft-Baked Almond Flour Bars. Simple Mills has earned broad recognition from top tier media and industry associations- including a segment on our Founder & CEO Katlin Smith on NPR’s How I Built This. Our products have been featured in a wide array of top publications including Vogue, Women's Health, Forbes, Business Insider, mindbodygreen, NOSH and many more. Simple Mills was also a 2020 Health Magazine Snack Award Winner!

Role Description

The Operations Finance Manager will be a critical role to bring financial leadership to the Operations teams.  This role will further our strategic objectives of optimizing financial health and profitability to maximize Simple Mills’ impact as a wellness leader, and creating a best-in-class operations network. The position will report to the Sr. Manager, Operations Finance and responsibilities will include:

• Provide Operations Finance leadership on annual planning and development of financial KPIs, such as gross margin and cost savings targets

• Partner closely with all cross-functional stakeholders in Operations (Procurement, Manufacturing, Demand & Supply Planning, Customer Logistics, Quality) to mitigate risks and unlock opportunities to exceed our financial plans.

• Oversee and provide insightful and actionable reporting and analytics on our operations financial performance, including variance analysis by product line and spend type

• Maintain and enhance BOM management processes and COGS forecasting capabilities to drive business decisions

• Partner with Procurement, Manufacturing, and Accounting to establish and maintain accurate standard costing

• Identify and help implement, prioritize, track, and measure margin improvement initiatives

• Develop and recommend capital expenditure budgets, and conduct capital expenditure project analyses

• Support new supplier qualification, co-manufacturer qualifications and co-manufacturer transition projects. Partner closely with Operations to assess risks and benefits on strategic projects

• Further financial knowledge of cross-functional partners. Foster a culture of strong financial stewardship

• Construct and implement new processes, capabilities, system enhancements, and automation throughout the organization

Performs other projects as assigned

• 5+ years of experience in Finance, with experience in Operations or Supply Chain Finance preferred
• Bachelor’s degree in finance or accounting
• Excellent leadership, interpersonal, and communication skills. Ability to build alignment across a fast-growing organization. Strong business acumen to understand and make trade-offs between growth and profitability
• Proven track record of driving cost savings projects, and leading change through process improvements and system implementations
• Self-starter and creative problem solver. Thrives under ambiguity and excited by change
• Previous experience and strong understanding of best practices for COGS forecasting, variance analysis, standard costing, and variance accounting financial models and Excel
• Detail oriented with the ability to work with speed and accuracy
• Previous management experience a plus, but not required
• A passion for natural food and healthy eating as well as a desire to change the way we think about ingredient labels

• You will make a huge impact as a key member of an emerging brand that’s changing the way we eat and facing explosive growth
• Working with a vibrant community of passionate team members that are driven by healthy food that tastes good and fuels your body
• We strive to foster and embed a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion across our organization. We know it is not only critical to the success of diversity initiatives - but instrumental in creating an equitable and inclusive workplace! It also creates a positive employee experience. DEI will remain at the center of our people strategy as grow and scale our organization.
• Our culture is aligned with doing good in the world and we are committed to the environment, fairness to employees and to our customers
• Integrating into a company that is passionate about its people and their development, with consistent training and multiple forums/platforms to participate in, contribute to and learn from
• Employee benefits include robust Health Benefits packages, 401(k) plan, Unlimited PTO offering, one-time stipend for getting your home workspace setup, monthly cell phone/internet stipend, health & wellness stipends, product stipends and many other perks! 

Compensation will be competitive for the ideal candidate. Simple Mills operates with a hybrid-model: a balance of in-person and virtual work. Hybrid employees will work from our Chicago, IL office at least once per week. When working remotely, employees must work from a designated location in the United States (the new hire’s permanent residence, as documented in our HR System, Rippling) with sufficient internet access to support video conferencing. Safety protocols in accordance with CDC recommendations are followed.

At Simple Mills, we are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect and inclusion. Equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, past or present military service, physical or mental disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. All aspects of employment are decided on the basis of business need, job requirements, and individual qualifications. #LI-DNI

Simple Mills is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, Simple Mills will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodations are needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact careers@simplemills.com.