About the Role
This Senior Financial Analyst role is an onsite position at a bakery manufacturing facility in East York for at least the first six months, transitioning to a hybrid model with a minimum of three days per week on-site thereafter. The role sits within the plant finance function and closely supports plant leadership. You will combine strong technical financial expertise with leadership potential and a proactive, forward-looking mindset. The successful candidate quickly understands the business, takes ownership of results, and actively drives performance improvements rather than waiting for direction.
Responsibilities
- Manage end-to-end profit and loss (P&L) for the plant, ensuring accuracy, transparency, and insight into key performance drivers.
- Perform detailed labor variance analysis and other variance analyses to explain performance against budget, forecast, and prior periods.
- Lead weekly and longer-term forecasting activities, providing clear, data-driven projections and recommendations to plant leadership.
- Conduct financial data analysis to identify trends, risks, and opportunities, and present findings in a clear and actionable format.
- Own project costing activities, particularly for capital investments, ensuring robust financial evaluation and tracking of project performance.
- Lead and coordinate month-end close processes for the plant, including journal entries, accruals, reconciliations, and reporting.
- Use SAP or S/4HANA and other ERP tools to extract, validate, and analyze financial and operational data.
- Build and maintain advanced Excel models and reports to support forecasting, variance analysis, and decision-making.
- Develop and enhance dashboards, ideally using Power BI, to visualize key metrics and support real-time performance monitoring.
- Leverage programming, scripting, and automation tools to streamline reporting, improve data accuracy, and support digitalization initiatives.
- Partner with plant leadership and cross-functional teams to interpret financial results and recommend actions to improve efficiency and profitability.
- Demonstrate leadership within the department by setting direction, influencing stakeholders, and leveraging team support to drive outcomes.
- Take ownership of the plant’s financial performance, treating the business as your own and showing strong commitment to its success.
- Adopt a proactive, forward-looking approach by focusing on future risks and opportunities, not only explaining historical variances.
- Support continuous improvement and digitalization initiatives, including the use of AI tools to enhance analysis and reporting.
- Be willing to put in extra hours when necessary to meet strict deadlines, support busy seasons, and deliver on project work.
Requirements
- 4–5 years of experience in a Senior Financial Analyst role or a similar level finance position.
- Strong end-to-end P&L management experience, including ownership of plant or business unit financials.
- Hands-on experience with labor variance analysis and broader variance analysis in a business environment.
- Proven ability to lead month-end close processes, including preparation of journal entries, accruals, and reconciliations.
- Experience with forecasting on a weekly and longer-term basis, using data-driven methods.
- Advanced Excel skills, including complex formulas, modeling, and data manipulation.
- Practical experience using SAP or S/4HANA and ERP systems for financial and operational reporting.
- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance.
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to break down complex data sets and communicate insights clearly.
- Demonstrated leadership capability and comfort operating in a Senior role within a team.
- Proactive mindset with a focus on future performance, not only historical explanations.
- Ability to manage strict deadlines and prioritize work effectively in a fast-paced environment.
- Manufacturing industry experience, ideally in a bakery or consumer packaged goods (CPG) environment, is preferred but not strictly required.
- Canadian education background is preferred.
- Experience building dashboards and using Power BI for data visualization and reporting.
- Familiarity with programming, scripting, and automation tools to support process efficiency and reporting enhancements.
- Digitalization mindset with openness to leveraging AI tools and other emerging technologies in finance.
- Professional accounting designation (such as CPA) is considered an asset.
- Growth mindset with a willingness to learn, adapt, and continuously improve processes.
- Strong sense of ownership and care for the business, viewing the company’s success as your own.
- Ability to collaborate effectively with plant leadership and cross-functional teams.
Skills
- P&L management
- Variance analysis
- Forecasting
- Financial data analysis
- Project costing
- Month-end close processes
- SAP
- S/4HANA
- ERP systems
- Advanced Excel
- Excel modeling
- Excel reporting
- Power BI
- Programming
- Scripting
- Automation tools
- Digitalization
- AI tools
- Leadership
- Communication
- Time management
- Problem-solving
Location
- East York
- Toronto, ON
Work Type
- Onsite
- Hybrid
Experience Level
- Senior
Education Level
- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance
- Professional accounting designation (such as CPA) is considered an asset
Salary/Compensations
- $85000.00 - $95000.00/yr
Benefits
- Benefits
- Performance bonus structure
About the Company
- Aston Carter provides world-class corporate talent solutions to thousands of clients across the globe. Specialized in accounting, finance, human resources, talent acquisition, procurement, supply chain and select administrative professions, we extend the capabilities of industry-leading companies. We draw on our deep recruiting expertise and expansive network to meet the evolving needs of our clients and talent community with agility and excellence. With offices across the U.S., Canada, Asia Pacific and Europe, Aston Carter serves many of the Fortune 500. We are proud to be a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing® Platinum Award winner for both client and talent service.
Equal Opportunity
- The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.
- If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification or adjustment of the job application process or interviewing process due to a disability, please email astoncarteraccommodation@astoncarter.com for other accommodation options.
- Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, for all positions located in the city and county of San Francisco, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
- We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our hiring process, including sourcing, screening, and evaluating candidates. AI helps assess applications and qualifications, but final decisions are made by our hiring team. By applying, you acknowledge and agree that your application may be reviewed using AI tools.
