Position Description:
The Global Finance Leader – Avient Protective Materials (APM) is a key finance leadership role supporting the SEM Finance Director and serving as a strategic partner to the APM General Manager. This role plays an integral part in driving value creation, enabling business performance, and ensuring financial discipline across the global business footprint.
The Global Finance Leader provides comprehensive financial planning, forecasting, reporting, and decision support for the business. The role influences operations finance, business strategy, supports commercial and operational decisions, and ensures alignment with broader segment and corporate priorities.
Responsibilities:
Financial Leadership & Business Partnership
- Partner with the SEM Finance Director and APM General Manager to ensure profitable growth, support strategic decision making, and provide financial leadership across operations/costing, pricing, purchasing, credit, and other key commercial and operational functions.
- Build strong, collaborative relationships with cross‑functional leaders and serve as a trusted advisor on daily issues as well as long‑term planning.
Team Leadership
- Foster a high‑performing FP&A organization by developing talent, strengthening technical and leadership capabilities, and promoting a culture of accountability, continuous learning, and innovation.
- Build financial acumen through proactive engagement, training, and partnership.
- Promote cross-functional alignment and knowledge sharing to drive successful outcomes.
- Model and reinforce Avient’s leadership behaviors, supporting the development of talent across the finance organization
Performance Management & Reporting
- Lead the preparation of monthly and quarterly financial results, variance analyses, and business review packages for senior leadership.
- Provide timely, accurate, and insightful analysis that highlights key trends, risks, and opportunities to business leaders and communicate across the broader Avient organization.
- Monitor performance against budget and forecasts, identifying drivers of variances and recommending corrective actions.
Planning & Forecasting
- Lead the annual operating plan, long‑range plan, and periodic forecast cycles for the business.
- Drive continuous improvement and continued Avient integration in planning processes, methodologies, and analytics.
Capital Investment & Resource Allocation
- Evaluate capital expenditures and strategic investments, ensuring alignment with business strategy and delivering strong returns on invested capital.
- Provide financial modeling, scenario analysis, and recommendations to enable sound investment and business decisions.
- Evaluate and communicate business progress towards completed and on-going capital expenditure projects to ensure financial commitments are met or exceeded.
Strategic Initiatives & Transformation
- Act as the finance lead for key strategic initiatives, ensuring financial alignment, cross-functional coordination, and adoption of best practices.
- Implement new or revised reporting requirements in coordination with corporate finance teams, ensuring consistency and compliance.
Responsibilities
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
- Provides leadership to ensure the profitability of business activities with Pricing, Purchasing, Credit and other key functional areas to create accurate and timely reporting of business results. This includes leading the preparation of monthly/quarterly reporting and business review packages for senior business leaders.
- Clearly communicates results, issues, trends and all other relevant financial issues to Management, including Executive staff.
- Guides the General Manager and business team leaders in decision making and actions, on a day-to-day basis as well as on a forecasting/planning basis.
- Completes annual and longer-range plans for the business.
- Develops, introduces and implements financial tools that drive key business metrics (margin management, freight costs, contract terms, inventory management, etc.).
- Acts as a liaison between business team and Corporate Finance functions, including leading implementation of new or revised reporting requirements.
- In addition to the above, the Senior Finance Manager reviews long term customer contracts and provides detailed financial analysis on tolling manufacturing agreements.
- Interacts directly with large volume customers to negotiate the terms and arrangements of contracts.
- Special projects as assigned.
Scope
This position interacts regularly with the Business Unit Executive Management team.
Other
Typically reports to Director, Finance or equivalent. This position may supervise 1 to 2 Finance Analysts.
Qualifications
Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in Finance or related field, Masters and/or MBA preferred.
Minimum 8+ years’ experience in financial systems, reporting, and principles.
Additional Qualifications:
Strong analytical, modeling, and problem‑solving skills with exceptional attention to detail.
Excellent communication skills with the ability to clearly convey financial insights to non‑finance stakeholders.
Proven ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver results in a fast‑paced environment.
Demonstrated ability to build strong business partnerships and influence outcomes.
High level of intellectual curiosity and a continuous improvement mindset.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office tools (Excel, PowerPoint).
Experience with Hyperion Financial Management, SAP, and Power BI strongly preferred.
Manufacturing or product‑costing experience a plus.
Compensation may vary based on factors including but not limited to background, knowledge, skills, and abilities as well as geographic location of the position. The Company offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements: medical insurance, retirement plan, paid time off, paid vacation time, paid parental leave, paid holidays annually. Learn more about our benefits at: Career Opportunities | Avient.