Senior Financial Analyst (51484)
Gradian Thermal Solutions · Dayton Office - Dayton, MN 55369
Gradian is an engineering-led, full-line thermal solutions partner serving data center and other mission-critical, commercial, and industrial markets. Headquartered in Maple Grove, MN, with additional facilities across North America, we design and manufacture liquid cooling systems, air handling equipment, heat rejection units, and modular, factory-assembled thermal management solutions.
Gradian was founded through the unification of four complementary, established brands: MAS HVAC, Daedex, DeepCoolAI, and EcoChillers. Together, we act as a single-source provider, deploying cooling technologies as scalable systems optimized for efficiency, spatial constraints, and overall performance. With a vertically integrated engineering and manufacturing model, we pair rapid design turnaround with precision fabrication, so customers can move faster on complex projects where reliability, timeline, and quality all matter.
Why work here
At Gradian, you'll work alongside others who get genuinely fired up by complex problems, see your work go from first sketch to job site in weeks, not years, and know that while we're developing the technologies critical for AI infrastructure to scale, our culture remains people-first by design.
It is core to our identity that we operate as one team — driving to win together, energizing others, and building lasting relationships that make the work fun and rewarding.
Position Summary:
The Senior Financial Analyst provides strategic financial insight and decision support across a multi-location manufacturing network. This role partners with plant leadership, operations, supply chain, and corporate finance to develop forecasts, evaluate plant and product performance, identify cost and margin improvement opportunities, and translate complex financial and operational data into clear, actionable recommendations.
Essential Responsibilities
- Annual budgeting, periodic forecasting, and long-range planning across multiple manufacturing locations.
- Analyze plant-level and consolidated financial and operational results, explain variances, and identify trends, risks, and opportunities.
- Analyze costing, purchase price variance, labor and overhead absorption, scrap, yield, inventory, freight, and other manufacturing cost drivers.
- Partner with plant managers and operations leaders to evaluate throughput, capacity utilization, productivity, quality, and other key performance indicators.
- Develop financial models and scenario analyses for capital investments, make-versus-buy decisions, footprint changes, pricing, product mix, and resource allocation.
- Prepare accurate, timely scorecards, management reports, dashboards, and executive-level presentations.
- Improve reporting, forecasting, and planning processes through automation, standardization, and stronger data governance.
- Ensure the integrity of financial and operational data and compliance with company policies, accounting standards, and internal controls.
- Provide financial guidance to cross-functional teams and communicate findings clearly to financial and non-financial audiences.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business, or a related field.
- Five or more years of progressive experience in financial planning and analysis, cost accounting, plant finance, corporate finance, or a related discipline.
- Demonstrated experience supporting manufacturing operations
- Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and demonstrated experience building financial models.
- Strong knowledge of financial statements, budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, and operational performance metrics.
- Ability to synthesize data from multiple sites and systems, identify meaningful insights, and make practical recommendations.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to influence plant, operations, finance, and corporate stakeholders.
- Strong attention to detail, sound judgment, and the ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines across multiple locations.
Preferred Qualifications
- MBA, CPA, CMA, or other relevant advanced degree or professional certification.
- Experience supporting a multi-site manufacturing organization with varied products, processes, or cost structures.
- Experience with enterprise resource planning, manufacturing resource planning, financial planning, business intelligence, or data visualization tools.
- Experience evaluating capital expenditures, operational improvement initiatives, and plant performance.
- Experience with Quickbooks and Netsuite
- Knowledge of SQL, Power Query, Power BI, or similar analytical tools.
Core Competencies
- Manufacturing finance and cost accounting acumen
- Strategic thinking and operations partnership
- Clear communication and executive presence
- Ownership, initiative, and accountability
- Process improvement and continuous learning
- Cross-site collaboration and stakeholder management
Measures of Success
- Accurate, timely, and insightful forecasts and reporting across all supported manufacturing locations.
- Actionable recommendations that improve plant performance, cost control, margin, and decision quality.
- Strong partnerships with plant leadership, operations, supply chain, and corporate stakeholders.
- Measurable improvements in cross-site reporting consistency, data quality, and financial processes.
Benefits:
- Medical, vision, and dental plans
- Short-term and long-term disability insurance
- Group term life insurance coverage
- HSA, FSA, and Dependent Care plans available
- 8 paid holidays, 4 floating holidays, and generous PTO policy
- 401k matching
- Company paid events
- Annual safety shoe allowance
- Education assistance program
EEO Statement:
Gradian Thermal Solutions is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, political affiliation, or any other legally protected status.
Employment decisions at Gradian are based on merit, qualifications, and business needs. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind and actively promote a culture of fairness, equity, and opportunity.
We also provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs, practices, or observances, in accordance with applicable laws.