Senior Finance Analyst - Restaurants
$100,000–$140,000 year
On-siteWashington, District of Columbia, United States
Job Summary
Support budgeting, forecasting, and monthly performance analysis for restaurant OPEX and pre-opening line items, ensuring assumptions are clear and tied to operational drivers. Own variance analysis for assigned expense lines, comparing actuals to budget and prior year while identifying key drivers, risks, and opportunities. Partner with Operations, Development, and Accounting to validate inputs, resolve data gaps, and support decisions across the portfolio. Build planning models, recurring reports, and dashboards that help leaders monitor costs and performance. Assist with month-end close activities, including accrual support, prepaid reviews, and expense validation. Translate financial results into concise commentary and action-oriented insights for field leaders and FP&A. Conduct ad hoc analysis and scenario modeling to support new openings, cost management, and leadership requests. Improve reporting processes by reducing manual work and creating scalable tools for recurring analysis.
Required Qualifications
- 3-5+ years of experience in FP&A, financial analysis, accounting, consulting, operations analytics, or a related analytical role
- Hands-on experience with budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, financial modeling, and management reporting
- Strong understanding of P&L drivers, controllable expenses, accruals, prepaids, expense recognition, and operational cost management
- Ability to connect financial movement to operational behavior and explain results clearly to non-finance partners
- Comfort working through ambiguity during planning cycles, especially when assumptions, ownership, or actuals need to be reconciled quickly
- Ability to build concise recommendations from detailed analysis and identify when a trend requires action, escalation, or deeper review
- Advanced Excel skills, including complex formulas, pivots, lookups, model hygiene, and scenario analysis
- Experience working with large datasets from financial systems, ERP tools, data warehouses, BI tools, or restaurant/workforce systems
- Clear written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor financial messages for operators, finance partners, and senior leaders
- Highly organized and detail-oriented, with strong follow-through during deadline-heavy periods
- Collaborative mindset with the confidence to ask good questions, pressure-test assumptions, and keep stakeholders informed
- Ability to work independently, manage multiple priorities, and remain steady during budgeting season and other high-volume planning moments
- Ability to maintain stationary position to be able to operate a computer and other office equipment
- Must be able to identify, analyze and assess details
- Ability to communicate with others and exchange information accurately and effectively
- Ability to work in a constant state of alertness and in a safe manner
Desired Qualifications
- Experience supporting restaurant, retail, hospitality, or other multi-unit operations is strongly preferred
- Exposure to SQL, Tableau, Power BI, Databricks, Snowflake, Hyperion, Oracle, SAP, or similar tools is a plus
- Curiosity about automation, reporting improvements, and better ways to collect, validate, and apply financial and operational data
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