Finance Director

Founded in 1929, Waukegan Steel is a structural steel fabricator delivering precision steel fabrication and structural steel solutions across the Midwest. Serving a broad range of markets with state-of-the-art fabrication operations, we’ve earned long-standing relationships with Owners, General Contractors, and Construction Managers by consistently exceeding expectations. Our team has worked on various Chicagoland projects throughout the city including, Soldier Field, the Museum of Contemporary Art and Navy Pier and have significantly expanded our Midwest footprint to include Kentucky, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Reporting to the VP of Finance of National Material L.P. (NMLP), with a strong dotted-line relationship to the President of Waukegan Steel, this position is a key member of the leadership team responsible for driving financial performance, operational excellence, and strategic growth across several business units within the Steel Fabrication Group (“Group”). The Finance Director will have their own embedded accounting teams led by a controller for the respective business unit.

The position is based out of Waukegan Steel’s new Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin facility.

The Finance Director will be responsible for all aspects of finance, accounting, financial planning and analysis, budgeting, forecasting, project accounting, internal controls, and financial reporting for the Group. The position directly oversees the Controllers within the Group and works and partners closely with NMLP Corporate Finance and Accounting on planning, reporting, controls, treasury, and strategic initiatives.

As the primary financial advisor to the President, the Finance Director provides critical insight and recommendations regarding strategy, capital investments, pricing and quoting, customer profitability, working capital management, and business development opportunities. The role is also responsible for developing a high-performing finance organization, driving continuous improvement, and ensuring the integrity of the company’s financial reporting and control environment.

• Lead the annual operating plan, strategic planning process, quarterly forecasts, and monthly financial projections.
• Analyze and monitor profitability by customer, project, and business segment, identifying opportunities to improve margins and operational performance.
• Develop monthly financial review and quarterly business packages, including financial performance analysis, forecast updates, customer profitability reviews, and bridge analyses explaining key variances.
• Provide financial modeling, scenario analysis, and decision support for capital investments, strategic initiatives and business development opportunities.
• Partner with operations and commercial leadership to evaluate quoting, pricing, and contract opportunities to ensure profitable growth.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives related to financial processes, systems, data analytics and reporting capabilities.
• Ensure the timely, accurate, and complete delivery of monthly, quarterly and annual financial results including overseeing the month end close process for all three businesses.
• Oversee revenue recognition, project accounting, and percentage-of-completion accounting to ensure compliance with company policies and applicable accounting standards.
• Maintain a strong internal control environment that safeguards company assets and supports accurate financial reporting.
• Direct annual physical inventory counts and reconciliation processes.
• Partner with internal and external auditors to support audit execution and timely resolution of accounting and control matters.
• Ensure compliance with corporate accounting policies, internal controls, and reporting…