Job DescriptionAre you ready to join a community that values shared fate, collaboration, and a commitment to operational excellence? Do you want to contribute to a brand known for quality, sustainability, and a passion for healthy living? Do you thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment that fosters innovation, problem-solving, and continuous improvement? Whole Foods Market is seeking a passionate Finance professional to join our Operations Finance team, driving strategic partnership and thought leadership in support of retail labor.

GENERAL SUMMARY

Whole Foods Market (“WFM”) is hiring an experienced Finance professional to support operational teams within the Operations Finance (“Ops Finance”) function. Ops Finance Principal Financial Managers are lead finance partners to Store Support and Retail Operations, Workforce Planning, and Supply Chain teams. The priority of the Ops Finance team is to drive business results by identifying opportunities through regular business reviews and guidance updates, providing investment support analysis and consultation, and facilitating the long-range, annual, and quarterly guidance update processes. Finance Managers develop financial analysis that contributes to WFM’s success and profitability, building thoughtful processes and automation to deliver better efficiencies and quality results.

Our team thrives in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment and excels in prioritization, business case assessment, financial planning, and quantifying business outcomes to inform decision-making. The ideal candidate is a strong communicator who can partner cross-functionally, possesses excellent written/verbal communication skills, drives continuous improvement, enjoys problem-solving, and has a robust finance background.

Note: By applying to this position, you will have the opportunity to share your preferred working location: Austin, TX (Global HQ), or Chicago, IL (regional office).

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Serve as a strategic and analytical partner, financial steward and global advocate to Store Support and Retail Operations, Workforce Planning and/or Supply Chain.

• Act independently to leverage cross-functional partnerships to provide actionable financial analysis and consultation on key business initiatives.

• Act as financial consultant and steward to business partners in developing financial metrics, goals and assessment relevancy aligned with financial targets.

• Provide regular portfolio reviews with cross functional senior leadership to inform strategy and prioritize resources focused on driving sales and improving profitability.

• Provide and deliver actionable and informed insights on key financial metrics, highlights opportunities, and quantifies benchmarking goals and milestones.

• Seek to better understand business drivers, identify notable trends and validate forecast accuracy.

• Facilitate conversations between store support partners where forecasts and initiatives are at risk based on economic trends, business trend performance and conflicting assumptions.

• Produce Financial Reporting to provide insight to relevant business partners on results for month-end review and associated calls and presentations.

• Coordinate Monthly and Quarterly Review content for Store Support and Retail Operations Leadership.

• Identify profit improvement areas and proactively lead the development of financial analysis and models to solve complex challenges facing the business and evaluate growth opportunities.

• Support financial analysis and financial outlook on Stores with Losses and New Stores’ performance.

• Engage in data mining and ad hoc business analysis to solve complex problems and benchmark performance and outliers.

• Partner with Corporate Planning and Merch Finance to understand holistic profitability opportunities, determine the most accurate targeting assumptions, and identify process improvements.

• Contribute thought leadership within Finance on process improvement and automation, report streamlining opportunities and assumption validation considerations.

• Provide operational insights, trends and challenges to incorporate into performance review and forecast update conversations with cross-functional business partners (e.g., Merch teams, Store Development Team, Tech, etc.).

• Continually improve Accounting & Financial management processes to most effectively meet the organization’s growth projections.

• Partner with the Ops Finance leadership to understand underlying retail business drivers and to manage team deadlines, drive continuous improvement and ensure the team produces strong modeling and analytics.

• Communicate clearly to all stakeholders on goals / expectations to meet defined timelines.

• Focused on gaining experience and demonstrating readiness for Senior Team Leader role.

• Ensure wide-spread sharing and application of lessons learned.

• Mentor analysts and oversee work product to develop, coach and elevate team performance and deliverables.

• Develop and recommend improved data collection and analysis methods, including methods to:

• Improve automation and standardization,

• Rapidly respond to changing business conditions,

• Ensure data security, availability and integrity.

• Generate high quality, error-free deliverables appropriate for executive presentations.

• Maintain a high level of curiosity about our business and collaborate with or lead peers and business leaders to better understand primary drivers of financial performance.

• Willing to travel up to 10%, domestically and internationally, as required.

• Other ad hoc duties as required.

PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE

• Advanced understanding of Financial Planning & Analysis concepts, principles and practices.

• Excellent ability to compile, monitor, and examine financial statements, reports & accounts.

• Excellent understanding of multiple reporting and Accounting and Financial systems.

• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite, Workday, Tableau, Everclear & other WFM reporting tools.

• Able to identify improved methods of performing database management, manipulation and analysis.

ADAPTABILITY

• Engages with leadership to ensure priorities align with and support strategic business objectives.

COMMUNICATION, IMPACT & INFLUENCE

• Demonstrates exceptional interpersonal communication skills and levels of tact, diplomacy and confidentiality.

• Communicates effectively with all types of audiences, internally and externally, including senior leadership.

• Conveys and consults on complex matters with broad organizational significance.

TEAMWORK

• Cultivates a sense of community by collaborating with fellow Team Members to achieve group or organizational goals.

• Supports a philosophy of ‘shared fate’.

EMPOWERMENT & ACCOUNTABILITY

• Provides consultation and advice to others within and beyond the team.

JUDGEMENT & DECISION MAKING

• Develops complex solutions to business problems through in-depth analysis and coordination / negotiation with key decision makers.

• Uses experience, innovation, and judgment to make decisions that may be based on partial information.

• Considers enterprise-wide implications of decisions and recommendations.

BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE

• Demonstrates strategic understanding of business objectives, competitive strengths and opportunities of WFM and supported region / stores.

• Leverages knowledge of customer, market and industry trends and emerging challenges to make business improvement recommendations.

• Demonstrates exceptional knowledge of the WFM product mix, supply base and retail operations.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

• BA/BS and/or Masters degree and 6-8 years relevant experience OR equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.

• Education in Business Administration, Accounting, Finance or Economics preferred.

  At Whole Foods Market, we provide a fair and equal employment opportunity for all Team Members and candidates regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, marital status, disability, or any other legally protected characteristic. Whole Foods Market hires and promotes individuals solely based on qualifications for the position to be filled and business needs.

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