Sr. Finance Manager - Innovation - Chicago, IL

Company: Wells Enterprises (a Ferrero Company)

Functional Area: Finance

The Role

The Senior Manager, Innovation Finance serves as the financial lead for the innovation portfolio, guiding commercial investment decisions from concept through commercialization. The role combines financial analysis, governance, cross-functional partnership, and long-range planning to support profitable growth while balancing risk, resource constraints, and long-term value creation

What You’ll Do

• Lead financial evaluation of the innovation pipeline from concept through commercialization, presenting analysis and recommendations to senior management and internal stakeholders.

• Develop and maintain innovation P&Ls, business cases, and investment recommendations.

• Assess profitability, margin structure, volume assumptions, and return on investment for new products.

• Partner with Marketing, Innovation, Operations, R&D, Supply Chain, RGM, and Commercial teams to ensure financial considerations are incorporated early in the development process.

• Establish financial criteria and decision frameworks for innovation prioritization.

• Facilitate financial alignment across stakeholders and ensure transparency of key assumptions.

• Support stage-gate reviews and executive decision-making processes.

• Identify risks, sensitivities, and key assumptions impacting innovation outcomes.

• Provide recommendations on portfolio trade-offs and resource allocation.

• Drive high-performance culture by providing guidance, direction and developmental leadership to direct reports.

• Demonstrate curiosity and critical thinking by asking probing questions, challenging conventional assumptions, and exploring alternative perspectives to drive sound financial decisions.

• Make thoughtful, timely recommendations using available information while recognizing risks, uncertainties, and the need for further analysis.

• Champion change management behaviors and influence business partners.

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Wells Enterprises, a Ferrero company, is one of the largest ice cream manufacturers in the United States and the maker of well-loved brands including Blue Bunny , Halo Top , Bomb Pop , and Blue Ribbon Classics and today Trolli, Butterfinger 100grand , Baby Ruth , Nutella and Kinder Bueno .

Wells Enterprises is a $ 2 billion company employing 4,000 employees , across four production plants and two main hub locations, Chicago and Le Mars . Guided by innovation, quality, and a people-first mindset, Wells is committed to delighting consumers and developing exceptional teams.

As part of the Ferrero Group, Wells combines its strong U.S. heritage with Ferrero’s global standards of excellence, offering a unique opportunity to grow within a dynamic, values-driven, and international environment.

At Wells, our people—and their experience—sit at the heart of our ambition. Learn more at www.wellsenterprisesinc.com .

What We Offer

At Wells, we’re proud to support our employees with comprehensive benefits that enhance health, financial wellness, and include paid time off (PTO). Eligible employees may also receive an annual incentive bonus based on Company performance. Learn more about our benefits here (https://wellsenterprisesinc.com/news/benefits) .

Requisition ID : 2209727