Senior Director, Finance & Strategy at Light & Wonder in Raleigh, NC

Job description

• Now part of Light & Wonder, Grover Gaming brings a legacy of innovation, integrity, and game design excellence to every aspect of our growing team. Known for award-winning gaming experiences and an energizing workplace culture, Grover has built a reputation as a top employer and a trusted name in charitable gaming. Together, we're expanding our reach and reshaping the future of the industry.
• We are looking for a senior finance leader to serve as the right hand to the CFO and the financial center of gravity for the Grover Gaming business unit. This role owns financial planning and analysis end-to-end: the annual operating plan, quarterly forecasts, the long-range plan, month-end results, and the reporting that goes to executive leadership and the board. Just as important, this role partners directly with the CEO and the VP of Strategy to find, build, and implement the initiatives that expand margin and accelerate growth. You will also actively drive optimization initiatives across our markets, partnering with the Data Analytics and Strategy teams.
• The person we need is a Swiss Army knife. Technically sound enough to build the model, not just review it. Credible enough to hold the room in front of executives. Curious enough to have a real point of view on content and hardware roadmaps, game mix, analytics, and commercial strategy. Success in this role looks like being the first call when a decision has a number attached to it, and the person who makes sure that we make the right decision and that decision actually gets implemented.

Responsibilities

• Own the full planning cycle for the business unit: annual operating plan, quarterly forecasts, long range plan, and monthly close reporting and analytics.
• Serve as trusted advisor and decision partner to the CEO, the VP of Strategy, and the broader leadership team.
• Translate operating drivers (units in market, hold per-unit per-day, location performance, game mix, denomination trends) into financial outcomes and forward-looking guidance.
• Build and lead optimization initiatives that improve margin, capital efficiency, and process throughput, from idea through implementation and measured result.
• Bring financial rigor to content and hardware roadmap decisions, new market entry, and capital deployment.
• Develop the finance and analytics team, raising both technical depth and the standard of business partnership, consistent metric definitions, trusted data, automated reporting, and faster time to insight.
• Represent the business-unit results and outlook to corporate finance and executive leadership.
• Financial Planning & Analysis
• Own the annual budget, quarterly forecast cycles, and the multi-year long range plan, including scenario construction and clear bridges and variance insights between plan versions.
• Lead month-end close review and variance analysis (full P&L and capital expenditure), explaining results in driver terms (volume, rate, mix, timing) rather than account-level noise.
• Build and maintain the financial models that connect unit deployment, hold per-unit per-day, revenue share economics, and cost structure to P&L and cash outcomes.
• Deliver board-level and executive reporting: QBR materials, monthly business reviews, earnings support, and rapid-turn analysis for the CEO and CFO.
• Own capital planning and ROI governance for gaming equipment, including deployment, swap, and refresh decisions, plus post-implementation review of actual returns.
• Partner with corporate FP&A and accounting on consolidation, purchase accounting impacts, and reporting alignment.
• Strategy & Optimization
• Partner with the VP of Strategy and the CEO to build the pipeline of optimization initiatives, size each opportunity, and pressure-test the assumptions behind it.
• Move initiatives from analysis to execution by defining owners, milestones, and measurable targets, then tracking realized value against the original business case.
• Lead the financial evaluation of new market entry and jurisdiction expansion, including regulatory constraints, revenue share structures, and ramp assumptions.
• Build business cases for pricing, contract terms, and distributor and charity partner economics.
• Identify structural cost and process improvement opportunities across the business and drive them to completion.
• Commercial & Product Thought Leadership
• Bring the financial and analytical lens to content roadmap decisions: performance by theme, math model, and price point, return on investments, and the right mix by market.
• Support hardware and cabinet strategy with lifecycle cost, deployment economics, and churn and replacement analysis.
• Partner with sales and operations on location and route level performance, underperformance diagnostics, and corrective action plans.
• Turn market, competitor, and regulatory data into commercial insight that shapes pricing, incentives, and market prioritization.
• Leadership & Controls
• Lead, coach, and develop the finance team, building technical capability and succession depth.
• Maintain internal controls, policies, and approval frameworks appropriate to a public company environment.
• Foster an environment of trust, accuracy, integrity, and candor while delivering actionable, high-quality results.
• Set the standard for how finance shows up: proactive, articulate, and focused on decisions backed by data rather than reports.

Requirements

• A deep technical FP&A foundation. You can build the model, stress the assumptions, and defend the output line-by-line.
• Leadership presence. You can present to group of executives, tell the story, hold a position under pressure, and tell executives what you actually think and back it up.
• Rigorous standards on data quality, accuracy, and a relentless pursuit of constant process improvements.
• A track record of driving initiatives to completion across functions you do not control.
• Comfort with ambiguity and incomplete data, paired with strong root cause instincts.
• Real curiosity about the product, the player, and the customer, not just the P&L.
• Hands-on analytical horsepower. You go to the data yourself rather than waiting on a report.
• Experience supporting product, content, or capital deployment roadmap decisions.
• The ability to build trust quickly with a diverse set of stakeholders (operators, engineers, sales leaders, and executives).
• 10+ years of progressive finance experience, including senior-level FP&A leadership with direct reports.
• Undergraduate degree in finance, accounting, economics, engineering, or similar. MBA and/or CPA preferred.
• Demonstrated ownership of a complete planning cycle (budget, forecast, long range plan) for a business unit or larger.
• Advanced financial modeling and data analysis skills, with working knowledge of GAAP and public company reporting requirements.
• Experience implementing AI automations to streamline processes and improve business decision making.
• Proven ability to influence and partner cross-functionally at the executive level.
• Experience in gaming, lottery, charitable gaming, or another regulated, route-based, or recurring revenue business managing the full P&L.
• Experience in a public company or private equity-backed environment, including post-acquisition integration.
• Hands-on SQL, Tableau or Power BI, and large data set analysis.
• Knowledge of ERP (Oracle) and enterprise planning tools.
• undefined

Skills

Required

• Advanced financial modeling
• Data analysis
• GAAP knowledge
• Public company reporting requirements
• AI automation implementation
• Cross-functional influence
• Executive-level communication
• Leadership presence
• Data quality and accuracy standards
• Process improvement
• Ambiguity management
• Root cause analysis

Preferred

• SQL
• Tableau
• Power BI
• Large data set analysis
• ERP (Oracle)
• Enterprise planning tools

Benefits

• • Join a passionate team in one of the most exciting sectors of the gaming industry
• • Be part of a mission-driven organization that supports charitable causes
• • Competitive salary and benefits
• • Opportunities for advancement and growth
• • A culture built on innovation, integrity, and service