Senior Financial Analyst, Co-Pilot (Cost Controller)

Join Nestlé Purina in St. Louis, MO (onsite) as a Senior Financial Analyst, serving as a key financial partner to the Capital Project Team. In this role, you will help strengthen financial controls across the capital project lifecycle through forecasting, cost oversight, and decision support, while having bonus eligibility and access to a 401(k) with company match.

What you’ll do

• Oversee and manage the full capital project budget, including cost reporting, cash flow projections, and budget adjustments.
• Perform cost-assurance activities, such as auditing field construction progress and supporting timely project closeout.
• Translate project schedules into Estimate at Completion (EAC) forecasts and support earned value management to link cost and schedule.
• Review and approve contracts, purchase orders, and invoices to support cost assurance, compliance, and financial accuracy.
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders including Procurement, Legal, Tax, and others to support compliance and best-practice deployment.
• Maintain strong financial governance by adhering to Capital Investment Standards, accounting policies, and change-management processes.
• Safeguard Assets Under Construction (AUC) through inventory oversight, warehouse compliance, and participation in governance gates.

What you bring

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Business Administration, Finance, Engineering, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in General Accounting, Cost Accounting, Internal Controls, Budgeting, and/or Variance Analysis.
• 2+ years of experience with capital and/or construction projects.
• 3+ years of advanced Microsoft Excel functionality experience (pivot tables, v-lookup, and logical formatting) is preferred.
• Smartsheets experience is preferred; Microsoft PowerBI experience is preferred; SAP experience is preferred.
• Willingness to travel up to 50% of the time.

Tools you’ll use

Microsoft Excel, Smartsheets, Microsoft PowerBI, SAP

Travel expectations

Expected average travel is 30% annually. During major project implementations or other high-priority business initiatives, travel requirements may increase to as much as 50% for limited periods of time.

Compensation and benefits

• Salary: USD 81,400 - 116,406 per year (listed as $81,400.50 to $116,406.00).
• Bonus eligibility: Yes
• 401(k): with company match
• Healthcare coverage
• Broad range of other benefits