Utilization Manager Jobs in Slidell, LA (NOW HIRING)

Essential Responsibilities:

• Support the development and execution of the firm's financial strategy by building financial and statistical models, evaluating scenarios and trends, and analyzing how financial performance links to business drivers at the firm, office, and practice levels.

• Translate the team's strategic priorities into clear operational plans, reporting packages, and analytics for the team to implement.

• Prepare materials and analysis for senior leadership discussions, including dashboards, trend analyses, and executive summaries.

• Manage the day-to-day activities of the finance team (e.g., Senior Analysts, Coordinators), ensuring work is properly assigned, prioritized, completed on time, and adheres to standard methodologies and documentation.

• Provide coaching, mentorship, and performance feedback; support team members' professional development and technical skill-building.

• Oversee preparation and delivery of recurring internal reports, including firmwide performance, practice group, client segment, office-level, and departmental cost and productivity reporting; ensure accuracy, consistency, and integrity of underlying data in collaboration with Accounting and IT.

• Develop and maintain tools and dashboards that improve visibility into key metrics for firm and practice leadership; continuously improve KPI and management reporting frameworks, including streamlining and automating reporting and analysis where possible to reduce manual effort and increase reliability.

• Assist and help lead the operational aspects of the firm's financial planning cycle, including annual budgets for the firm, offices, and practice groups, as well as periodic reforecasts and multi-period outlooks; coordinate data collection and consolidation, validate assumptions, and ensure alignment with guidance from senior team leadership.

• Prepare and review monthly and quarterly variance analyses versus budget, forecast, and prior periods, highlighting revenue and expense drivers, risks, opportunities, and recommended actions.

• Develop and maintain financial and statistical models to support revenue and expense forecasting, headcount and compensation planning, productivity, utilization, and other performance metrics.

• Define and track key performance indicators for the firm, offices, and practice groups, including realization, utilization, leverage, productivity, and cost efficiency.

• Perform and oversee detailed analyses of practice group and office profitability, matter-level economics (excluding rate-setting and fee strategy), and staffing mix, leverage, and cost drivers affecting margins; conduct rate and realization analyses focused on performance trends rather than pricing decisions; translate analytical findings into actionable recommendations for practice and firm leadership.

• Provide analytical support for working capital, including tracking and analyzing WIP and accounts receivable balances and aging, identifying trends, risks, and actions to improve cash flow; partner with relevant teams on inventory and collections initiatives, including dashboards and reports for partners and practice leaders, and metrics to improve collections and reduce days outstanding.

• Lead process improvement and "finance transformation" at the operational level by standardizing and simplifying recurring reporting and analyses and implementing automation (e.g., Excel, BI tools, SQL-based workflows); collaborate with Accounting, IT, and data teams to enhance data quality and structure supporting finance reporting and dashboards; promote responsible use of technology and analytics tools to improve accuracy, speed, and stakeholder self-service.

• Serve as an operational point of contact for practice group leaders, office leadership, and business professionals on financial reporting and analysis matters; respond to ad hoc requests from the Director of Finance, CFO, firm leadership, and internal stakeholders, ensuring timely and accurate deliverables.

• Assist in preparing materials and responses for external industry publications and benchmarking surveys as needed.

• Maintain strict confidentiality of all firm and client information.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Demonstrated leadership and people management skills; proven ability to supervise, coach, and develop high-performing teams.

• Deep understanding of accounting principles and financial statements.

• Working knowledge of SQL for data extraction and analysis.

• Strong understanding of law firm or professional services economics and key performance drivers (e.g., demand, realization, leverage, productivity, WIP/AR dynamics) or demonstrated ability to learn these concepts quickly.

• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills, with a proven record of performing deep-dive analyses and synthesizing complex information.

• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, meet tight deadlines, and perform effectively under pressure.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain financial concepts clearly to non-financial stakeholders.

• Strong commitment to ethical conduct, confidentiality, and organizational values.

• Meticulous attention to detail combined with a proactive, solutions-oriented mindset.

• Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution; comfortable "rolling up sleeves" as needed.

• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to build productive relationships and collaborate effectively at all levels of the organization.

• Skilled at building productive internal and external relationships; effective both independently and as a collaborative team member.

• Sense of urgency and adaptability; able to reprioritize effectively while maintaining composure and providing clear guidance to the team.

• High level of integrity, professionalism, and credibility with firm leadership and staff.

• Demonstrated ability to self-manage and work independently in a remote, hybrid, and in-office settings.

• Ability to work effectively independently and as part of a team to promote consistent and efficient workflow processes.

Required Education:

• Bachelor's degree inFinance, Accounting, Economics, or related business discipline.

Preferred Education:

• Master's degree in a related field.

Required Qualifications:

• Minimum eight (8) years of progressive experiencein finance, FP&A, or related analytical roles, preferably within a law firm or professional services environment.

• Minimumfour (4) years of experience leading or supervisinganalysts or similar staff.

• Advanced proficiency in financial analysis, internal reporting, and variance analysis.

• Advanced proficiency with financial systems and analytics platforms, including ERP/GL and time & billing systems; advanced Excel skills (e.g., complex formulas, pivot tables, financial modeling; Power Query/Power Pivot); and BI tools such as Power BI and Tableau.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint, Power BI, Tableau, and Excel.