Position Title:  Sr Manager Business Planning

Job Title

Senior Manager Business Planning

Job Purpose

The Senior Manager Business Planning is responsible for leading Financial Controlling, Planning, Budgeting, and Reporting activities to support strategic and operational decision-making. This role ensures accuracy, transparency, and relevance of financial insights, while driving continuous improvement in forecasting, budgeting, and financial governance processes. The position acts as a trusted finance partner to senior leadership, enabling effective resource allocation and proactive management of business performance.

Key Responsibilities

Financial Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting

• Lead and continuously improve planning, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting processes and system requirements.
• Coordinate and integrate sales and operations plans into financial forecasts and business outlooks.
• Monitor actual performance against budget, analyze variances, and drive corrective actions to improve efficiency and profitability.
• Apply advanced costing techniques to support business decisions and financial accuracy.

Financial Reporting & Analysis

• Oversee preparation and delivery of internal management reporting and external financial disclosures, including quarterly results, investor communications, and regulatory filings.
• Lead Profit & Loss (P&L) and balance sheet analysis, ensuring robust variance explanations and management commentary.
• Analyze financial trends and identify risks and opportunities requiring senior management attention.
• Produce user-centric, actionable financial insights to proactively guide business performance.

Business Partnering & Decision Support

• Present financial findings, insights, and clear recommendations to senior management.
• Support strategic resource allocation decisions through scenario analysis and financial modeling.
• Act as a finance business partner to cross-functional leaders, explaining financial context and promoting collaboration across functions.

Leadership & Governance

• Lead multi-disciplinary finance teams, often through other managers, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and quality of financial outputs.
• Develop and implement financial processes, standards, and internal control practices that impact overall business results.
• Establish and maintain appropriate levels of protection for company assets and manage general liability exposures.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across financial controlling and planning activities.

Accountability & Decision Making

• Leads teams with multiple sub-teams, typically managed by other managers.
• Balances strategic contribution (approximately 20%) with operational execution (approximately 80%).
• Owns and drives changes to financial processes to enhance efficiency, governance, and business impact.

Knowledge, Skills & Capabilities

Technical & Functional Knowledge

• Extensive expertise in financial planning, budgeting techniques, forecasting methodologies, and financial reporting systems.
• Strong understanding of internal control governance and financial compliance requirements.

Leadership & Communication

• Ability to anticipate communication needs and tailor messages for senior stakeholders.
• Strong facilitation and influencing skills; leads finance discussions with management teams.
• Proven capability to explain complex financial topics to non-finance stakeholders.

Problem Solving & Complexity

• Resolves complex financial challenges by integrating data across multiple functions.
• Diagnoses root causes of budgetary discrepancies and coordinates resolution across departments.
• Drives continuous improvement through process redesign and advanced financial analysis.

Experience & Qualifications

• Significant experience in Financial Controlling, Business Planning, Budgeting, and Reporting, preferably in a complex, matrixed organization.
• Demonstrated experience leading teams and managing managers.
• Proven track record in strategic financial analysis, forecasting, and business partnering at senior levels.
• Advanced academic background in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related field; MBA or equivalent is a strong advantage.