Financial Planning and Analysis Manager

We are looking for a FP&A Manager with 9 - 12 years experience into core FP&A

Condé Nast is a global media company, home to iconic brands including Vogue, GQ, Glamour, AD, Vanity Fair and Wired, among many others. Our award-winning content reaches 84 million consumers in print, 367 million in digital and 379 million across social platforms, and generates more than 1 billion video views each month.

We are headquartered in London and New York, and operate in 31 markets worldwide, including China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico & Latin America, Spain, Taiwan, the U.K. and the U.S., with local licence partners across the globe.

Position Overview

The Manager, COE Revenue and Gross Profit Pillar will be responsible for supporting the successful execution of the strategic vision of our newly created Reporting Centre of Excellence, playing a key role in establishing the Revenue & Gross Profit Pillar. The successful candidate will set up the Pillar, oversee a smooth transitional period and ensure the provision of high-quality, accurate, and timely reporting. In addition, the Manager will drive standardization of our reporting processes, and continuous improvement in data, reporting and analytics as we seek to further scale up the team and build its capability.

The activities to be transferred to the Pillar will include month-end reporting and planning (Budget and in-year forecasts) with a focus on Revenue and Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) relating to Commercial and Consumer Revenue teams. The Manager, Revenue & Gross Profit COE Pillar will collaborate closely with the US & UK-based Revenue Functional Business Partnering team to ensure services are delivered according to agreed standards and in line with business needs.

Key responsibilities include:

Service Delivery

• Overall responsibility for COE Revenue & Gross Profit Pillar performance, ensuring that all reporting produced by the team is delivered in line with Service Level Agreements, including:
• Prepare standardized month-end reporting and presentation decks that combine actual and planned results and prepare ‘first pass’ variance analysis in support of the Revenue business partnering team and Corporate FP&A
• Prepare templates and support the consolidation of Budgets and Forecasts, providing ‘first pass’ analysis of variance to targets and building support for Revenue & Gross Profit budget / forecast packs
• Monitor and report on COGS-related spend across a range of revenue streams including Digital & Print Platforms, Creative Consulting, Events, Subscriptions, Newsstand, Commerce and Continuity (Box) Business
• Report and analyse gross profit reporting at a functional and market level, an area of increased focus for the business
• Work with Controlling Ops team and end users to ensure coding accuracy on supplier invoicing and travel expenses at source
• Support the preparation of monthly KPIs, gathering data from various sources
• Perform Ad hoc analysis as required to support the Revenue Functional Business Partnering teams

• Assist in the development of the Service Level Agreements for activities performed by the Pillar
• Ensure that knowledge transfer and transition activity is completed on time and at a sufficient standard
• Reviews key outputs from team before handing off to onshore teams
• Track and monitors Pillar performance based on agreed performance metrics, course-correcting as and when required
• In partnership with Corporate FP&A and Revenue Functional Business Partnering team, review and approve new reporting requests

Stakeholder Relationship Management

• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with key stakeholders in Revenue Functional Business Partnering team located primarily in US and UK, building a deep understanding of the businesses being supported
• Key point of contact for teams supported by the Pillar, acting as an escalation point if there are any delivery issues, participating in regular ‘wash up’ sessions to review service delivery levels
• Establish close working relationships with the Bangalore Controlling Ops team to ensure that the hand off points are clearly identified and that processes are in place to ensure month-end reporting timelines are achieved

Continuous Improvement

• Work as part of the COE Management team to identify, design, and implement opportunities to drive efficiency and standardisation across key processes (including month-end reporting, budget and forecast, and other outputs) leveraging automation as well as streamlining and eliminating unnecessary activities
• Lead the transition of further activities into the COE team when processes are sufficiently stabilised
• Stay abreast of industry trends and advancements in reporting technologies and methodologies
• Work with Corporate FP&A and the EPM/Workday teams to drive standardisation and consistency in global reporting

Team Management

• Manage, coach and develop

  5

  team members
• Responsible for on-boarding new starters (most of the team will be new hires)
• Work with the Head of COE and other Pillar Managers to build and develop a high-performing, highly engaged team
• Overall responsibility for allocating tasks across the 4 team members, managing resource effectively to meet demand across the team

ESSENTIAL SKILLS & REQUIREMENTS

• [9 - 12 year post qualification - TBD]

  Finance professional
• Financial leadership, management and experience in a large and complex global Media organisation or equivalent
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, adept at building relationships with stakeholders including senior Finance team members
• Experience of being involved in setting-up and scaling an offshore centre of excellence, including hiring and establishing governance frameworks
• Ability to thrive in a matrix organisational environment
• Cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures
• Knowledge, and extensive experience of reporting tools and technologies (e.g. EPM, Workday)
• Awareness of advanced data analytics techniques and tools is desirable
• Results-oriented, with the ability to drive continuous improvement in processes, systems and reporting
• Ability to present financial information in a succinct and compelling manner, but is also across the detail
• Team management capabilities - ability to mentor and develop their people
• Ideally, experience of working with Revenue, COGS and Gross Profit reporting and trend analysis including a familiarity with revenue and cost recognition policies in financial reporting