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Purpose
Responsible for providing the VP Financial Planning and Strategy, the CFO, and the relevant business area stakeholders with the financial information, tools, analyses, and insight to help them make more informed decisions and drive business strategy, while challenging their thinking and seeking further financial improvements. To be done through partnering with Business (and Finance), analyzing financial performance vs. set targets, financial planning and supporting in the revision of processes and tools.
This role is to be a part of the Financial Planning and Strategy team, reporting directly to the VP of Financial Planning and Strategy. It will be responsible for partnering with yet to be allocated business areas for establishing trust-based relationships with the key stakeholders within the portfolio business areas. It will manage a small team.
Accountabilities
Partnering with Business Areas: partner with dedicated business area’s and teams in the setting up of financial related priorities, action planning and implementation drive/ follow-up, leveraging a deep understanding of the key value/ cost drivers, of company and business area priorities and of existing processes and tools.
Supporting Business Areas: support portfolio business areas in understanding the financial impact of options being assessed and in communicating it to the relevant stakeholders, as well as in any financial related topic. This includes activities such as the following:
Support in the preparation and own the validation of business cases put forward, incl. jointly laying out alternatives being assessed.
Review financial evaluation of supplier bids prepared by business areas and procurement.
Support in the articulation of recommendations and underlying finance rationale.
Support in day-to-day queries of the business area supported, either directly, through team members or by connecting to relevant stakeholders in Finance.
Partner with other Finance departments to understand the finance operations flow and propose improvements based on business and team’s needs.
Monthly reporting and analyses be the bridge between Mgmt. Reporting and portfolio business areas, ensuring that actual costs/ revenue and their differences vs. expectations are properly and deeply understood by both the business area and Finance, and preparing the adequate reports to support so. Activities include the following:
Work closely with business areas and Financial Reporting & Control so that the monthly financials reflect actuals as accurately as possible, incl. ensuring relevant accruals are estimated effectively and reviewing actual postings vs. expectations in effect acting as a second filter.
Prepare, disseminate, and discuss reports on actuals vs. budget and forecast with cost owners, understanding, and explaining the variations.
Own the presentation on the monthly financial performance review vs. budget, collaborating, getting further information, and previously aligning with business areas stakeholders.
Track impact and status of implementation of profit improvement initiatives through frequent interactions with the business areas and by raising flags to leadership when adequate.
Owning deep dives into the relevant costs, together with business areas, constantly challenging for improvements.
Providing the relevant KPIs to Corporate Strategy.
Support the VP and the wider FP&Strategy team in relevant additional analyses, supporting informed discussions with internal and external stakeholders.
Budgeting and forecasting: establish and administer all aspects of annual budgeting and quarterly forecasting for supported business areas, incl. procedures, timelines, activities, content, format, templates, reviews, consolidations, presentations, system updates and distribution; plan through a combination of top-down targets and bottom-up input, ensure linkage to divisional goals and KPIs and the identification and tracking of profit improvement initiatives. This includes activities such as the following:
Prepare the budget and 5YP together with the business areas, challenging their proposals based on deep knowledge of key cost/ revenue drivers and of the strategic priorities.
Jointly defend the budget to the VP FP&Strategy and to the CFO;
Identify further initiatives to improve results and work alongside business areas and Corporate Strategy estimating their impact, preparing implementation plans and following through;
Update forecasts regularly, as required by the Integrated Financial Planning team or as driven by business needs or by material changes in business activities;
Influence the budgeting and forecasting calendar and ensure all the information is provided timely and with the adequate level of detail (jointly defined).
Support in process and tools revision: continuously improve the process/ tools that support regular analyses, reporting and forecasting, seeking efficiency, avoiding redundancies and focusing on relevant and value add metrics. This includes activities like the following:
Review/ simplify monthly reporting processes;
Support in the implementation of the new budgeting tool, ensuring that it properly reflects the key budgeting drivers based on most up to date information as well as improvement initiatives;
Support in the implementation of any other financial system or reporting tool, as adequate.
Education & Experience
Professional qualification such as CMA, ACCA, MBA, CPA or equivalent.
8-10 years related experience
Preference to experience in roles similarly related to finance for aviation.
About Etihad Airways
Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, was formed in 2003 and quickly went on to become one of the world’s leading airlines. From its home in Abu Dhabi, Etihad flies to passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. Together with Etihad’s codeshare partners, Etihad’s network offers access to hundreds of international destinations. In recent years, Etihad has received numerous awards for its superior service and products, cargo offering, loyalty programme and more. Etihad is recognised as one of the world’s leading airlines in response to COVID-19 and was the first airline in the world to fully vaccinate its crew on board.
Etihad sees tackling the climate crisis as the most important issue of our time, and through strategic partnerships with major global aviation brands and OEMs, Etihad is relentless in its pursuit of industry decarbonisation.
To learn more, visit etihad.com
