Finance Director, Management Reporting – Publicis Sapient International

Company Description

Publicis Sapient is a digital transformation partner helping established organisations get to their future, digitally-enabled state, both in the way they work and the way they serve their customers. We help unlock value through a start-up mindset and modern methods, fusing strategy, consulting and customer experience with agile engineering and problem-solving creativity. United by our core values and our purpose of helping people thrive in the brave pursuit of next, our 20,000+ people in 53 offices around the world combine experience across technology, data sciences, consulting and customer obsession to accelerate our clients’ businesses through designing the products and services their customers truly value.

Job Description

The Finance Director reports to the VP, Financial Planning and Analysis of Publicis Sapient International. The role is responsible for the consolidation, analysis, management, and presentation of key financial data of the region with interaction with many key strategic stakeholders, including -but not limited to- the PS International Finance Leadership Team, Country and Industry Finance leads, regional Capacity leads, global Publicis Sapient teams and Finance team members of other departments. The position requires creative and strategic thinking, as well as focus on the smallest details. This position is meant to be filled by an experienced finance leader possessing strong project management skills, with the ability to coordinate, and timely deliver multiple/concurrent projects, with an inquisitive and curious nature, a passion for creating actionable analytics, and a desire to achieve exceptional results in a fast-paced environment.

Key Areas of Responsibilities

• Provide guidance and work closely with the VP, Financial Planning and Analysis and eventually the Regional CFO and Senior Finance leadership, through analysis of company operations and by providing management reporting as a basis for strategic decisions and improving financial and operational performance
• Progressive leadership and managerial experience
• Subject matter expert on all items related to client financial performance, forecasting, budgeting, and operations
  • Portfolio analysis across multiple geographies, focusing on profitability drivers by Industry and Clients
  • Capacity modeling and leverage, in conjunction with the regional Capacity leads, and the capacity leads in the different GDD centers
  • Comprehensive understanding of PS Management view (Industry model vs Country model)
  • Ability to identify problems, understand and be able to explain variances, evaluate consistency of financial information reported by agencies and calculate and project results
• Support VP, Financial Planning and Analytics to co-ordinate all information gathering including KPI and other metrics
  • Collaborate closely with various teams (Capacity, Controllership, Legal, Financial Reporting, Finance Commercial teams, Delivery, Sales, Practices) to deliver complete/accurate financial analyses and improve operational effectiveness
  • Recommend and implement economic strategies and objectives, while holding the business accountable for implementing the agreed upon decisions
  • Ad hoc analysis, projects, and other duties as assigned, including reports on billing rates, utilization/billability, bench and other
• Monthly, Quarterly and Annual management analysis (Budget, Forecast and Actuals)
  • Produce, analyze and review the Monthly Business Reports, with an emphasis on the Contribution Margins by Industry and key clients
  • Review Client Profitability Reporting (CPR) to ensure accuracy and consistency
  • Monitor main KPIs including utilization, billability and bench rates by Industry and Clients 
  • Track forecasted client expenses to understand and ensure expenditure by nature is on track (ie. Sales & Marketing costs, Investment Costs, client costs, etc.)
  • Understand future opportunities and ensure alignment with leadership expectation (via Salesforce and other internal systems)
• Lead initiatives, including model building and refining, forecasting, and other in-depth analyses from start to finish
  • Develop solid working understanding of the company’s planning and reporting tools (HFM, Oracle/SAP, SalesForce and Capacity modelling tools)
  • Extensive modeling to predict client growth, conversion, profitability, and capacity costs
  • Ensure financial standards and verify finance teams are preparing financial information using approved company financial reporting tools & procedures

Qualifications

• 10 years of experience within FP&A or Financial/Management Reporting
• Strong preference for financial management experience, in particular commercial and change management
• Committed, detail oriented, self-starter with strong problem solving and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work independently
• Ability to meet deadlines and work in time sensitive environments
• Excellent communication skills to clearly and accurately convey complex metrics and analysis to internal teams and all levels of management
• Demonstrated ability to theorize, develop and refine creative financial/operational models
• Experience in leading projects and tracks of work through to completion
• Proficiency in interpreting financial results and key ratios to analyze and project trends
• Executive presence necessary to work with senior level management
• Ability to self-start and self-direct work in an unstructured environment, and effective at driving solutions and results amid ambiguity and change
• Highly analytical, with the ability to synthesize data and tell the story from a business and operational perspective
• Strong interpersonal skills – with the ability to establish trust quickly, build relationships and influence decision-making across multiple levels
• Thrive under pressure and deadlines in a fast-paced organization

Education:

• Four-year degree in Finance / Accounting (Master’s degree preferred)

Additional Information

What’s in it for you?

• We have got you and your family covered with 25 days paid annual leave (plus bank holidays), life assurance, dental insurance, income protection, critical illness cover, private healthcare for you AND your family (pre-existing conditions included), and a pension
• We know the importance of health and wellbeing so offer you extensive retail discount offers and further reimbursement towards activities that contribute to a healthier lifestyle
• Our beautiful Turnmill office is open
• You can meet over a complimentary barista-made coffee and our teams have been busy replicating face-to-face social activities through learning languages virtually, yoga sessions, having a laugh at our online summer fairs and so much more
• We are proud to actively invest in your learning through various learning platforms
• Diversity and inclusion aren't just buzzwords. We offer an inclusive environment through our inspirational business resource groups and work with you to give back to the local community through CSR efforts

As part of our dedication to the diversity of our workforce, Publicis Sapient is committed to Equal Employment Opportunity without regard for race, colour, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion.