Director – Financial Planning & Business Partner

Key Responsibilities:

Planning & Organization

• Lead and coordinate budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning processes, ensuring alignment of organizational targets and objectives.
• Identify risks, gaps, and opportunities within financial plans and recommend corrective actions prior to final approval.
• Provide strategic financial recommendations and guidance to senior leadership regarding budgets, forecasts, investments, and business plans.
• Develop and oversee action plans to ensure successful delivery of team and departmental objectives.
• Monitor financial performance against plans and drive initiatives to improve business outcomes.

Financial Excellence

• Analyze financial and operational performance against budgets, forecasts, and strategic objectives.
• Lead financial planning, budget control, forecasting, and performance management activities.
• Review, evaluate, and approve business cases, investment proposals, pricing initiatives, and capital expenditure requests in line with delegated authority and governance frameworks.
• Facilitate financial evaluation of strategic initiatives and investment decisions.
• Prepare and present management reports, financial analyses, performance insights, and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Drive cost optimization and value creation initiatives across the organization.
• Ensure effective governance and oversight of capital expenditures and investment portfolios.

Customer Excellence

• Act as a trusted finance business partner and key point of contact for business leaders and stakeholders.
• Support the development and execution of operational and financial plans by providing robust financial advice and analysis.
• Advise leadership on financial performance variances, risks, opportunities, and recommended corrective actions.
• Proactively communicate significant financial developments, issues, and emerging risks to relevant stakeholders.
• Build strong collaborative relationships that support business decision-making and organizational success.

People Excellence

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing finance team by creating growth opportunities and enabling capability development.
• Establish and maintain a culture that promotes accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and high performance.
• Foster knowledge sharing and professional development opportunities across teams and functions.
• Drive employee engagement and support succession planning and talent development initiatives.
• Promote organizational values and effective business partnering practices.

Process Excellence & Risk Management

• Ensure compliance with financial policies, accounting standards, governance procedures, and internal controls.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance financial processes, reporting quality, and operational efficiency.
• Implement and optimize key financial governance processes and systems.
• Conduct post-implementation reviews of major initiatives and investments to assess benefits realization and performance.
• Identify, evaluate, communicate, and mitigate financial risks while promoting a strong control environment.
• Lead initiatives that improve financial awareness, accountability, and decision-making across the organization.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or another numerate discipline.
• Professional Accounting Qualification such as CMA, CIMA, ACCA, CA, or CPA.

Experience:

• Minimum 15 years of overall professional experience.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in Financial Planning & Analysis, Business Partnering, Budgeting, Forecasting, Business Case Evaluation, Financial Governance, and Cost Management.
• Proven experience in leading large-scale financial planning and decision-support activities within a complex organization.
• Minimum 10 years of people management experience.

Skills:

• Strong business and commercial acumen with the ability to understand key financial drivers and organizational growth objectives.
• Advanced financial planning, forecasting, and financial modelling capabilities.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-support skills.
• Experience developing and implementing finance strategies and business performance programs.
• Ability to operate independently and exercise sound judgment in complex business situations.
• Strong stakeholder management, influencing, and business partnering capabilities.
• Excellent presentation, communication, and executive engagement skills.
• Demonstrated ability to challenge assumptions and drive value-based decision-making.
• Strong financial governance and control environment expertise.
• Knowledge of ERP and financial management systems.
• Good knowledge of IFRS and financial reporting standards.
• Leadership, coaching, conflict management, and team development skills.