Business Intelligence & FP&A Lead

The Business Intelligence Lead role will spearhead the integration of advanced BI solutions within the FP&A domain. This role involves leveraging data analytics and BI tools to provide actionable financial insights, streamline reporting and planning processes, and support strategic decision-making. The Finance BI Lead will collaborate with cross-functional teams, including finance, IT, and operations, to ensure seamless data flow, accuracy, and accessibility.

Financial Planning, Analysis & Reporting:

• Lead the annual budgeting, quarterly forecasting, and long-range planning processes.
• Manage the planning models and templates ensuring consolidation is accurate and efficient.
• Provide insights into financial trends, variance analysis, and forecasting using data-driven methods.
• Support planning and predictive modelling for strategic initiatives.
• Analyse large datasets to identify risks, opportunities, and cost-saving measures.
• Manage the preparation of consolidated finance packs and presentations for internal stakeholders and support investor relations reporting.
• Translate complex financial and operational data into compelling narratives tailored for stakeholders, investors, and sponsors.

Strategic Leadership in Business Analytics:

• Develop and implement a BI strategy tailored to the financial needs of the organisation.
• Partner with finance to identify analytical opportunities and improve financial performance.
• Serve as a key liaison between finance, business stakeholders, and technology teams.
• Establish and enforce data governance policies and procedures within finance to ensure compliance with broader technology governance standards.
• Represent the finance department in organisational data governance discussions, ensuring finance-specific data needs are prioritized and integrated into the organisation's data strategy.
• Engage stakeholders across the organisation to independently access and analyse data by promoting the use of self-service analytics tools and teach them how data and analytics enhance decision-making and operational efficiency.
• Conduct knowledge sharing sessions, discussion forums and raise awareness about the use of dashboards, data governance policies and best practices to foster a data-driven culture.

BI System Development and Optimisation:

• Design, build, and maintain dashboards, reports, and analytical tools to track key financial metrics (e.g., EBIT, cash flow, ROI, KPIs).
• Ensure the accuracy, consistency, and integrity of financial data across BI platforms.
• Ensure that data is collected, stored, and managed effectively to support the BI needs of the organization.
• Ensure a robust BI dashboard build process from gathering user requirements to user acceptance testing and deployment.
• Utilise metrics and analytics to monitor data quality, identify discrepancies and implement corrective actions promptly to maintain high standards of data reliability.
• Drive the deployment and development of AI initiatives in finance to enhance decision-making and operational efficiency.
• Track engagement of dashboard usage and feedback to enable future optimisation.

Required Skills Technical Expertise:

• 5+ years in FP&A, preferably in a fast-paced, high-performance environment.
• 3+ years expertise in BI tools (e.g. Power BI, Tableau, QlikView) and data visualisation.
• CIMA Qualified Preferred.
• Proficiency in financial modelling and analysis tools, including Excel, SQL, and data warehousing platforms.
• Familiarity with ERP systems (e.g., SAP, Oracle) and financial software integration.
• Analytical mindset with a strong ability to interpret complex financial data.
• Excellent communication and storytelling skills for presenting insights to finance and executive stakeholders.
• Strong project management skills with experience in agile and other methodologies.
• Ability to learn new concepts quickly and proactive in knowledge sharing.
• Experience line managing desirable, but not essential.