Senior Client Finance Manager in City of London

Company Description: Within Publicis Groupe’s Intelligent Creativity business, we specialize in bringing creative ideas to life, and to consumers. By combining 100 years of craft excellence with 6,000 experts across 52 locations of the world’s biggest studio network, we leverage the industry’s richest data, through the power of agentic AI, to radically redefine content production with Intelligent Content.

About the role: The Senior Client Finance Manager serves as a strategic financial business partner to the production leadership team supporting operations reporting and implementation of best practices across the organization. This role involves leading key client finance initiatives for specific clients collaborating with cross-functional teams focusing on growth and profitability.

Main accountabilities include:

• Revenue forecasting
• Pricing
• Fee negotiations
• Client contracts
• New business partnership
• Revenue growth
• Client profitability improvement strategies

The Senior Client Finance will partner with the Business Intelligence team on revenue recognition and client costs during month-end close as well as billing, WIP, and accounts receivable.

Key responsibilities:

• Revenue Oversight: Supports VP, Finance Director in revenue growth discussions with client leaders and collaborates on development of long-term growth plans supported by pricing and negotiation strategies. Coordinates and presents revenue reporting to client leaders closely tracking actual performance versus forecast and aligning on future projections. Partners with operational leadership and other Publicis Groupe agencies to drive revenue process consistency.
• Pricing and Fee Negotiations: Supports fee pricing and negotiations in partnership with VP, Finance Director and production leadership team. Develops and implements efficient pricing processes to meet fast-paced project needs. Partners with Commercial Finance Director, Growth on fee pricing and rate card development for new business pitches. Owns records of approved rate cards and ensures compliance in usage. Regularly reviews established rate cards to assess profitability and updates standard rates. Partners with legal to review client and vendor contracts. Drafts and manages approval workflow of intercompany agreements. Collaborates with agency finance and resource management teams on cost recovery agreements. Owns records of approved SOWs and MSAs and ensures compliance with terms.
• Forecast/Planning: Develops annual revenue and client cost plan in partnership with production leadership and in alignment with organizational strategy and targets. Leads monthly revenue and client cost forecasting to ensure it reflects the most accurate projection of full-year performance in partnership with Business Intelligence. Reviews and updates the status of new business growth opportunities. Reviews client profitability forecasting and ensures timely reporting in partnership with the Business Intelligence team. Provides revenue and client cost forecast to FP&A and ensures that reporting deadlines are met. Supports management reporting presentation preparation by providing insights on revenue and client costs. Applies AI tools to support financial analysis and planning, helping uncover key business insights, inform revenue growth strategies, and contribute to broader organizational goals.
• Client Profitability: Leads monthly CPR review meetings with production and client leads focusing on profitability improvement strategies. Ensures full analysis of CPR issues, key drivers, and proposed solutions to drive profitable growth. Actions implementation of profitability improvement strategies in partnership with production and client leads. Completes margin analysis for ad hoc requests and key clients.
• Close Process: Partners closely with the Business Intelligence team on revenue recognition during month-end close. Reviews potential revenue and client cost variances and drives resolution of open items to minimize the impact. Reviews preliminary and final revenue results with Global Production Leadership and supports flash and STF reporting.
• Transaction/Process Oversight: Partners with Business Intelligence to ensure efficient transaction processing including billing, reduction of WIP and timely collections. Supports implementations of effective controls across the organization in alignment with Publicis Groupe policies and procedures. Supports audit responses during internal and external audits.

MANAGERIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Recruits, interviews, hires, and trains new staff.
• Oversees the daily workflow of the team.
• Provides constructive and timely performance evaluations.
• Handles discipline and termination of employees in accordance with company policy.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance or Accounting, Master’s degree preferred.
• Progressive experience in finance.
• Production experience strongly preferred.
• Management experience required.
• Strong strategic leadership skills.
• Effective communication skills.

Additional Information: Diversity and inclusion is a core part of who we are at Publicis Production. We’re committed to building an inclusive culture that encourages, celebrates and supports our wonderfully diverse employee group – whatever their age, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability or ethnicity. We will continue to strive to create a culture and environment where everyone feels empowered and more importantly comfortable enough to bring their full, authentic selves to work. We are committed to providing reasonable adjustments for employees with disabilities and for candidates in our application process. If you need assistance or adjustment due to a disability, please contact us.