FP&A Manager

Job Description:

The Financial Planning and Analysis Manager (FP&A) is a critical business partnering role in Mars Wrigley NA with a wide variety of stakeholders at all levels including the Mars Wrigley NA Leadership Team. Leading Overheads budget management is the main responsibility of the role, including Annual planning process, budgeting, forecasting with an emphasis on insights-based decision making and trade-offs, working in depth with budget holders and interfacing with overheads specialists, regional & global counterparts. Leveraging Digital Tools to enhance budget management will be key for success of this role. Provide support to FP&A activities is the second pillar of this role, such as AEP, period close & reporting, forecasting (S&OP+), including P&L and Cash analysis. Manage financials of efficiency programs is also a relevant part of the responsibility of this role.

What are we looking for?

• Bachelor's degree in Finance or Accounting or equivalent experience required, MBA preferred
• 5+ years of FP&A experience within a multi-national environment
• Strong analytical and reporting skills and ability to translate into business insights
• Ability to communicate (verbal and written) effectively with all levels
• Digitally savvy, Strong problem-solving skills, attention to accuracy, passion for making it better
• Financial digital tools (such as Alteryx, Power BI, Anaplan) and SAP/financial management reporting knowledge is required

What will be your key responsibilities?

• The key accountability of the role is to develop and manage a robust process for planning, budgeting and reporting of Overhead Costs and Efficiencies program in MW NA. Overhead Costs consist of Salary/Wages/Benefits (SWB) and Activity Spending across the unit, excluding costs directly connected with production in the factories. The associate will be responsible for the Smart Spending initiative to drive cost savings in overheads by working with senior business partners on the MW NA Leadership Team.
  This associate will have an objective to provide clarity on trends, challenge assumptions and create budget reduction strategies. Besides official forecast cycles, the Manager must assess the ongoing risks that this area presents, work on gap close initiatives and communicate timely to key stakeholders. Elements of the Planning, Budgeting process and project management that are crucial to success include:
• Target setting and translation from top-line commitments to detailed budgeting.
• Well-defined timelines and milestones, integrated with the budget holders and FP&A team, aligned with planning calendar.
• Clear communication of the results of the budget process to key stakeholders (senior management, department heads, budget managers) at appropriate levels of detail.
• Regular reviews of spending progress against plans, identification of key issues. Prepare areas of focus and recommended adjustments, coordinating with cross-functional teams to deliver Plan targets
• Use and leverage Digital budgeting tools for FP&A responsibilities. support for development and continuous improvement of Digital tools usability.
• Support to FP&A team responsibilities, special projects and requests, ad hoc analysis as needed.
• Provide thorough input and analysis to the Annual Execution Plan and Long-term plans for Overheads and Efficiency programs.
• Co-pilot central overhead costs, working closely with the budget holders via regular face to face meetings to set budgets, create forecasts, analyze actual spend, understand and challenge variances and provide support to take corrective actions where necessary - to minimize risks or crystallize opportunities. The role holder should be seen as a trusted working partner, whilst providing challenge and stimulating pilots into looking at things differently.
• Provide financial guidance to the functional teams, providing interpretation of overheads costs / trends to the Leadership team ensuring any risks are dealt with through pro-active opportunity management. Focus will therefore be on action orientated presenting/reporting and follow through.
• Develop relationships within other segments to adopt best practices for tracking and monitoring results of Efficiency programs. The job holder will need to be pro-active and innovative in finding areas that we can drive efficiencies (for example, opportunities will need to be different year on year).
• Identification and implementation of cross-department strategies for improved overheads management (e.g. zero based budgeting), as well as identifying large scale opportunities (such as communications tendering) that can help to drive value creation. Contribute to and support an effective, highly competent and engaged Finance team.

What can you expect from Mars?

• Work with over 130,000 like-minded and talented Associates, all guided by The Five Principles.
• Join a purpose driven company, where we're striving to build the world we want tomorrow, today.
• Best-in-class learning and development support from day one, including access to our in-house Mars University.
• An industry competitive salary and benefits package, including company bonus.

Mars is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you need assistance or an accommodation during the application process because of a disability, it is available upon request. The company is pleased to provide such assistance, and no applicant will be penalized as a result of such a request.