FP&A Business Partner

KennedyPearce are working with a large Insurance firm based in thew City looking for an FP&A Business Partner to join their team based in the City. This is a hybrid role paying £100,000.

Operating within the International Finance Expense FP&A team the purpose of this role is to provide strategic, forward looking decision support and business partnering to finance and business stakeholders.

Job Purpose

• This role is an excellent opportunity for someone with strong communication, analytical and data visualization skills to add value and develop a good understanding of the business in finance.
• This position will have responsibility for the following key tasks:
• Business partnering and decision support for operating expenses across the firm
• Responsibility for all forward looking expense focused activities - forecasting, trends, scenario analysis, stress testing and projects;
• Build and develop relationships and communication within business and finance stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

• Business Partnering and Decision Support
• Business Partnering and Decision Support
• Carry out fast and accurate analysis of, and commentary on, key drivers and parameters related to operating cost expenditure.
• Leveraging from monthly expense reports and analytics to create transparency and insight to support management decision making.
• Provide commercial support to Executive Management, Underwriters and Department Heads
• To aid commercial resourcing decisions a strong and in-depth control over stakeholders headcount will be required, providing accurate insight into the current and future projected position

Analysis

• Prepare and present investment appraisals and prioritisation
• Perform competitor analysis using external data to benchmark and provide insights

Forward Looking Analysis

• Analysis of expense data and monthly expense reports to identify trends
• Carry out scenario analysis and stress testing
• Influence and challenge business decisions and strategy

Projects

• Support the Head of Expense Management in exploring and introducing data visualization as a way to better communicate trends and insights to stakeholders

Annual Planning & Continual Forecasting

• Responsibility for analysis to support the annual Corporate budget - understanding strategic plan, supporting stakeholders during planning period, review and challenge of various inputs from stakeholders.
• Provide input into quarterly International expense forecasting process through engagement with business stakeholders, identification of upcoming issues and/or adjustments and understanding of historical trends.

Relationship Management

• Focussing predominantly on front office stakeholders, lead the business partnering in relation to expenses and headcount, providing pro-active decision making support
• Build strong relationships with stakeholders within and outside Finance across multiple locations, enabling the department to deliver high quality effective support to the Organisation
• Through personal interaction with key stakeholders, elicit their requirements of Expense Management team in order to determine value add support and to better anticipate their needs

Other Activities

• Support the Head of Expense Management on leading key projects within Expense Management.
• Challenge current processes and approach all tasks with a continuous improvement mindset to ensure processes are as efficient and effective, while delivering high quality products.

Skills and Experience Specification

Essential:

• CIMA / ACA / ACCA Qualified accountant
• Strong business partnering, relationship building, communication skills
• Demonstrable experience working with and supporting business functions and executive management
• IT literate with advanced Excel skills and strong financial modelling abilities. Experience in Anaplan and BI systems such as PowerBI, Tableau
• Strong data visualisation skills and experience in utilizing skills to communicate key messages
• Developed analytical skills including compelling communication of financial information and key metrics/messages relevant to different audiences
• Highly numerate with excellent attention to detail and accuracy
• Commercially minded, critical thinker with a keen eye for the detail
• Professional approach and delivery of timely, high quality work product
• Energy, enthusiasm, persistence, and adaptability
• Ability to influence and lead others
• Encourage a culture of continuous improvement and 'end to end' process thinking
• Assertive but sensitive to conflicting demands on others.

Desirable:

• Experience in insurance, including understanding of reinsurance and commission structures and the impacts of this on operating expenses