Financial Operations Excellence Manager

Financial Operations Excellence Manager

Altum Consulting are supporting a global media agency to recruit a Financial Operations Excellence Manager. This role is a critical position in developing high performing delivery and operational finance teams delivering the highest level of service support across their global network of clients and internal brands.

This role will report to the Financial Operations Director, who in turn reports to the Finance Director of Global Media and caries a great opportunity to drive change and establish future-proof processes within a high growth international brand.

Key Responsibilities:

Team growth:

• Develop a high performing, future-proof, team of Financial Operations Partners, focused on service level, quality control and performance management.
• Lead, coach and inspire team members, ensuring clear roles and responsibilities, engaging goal setting, harmonious and professional partnership across the enterprise and external parties, and professional development.
• Emulate a culture of feedback and inclusive ways of working, supportive of sustained individual's and team's performance.
• Intentionally manage change, both within the group hub and its partners.

Design of Service Level, Quality Control and Performance for Core Processes:

• Establish Knowledge and Data strategies for existing core processes, incl. E2E processes mapping and taxonomy.
• Inform delivery of core processes, in partnership with x-functional enterprise and external partners, and together with the Finance Operations Manager, Delivery, to ensure timely and accurate billing (direct and intercompany) and payments.
• Support maintenance of accurate and up-to-date records of all financial transactions, in partnership with Financial Control & Reporting team.
• Set up clear & reliable stakeholders management with calendar, roles and responsibilities, inclusive of SLAs and escalation.

Process Improvement:

• Collaborate with the Financial Operations Delivery Manager and x-functional enterprise and external partners to develop and implement new and streamlined billing processes tailored to client and Vendors needs.
• Emulate upstream and downstream process compliance to maximize standardization and limit corrections.
• Define effective Shared service KPIs & process control measures.
• Continuously assess and enhance existing processes against clear and aligned service level, quality control and performance standards.
• In case of process failure, conduct a thorough root cause analysis to inform remediation.

Stakeholder Management:

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with intercompany agency teams across the region, global and regional commercial teams, Vendors, operations teams and Clients.
• Act as a liaison between the team and internal/external stakeholders, ensuring clear communication and alignment on financial processes and objectives.

Audit Support:

• Contribute to Clients audits.
• Ensure traceability of financial operations and support that comprehensive records to support audit requirements are maintained.
• Leverage key learnings from Internal audit partners to inform process design and improvement, as well as E2E quality measures.

Key Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or a related field. A Master's degree or professional certification (e.g., CPA, CMA) is a plus.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in Finance, and 5 years in leading and developing teams, preferably within the media or advertising industry.
• Proven interest and experience in process improvement and implementation of new financial systems or processes.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build and maintain relationships with diverse stakeholders.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a keen attention to detail.
• Proficiency in financial software and tools, with advanced Excel skills.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple priorities effectively.

Please reach out to George Brown on the attached details to discuss this role further.