Senior Manager, Financial Planning & Analysis - OPEX GCM

Job Description Summary:

Location: Shanghai, China

Role Type: Individual Contributor

Please note: The selected candidate will need to be based in Shanghai, China. This is an Individual Contributor position.

Our vision is to love brands, done sustainably, for better shared future. We strive to provide cutting-edge excellence in ingredients, innovation, design and marketing. As a Senior OPEX Planning Manager, you will be responsible for the financial planning (business plan and rolling estimates) of Operating Expenses (Employee Costs and All Other Costs) as well as oversight of the Capital Expenditures planning and forecast submission for GCM OU, supporting the Global and Operating Units who are ultimately accountable for the Profit and Loss (P&L) results of their respective functions/markets.

We are looking for people that have a passion for building relationships and will be proud to be a representative of our brands, are results driven and have financial planning experience.

What You’ll Do for Us:

• Responsible for the financial planning (business plan and rolling estimates) of Operating Expenses (Employee Costs and All Other Costs) as well as oversight of the Capital Expenditures planning and forecast submission for a specific geography/OU/group of OUs/Function/group of Functions, supporting such geography/OU/group of OUs/Function/group of Functions who is/are ultimately accountable for the P&L results of their respective operations.

• Oversees a team of OPEX (Operating Expense) managers/analysts (at a third-party MSP (Managed Services Provider)) who handles the financial planning activities namely --- construct of the operating expense plan/budget/forecast based upon business direction and input, financial systems administration of the plan/budget/forecast, variance analyses across relevant comparative periods, communication with various stakeholders that inform the construct of the plans/budgets/forecasts, as well as generating insights about OPEX that influence decision-making and provide some input to the risks and opportunities process.

• Maintains the primary business relationship with the Financial Planning team and/or Finance Director/Finance Leadership at the Operating Unit/Center Function to inform the plan/budget/forecast for the OPEX line in the P&L, and therefore leads OPEX discussions with them.

• Reviews periodic OPEX plans/budgets/forecasts, ensuring completeness, reasonable accuracy, and relevance of information, supporting the Operating Unit/Center Function in effectively monitoring and controlling their respective OPEX results.

• Manages issue escalations coming from the team or from the Operating Units/Center Functions, with the goal of resolving the issues reported within a reasonable timeframe.

• Provides data and process guidance to production teams and the Operating Units/Center Functions as needed to comply with standards, reporting rules, submission requirements, and timelines.

• Tracks service levels and key metrics to ensure effective performance management, and drives actions resulting from them, for the resolution of issues or process/performance improvement. 

Some service level commitments include:

• Timely delivery of operating expense plans/budgets/forecasts and related management reports based on agreed upon due dates as well as set submission deadlines;

• Reasonably accurate operating expense plans/budgets/forecasts and related management reports based upon business direction and input alongside fundamental financial assumptions;

• Forecast accuracy level is maintained within an agreed upon performance measure; and

• Management reports reflect relevant information and contain (but not limited to) business-related insights, trends, historical rates, ratios, comparatives, productivity points, and other details that are necessary to support key business decisions on OPEX.

• Ensures adherence to SOPs (standard operating procedure) and as appropriate, recommends changes to improve the effectiveness of business support processes, enhancing quality, speed, and efficiency of output.

• Enforces guidelines/protocols and ensures compliance with them including data confidentiality where applicable.

• Leads the implementation of necessary controls, as well as system or process changes to address service delivery gaps or issues (both within the company and with the MSP).

• Coordinates as necessary with relevant parties to action solutions delivery.

• In partnership with the MSP, identifies opportunities to globally standardize and simplify processing and reporting activities under the service scope.  Leads discussions with stakeholders where needed to implement prioritized initiatives to realize said opportunities.

Internal and External Communications

• Communicates primarily with senior management internal company stakeholders with regard to OPEX performance and the underlying processes and activities supporting the generation of OPEX plans/budgets/forecasts pertaining to the geographies/groups in scope.  Internal company stakeholders include members of the Corporate Controller’s Group, Center Function and Operating Unit Finance Directors and respective teams, as well as Platform Services-Financial Services leadership.

• Also communicates with various senior leaders/functional leaders as needed to resolve issues pertaining to OPEX financial planning.

• Communicates with and manages an external MSP team responsible for the execution of financial planning activities.

• Communicates with peers in Global Finance and Platform Services teams to facilitate collaboration, alignment, and the optimization of processes and service delivery.

Summary of Innovation and Complexity Required

• Manages the OPEX financial planning activities pertaining to a specific geography/OU/group of OUs/Function/group of Functions.

• Managing the OPEX financial planning activities of the above group requires an understanding of the employee/associate headcount supporting these businesses and markets, the nature and sources of operating expenses across multiple countries and across OPEX lines/accounts, foreign currency implications, risks and opportunities, as well as the financial systems (i.e., SAP GL, Hyperion, HFC, Workday, and the like) and data elements and policies that support financial reporting (i.e., profit center hierarchy, GL accounts structure/hierarchy, currency neutralization, etc.).

• To be effective in the role, this manager must be able to influence and partner with various stakeholders to align expectations, timelines, deliverables, and priorities amidst multiple demands, time pressures, and business changes.

• Requires broad knowledge of finance policies and systems as well as shared services operations and structures.

• Demonstrates strength in solving complex problems, ability to drive actions from multi-variable analyses and insights, good judgment, and decision-making competencies. Exhibits leadership and growth behaviors, is solution-oriented, and promotes an environment conducive to creative thinking, innovation, and rational risk-taking. 

• Promotes standardization and simplification as well as best practice-sharing across constituencies to raise overall organizational effectiveness.

What We’re Looking For:

• At least 7 years of solid related work experience leading business planning, financial planning, or management accounting areas involving influencing, communicating effectively, and managing the business needs of senior leaders across different functions or markets.

• Virtual management across cultures and time zones.

• Experience in a multinational company with a global footprint.

• Strong demonstration of business acumen, financial competency, language fluency, effective communication, systems proficiency, change adaptability, flexibility, being able to operate in ambiguous situations, people management, business partnership and collaboration, and innovation.  

What We’ll Do for You

You will be part of the Finance Hub team where teams are the new heroes and our leaders are expected to be role models, set the agenda and help people bring their best. We are delivering against our global purpose, of refreshing the world and making a difference.

We offer:

• Career growth and development: Leveraging our boundaryless network, we provide access to educational platforms and provide coaching, mentoring and feedback, as a part of our Leadership & Development process.

• Diverse and inclusive culture: You’ll be embraced for who you are and empowered to use your voice to help others find theirs. We want to make our culture inevitable.

• International Experience: Become part of international projects and work along multicultural teams, through our global network.

We want to build together with you the Finance Hub of the future. 

As Platform Services Finance Hub, we do not follow a rigid location strategy, though we have assigned preferable locations for new roles based on business and compliance requirements