Job Description

Contract type: Full Time - Permanent
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Hybrid)
Act as a trusted business partner and commercial finance lead dedicated to adding value to Exco stakeholders and their teams, ensuring standardisation of business case preparation and evaluation, deep insight and analysis, decision support and representing the interests of commercial finance on organisation-wide projects and change initiatives.
ABOUT THE ROLE
Business Partnering and Relationship Management

• Be proactive in producing forward looking insight and analysis and ensure a joined-up approach to Business Partnering by taking a holistic view across the business.
• Identify key areas of opportunities and risks across the business, communicating these to the business areas and devising actions plans to support and follow these plans through
• Use data and improve use of Power BI as golden source to support better insight for analysis
• Ensure the delivery and quality of analysis, reports, benchmarking, KPI identification and measurement, and historical trends to the business to enable proactive decision making.
• Representing the interests and requirements of commercial finance in organisation-wide projects, change initiatives, core process and systems evaluation and implementation.
• Ensure awareness of and incorporate industry benchmarking, competitor analysis, market trends, macro factors impacting business performance.
• Champion a growth and cost efficiency mindset across wider business as two key principles to move the business forward
• Co-ordinate with Business Partner team and wider Finance colleagues to ensure a standardised approach to preparation and evaluation of business cases, that provide financial evaluation and assess financial implications, across the portfolio and establish a mechanism of internal cross-portfolio benchmarking.
• Oversight (and ownership, where appropriate) of capital investment business case preparation and evaluation, ensuring a standardised model across the organisation.
• Establish a mechanism for post-implementation project evaluation.
• Challenge the business on commercial decisions including, but not limited to: Gate Meetings, Forecasting Cycles, Commercial Committees
• Have and maintain clear working files / directory across the team which are clean and easy to use (e.g.: for business cases / scenarios)
• Foster and drive improved team capability, financial models, and processes to deliver enhanced and standardised commercial analysis across the business.
• Provide commercial expertise in the preparation (and delivery) of reporting and operational presentations to Study Group Senior Leadership Team and Executive Committee.
• Continuous improvement - identify and feed in improvements to the planning process in striving towards best practise.
• Working closely with FP&A team to ensure clear lines of accountability working in collaborative approach - ensuring the "buddy" system is well understood and implemented
• Lead efforts to strengthen financial controls over student acquisition costs, including discounts, commissions, and related expense drivers
• Collaborate with HR and other key partners to align on data and insights, strategies and expectations, working closely to solve problems and ensure compliance.
• Ensure CFO and Associate Director of Finance Business Partnering are kept up to date through maintaining the project activity planner and tracker
• Taking ownership of the monthly P&L results analysis to highlight improvement areas and to manage the vehicles which non finance stakeholders are engaged on their performance (monthly meetings etc)

Leadership

• Deputising for Head of FBP and Associate Director of Finance Business Partnering where appropriate, involving providing project-based Finance support to members of the Executive Committee and other key stakeholders.
• Line management and development of direct report/s
• Leadership and development across the wider Commercial Finance team through providing thought leadership, coordination and mentoring.
• Demonstrate influence and authority through the co-ordination of team wide activities where required to deliver successful outcomes consistently and efficiently.

• Acting as a champion for process improvement and helping to set the bar high for driving value into the business

ABOUT YOU

• Be a qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent such as ISCA, CPA) with minimum 5+ years of PQE.

Essential

• An experienced Finance Business Partner, with a commercial outlook, who has worked with senior stakeholders in a complex, preferably global, matrix organisation.
• Record of accomplishment of collating and analysing both financial and non-financial data and sharing resulting information and insight to support business decision making.
• Strong proven leadership skills, whether through formal management, deputising responsibilities, or informal mentoring

Desirable

• Experience of working with analytical tools such as Adaptive, PowerBI
• Previous experience of working in a business model which has business facing roles supported by Finance Centres of Excellence/Shared Services teams.
• Project based work experience would be beneficial

ABOUT US
Study Group is a leading international education provider that is dedicated and passionate about helping students around the world, creating a brighter future and reaching their full potential. With university partnerships and a variety of face-to-face, online, and hybrid study programmes, we can provide students with the resources and guidance they need to succeed. Our global network of offices and university partnerships ensure that students receive the best educational services available. Additionally, our Insendi platform enables us to deliver innovative, accessible, and intuitive digital learning experiences with the most advanced digital tools available.
ORGANISATIONAL COMPLIANCE
Study Group is proud of its high standards in safeguarding and recognises its importance in enabling the best possible student experience and outcomes. For successful applicants the following checks will be conducted- Criminal Background Check (country specific), x2 References, ID and Right to Work checks as well as Education Verification.
We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and we strive to create a diverse and inclusive workplace. We are committed to providing equal opportunities for all individuals, regardless of race, gender, religion, nationality, or any other factor. We believe that the best person for the job should be selected based on skills and experience alone. Your information will be kept confidential and stored securely. Please see our
We adopt a rolling recruitment process meaning that we review applications as they are submitted. To avoid disappointment, please ensure that you apply ASAP.
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