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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Financial Planning and Analysis Manager

💰 $90,000 - $160,000

FinanceFP&AManagement

🎯 Role Definition

The Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) Manager leads the planning, forecasting, and analytical processes that inform strategic decision-making across the business. This role owns the monthly and annual financial planning cycles, builds and maintains driver‑based financial models, produces executive-level reporting and insights, and partners closely with Accounting, Sales, Operations and Product teams to translate business performance into actionable financial plans. The FP&A Manager also drives process improvements, system automation, and best practices for financial governance and control.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Financial Analyst with strong forecasting and modeling track record
  • Accounting Manager transitioning to forward-looking finance
  • Finance Business Partner or Commercial Analyst with cross-functional exposure

Advancement To:

  • Director of FP&A
  • Head of Finance / Finance Partner for a business unit
  • VP of Finance / Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in mid-market companies

Lateral Moves:

  • Corporate Strategy / Strategic Planning
  • Business Operations / Revenue Operations (RevOps)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Lead the annual budgeting and quarterly/rolling forecasting processes end-to-end, coordinating inputs from business leaders, consolidating forecasts, and ensuring timely delivery of accurate budgets that align with strategic priorities and investor expectations.
  • Build and maintain robust, driver-based financial models (revenue, cost of goods sold, gross margin, operating expenses, EBITDA and cash flow) to support scenario planning, sensitivity analysis, and long-term strategic planning.
  • Produce and present monthly management reporting and executive dashboards (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, KPIs) that translate complex financial data into clear, actionable insights for the CEO, CFO and business unit leaders.
  • Perform deep-dive variance analysis between actuals, forecast and budget; identify root causes, quantify business impact and recommend corrective actions to improve performance and margin.
  • Own cash flow forecasting and working capital analysis, partnering with Treasury and Operations to optimize liquidity, days sales outstanding (DSO), inventory turns and payables.
  • Partner with Accounting to drive month-end close efficiency, ensure timely and accurate financial consolidation and reconciliations, and maintain adherence to GAAP and internal control requirements.
  • Lead pricing, margin and profitability analyses by product/service, channel and customer segment; provide recommendations to Sales and Product teams to optimize pricing strategies and product mix.
  • Design and implement KPI frameworks and scorecards for the business, defining metrics (CAC, LTV, gross margin, operating leverage) and tracking progress against strategic targets.
  • Drive the creation and maintenance of financial planning systems and tools (Anaplan, Oracle Hyperion, Workday Adaptive, Excel-based models), championing automation to reduce manual processes and improve data integrity.
  • Conduct scenario planning and multi‑variant stress tests to assess the financial impact of market volatility, strategic initiatives, M&A, or operational changes; clearly communicate implications to senior leadership.
  • Support strategic business cases, investment appraisals and capital expenditure (CapEx) proposals with detailed financial modeling, ROI analysis and sensitivity analysis.
  • Act as a trusted business partner to Sales, Marketing, Product and Operations teams — translating business initiatives into financial forecasts, KPIs and investment plans that drive growth and profitability.
  • Prepare board materials and quarterly investor-ready financial narratives, including highlights, risks, mitigants and forward-looking guidance in collaboration with Corporate Communications and Legal.
  • Standardize reporting processes and documentation, establish model governance, naming conventions and version control to ensure reproducibility, auditability and transparency.
  • Lead and coordinate cross-functional forecasting workshops and monthly performance reviews to align business leaders and drive accountability for financial targets.
  • Evaluate and implement process improvements and financial automation (ETL, data pipelines, reporting cadence) in partnership with Finance Systems and IT to scale FP&A capabilities.
  • Manage departmental financial controls and compliance activities, supporting internal and external audits and ensuring SOX/ICFR requirements are met where applicable.
  • Mentor, hire and develop a high-performing FP&A team — set priorities, provide coaching, build technical capabilities (modeling, analytics, visualization) and ensure career development pathways.
  • Support M&A activities including target screening, financial due diligence, synergy quantification, integration planning and post-merger performance tracking.
  • Drive cost optimization and operational efficiency initiatives, leading zero-based budgeting or cost-to-serve analyses to identify sustainable savings opportunities.
  • Coordinate compensation planning and incentive program modeling (sales compensation, bonus pools) to ensure alignment between pay plans and business objectives.
  • Maintain and continuously enhance management reporting automation (Power BI, Tableau, Looker), ensuring real-time access to KPIs, self-service dashboards and drill-down capabilities for business teams.
  • Provide timely ad-hoc and scenario-based analysis requested by senior leadership for strategic decisions such as market expansion, product launches or restructurings.
  • Ensure accuracy of financial forecasts used for external reporting and investor expectations, reconciling any material differences and documenting assumptions thoroughly.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc strategic analytics requests including market sizing, competitor benchmarking and unit economics analysis to inform go-to-market and investment decisions.
  • Collaborate with Finance Systems and Data teams to translate business reporting needs into technical requirements and to prioritize FP&A automation initiatives.
  • Contribute to continuous improvement of the finance organization by authoring playbooks, model templates and best-practice guidelines for financial analysis and reporting.
  • Participate in cross-functional strategic initiatives and project teams to represent finance interests, quantify impacts and ensure measurable outcomes.
  • Serve as a liaison to external advisors (auditors, tax consultants, valuation specialists) providing financial context and supporting documentation as needed.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Advanced financial modeling and complex Excel skills (pivot tables, nested formulas, macros, scenario manager) — mastery in building scalable, auditable models.
  • Proven experience with FP&A and planning tools such as Anaplan, Oracle Hyperion, Workday Adaptive Planning, or similar enterprise planning systems.
  • Strong knowledge of accounting principles (GAAP / IFRS) and working experience with general ledger and consolidation processes.
  • Expertise in budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, rolling forecasts and driver-based planning methodologies.
  • Proficiency with business intelligence and visualization tools (Power BI, Tableau, Looker) to create executive dashboards and interactive reports.
  • SQL skills for querying transactional and operational data to support analysis and model inputs.
  • Experience integrating data from ERP systems (NetSuite, Oracle, SAP) and familiarity with ETL concepts and data pipelines.
  • Cash flow modeling, working capital optimization and CapEx planning experience.
  • Scenario analysis, sensitivity testing and stress-testing techniques for strategic decision support.
  • Experience supporting M&A, commercial diligence, financial due diligence and integration financial tracking.
  • Familiarity with SaaS metrics (ARR, MRR, churn, CAC, LTV) and revenue recognition nuances where applicable.
  • Strong documentation, model governance and version control practices to support audits and reproducibility.

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional business partnering and stakeholder management: ability to influence leaders across Sales, Marketing, Product and Operations.
  • Clear, concise communicator with strong presentation skills and experience presenting to executive teams and boards.
  • Strategic thinker with high business acumen and the ability to translate strategy into measurable financial targets.
  • Analytical mindset and strong problem-solving skills with attention to detail and accuracy.
  • Leadership and team development capability — able to recruit, coach and retain FP&A talent.
  • Able to manage multiple priorities under tight deadlines and deliver high-quality outputs.
  • Collaborative, pragmatic and results-oriented with a bias for action and continuous improvement.
  • High ethical standards and sound judgment in handling confidential financial information.
  • Change agent mindset — comfortable driving process change and leading system implementations.
  • Curious and data-driven, with a passion for using analytics to drive business outcomes.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or a related quantitative field.

Preferred Education:

  • MBA, Master’s in Finance, or professional certification such as CPA, CFA, or CFM.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Finance
  • Accounting
  • Economics
  • Business Administration
  • Data Analytics / Applied Mathematics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 5–10+ years of progressive FP&A, corporate finance or financial analysis experience with demonstrated ownership of forecasting, budgeting and financial reporting.

Preferred:

  • 7–12 years of experience with at least 2–4 years in a managerial role leading FP&A analysts or a small team.
  • Experience in scaling finance functions in high-growth environments (SaaS, technology, consumer products, manufacturing, or healthcare).
  • Hands-on experience with enterprise planning systems (Anaplan, Hyperion, Adaptive) and BI tools (Power BI, Tableau).
  • Track record of partnering with senior leaders to influence strategy, deliver cost savings, and improve profitability.
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