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The Head of FP&A will lead financial strategy, planning, and analysis, leveraging Big Data and AI to drive insights and profitability in the leisure and hospitality industry. They will support key property acquisitions and capital investments, ensuring alignment with strategic goals, while developing a strong, data-focused team. Strategic leadership, financial expertise, and innovation are essential for this role.
Job Responsibilities:
Strategic Financial Planning & Forecasting:
- Lead the annual budgeting process, long-term financial planning, and rolling forecasts.
- Develop financial models utilising big data platforms to support business scenarios and new initiatives.
Property Acquisition Underwriting:
- Lead financial due diligence efforts for potential property acquisitions, and strategic capital investments ensuring accurate assessment of value, risk, and return on investment.
- Partner with property, financial, legal and operational teams to evaluate the financial viability of investments, utilising Big Data and AI-driven predictive models to forecast future cash flows, market trends, and key KPI's.
Big Data & AI Integration in Financial Analysis:
- Utilise Big Data technologies to collect, analyse, and interpret large data sets from multiple sources (e.g., sales, marketing, finance and operations) to provide deeper financial insights.
- Implement AI-driven financial analysis tools to enhance predictive analytics, enabling proactive decision-making and optimising resource allocation.
Data-Driven Performance Metrics & KPIs:
- Define and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) aligned with business objectives, leveraging real-time data dashboards.
- Partner with operational and commercial teams to ensure financial metrics reflect core business drivers such as Customer source and spend analysis, Occupancy, ADR and RevPar penetration, customer retention and utilisation amongst others.
- Continuously optimise performance through insights drawn from AI-powered financial models and scenario analyses.
Cost Management & Profitability Optimization:
- Identify opportunities for cost savings and operational efficiencies using advanced data analytics.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams (e.g., finance, marketing, operations, sales) to analyse and improve cost structures and drive profitable growth.
- Utilise data-driven insights to optimise pricing strategies, demand forecasting, and resource utilisation (e.g., staffing, inventory management).
Technology Leadership & Innovation:
- Champion the adoption of AI, machine learning, and data analytics technologies across the FP&A function working in close collaboration with the senior exec team and IT leadership.
- Lead initiatives that integrate AI-based financial planning systems to automate routine tasks (e.g., reporting, variance analysis), increasing efficiency and accuracy.
Business Partnering:
- Act as a strategic advisor to the C-suite and Senior Exec, providing financial insights and guidance on key business decisions.
- Collaborate with divisional heads, sales, operations, and marketing teams to provide financial guidance on promotions, customer acquisition strategies, and other initiatives.
- Foster a data-driven decision-making culture within the organisation, promoting transparency and accountability.
The successful candidate:
- Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related field (MBA, CFA, or Accounting qualification preferred).
- 10+ years of experience in FP&A, ideally within the leisure, hospitality, or related sectors.
- Expertise in Big Data technologies (e.g., Hadoop, SQL, Python, BigQuery).
- Proven experience in managing financial planning and budgeting processes in large organizations.
- Strong background in real estate investment and financial underwriting for property acquisitions.
- Exceptional communication and presentation skills, able to simplify complex financial concepts for non-financial audiences.
- Strong problem-solving abilities, attention to detail, and the capacity to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.
