DFF - FPA Associate Manager
Tanqeeb
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Job summary
Dubai Future Foundation seeks an FP&A Associate Manager to own financial planning, budgeting, and analytics across the portfolio. You will partner with project teams and corporate services, delivering forecasts, reports, and strategic insights to guide investment decisions.
The role requires 3–5 years in FP&A or related finance fields, with strong Excel, ERP, and BI tool proficiency. A finance qualification and an advanced degree are advantageous.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or related field. An advanced degree such as MBA or MSc in Finance is an advantage.
- 3 to 5 years of FP&A, corporate finance, investment analysis, or related experience. Diverse backgrounds welcome.
- Professional finance qualifications such as CFA, CPA, ACCA, CIMA, or equivalent are advantageous.
Responsibilities
- Act as a trusted FP&A partner translating financial data into actionable insights for leadership.
- Prepare executive-ready financial reports, briefings, and board materials.
- Lead budgeting and annual planning processes across projects and corporate services.
- Develop rolling forecasts, track spend, and perform variance analyses across the portfolio.
- Build and maintain robust financial models for investment analysis and capital allocation.
Skills
Education
Tools
Job description
Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) was established in 2016 to institutionalize future-shaping for Dubai and strengthen the city's position as a leading global city of the future. The Foundation works in partnership with government and private-sector entities to imagine, design and accelerate Dubai's future. Its work spans five strategic areas: future foresight, knowledge dissemination, capacity building, future design and future acceleration. At the heart of DFF's mandate is turning future-focused ideas and opportunities into tangible outcomes. The Foundation embraces risk-taking, agility and foresight as key attributes in navigating emerging opportunities and challenges. DFF is guided by a core belief that leading in the present is not enough; the future must be actively imagined, designed and executed.
Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) aims to realize the wise vision of Dubai's leadership to keep Dubai 10 years ahead, institutionalizing future-oriented thinking and forward-looking methodologies that position Dubai as the leading city of the future.
In collaboration with government entities, global institutions, startups, and innovators, DFF drives collective efforts to imagine, design, and execute the best possible future for humanity.
Under the supervision of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of DFF, the Foundation oversees a portfolio of initiatives that include the Museum of the Future, Area 2071, Dubai Future Accelerators, Dubai Future Labs, Dubai Future Academy, Dubai Future Forum, Dubai Centre for AI, and the Dubai RDI Program.
Through these platforms, DFF institutionalizes foresight, enables innovation, builds talent, and designs the systems and industries that will keep Dubai 10 years ahead in every dimension of its future.
For more information on the initiatives, projects, and programs of Dubai Future Foundation, please visit www.dubaifuture.ae.
This role is the financial backbone of DFF's portfolio. The FP&A Associate Manager owns the financial insights that underpin how DFF plans, spends, and invests.
The role is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the Foundation's accounts, developing and safeguarding the annual budget, and maintaining a forward-looking view of financial performance through rigorous forecasting and analysis.
Embedded across project teams and corporate services, the role translates financial data into actionable insights that enable leadership to allocate resources effectively, fund strategic initiatives, and ensure financial discipline across the portfolio.
The role combines strong financial stewardship with analytical thinking, requiring the ability to manage financial reporting, challenge forecasts, and assess the financial rationale behind major investments.
- Support the maintenance and integrity of DFF's accounts, ensuring financial records are accurate, complete, and reconciled.
- Maintain a reliable and up-to-date view of the Foundation's financial position across entities, initiatives, and cost centres.
- Partner with Accounting and Corporate Services to support month-end and year-end close, reconciliations, and reporting cycles.
- Ensure compliance with internal financial policies, controls, and approval frameworks, proactively identifying and flagging gaps or risks.
- Maintain clean and well-structured financial data and a single source of truth for downstream analysis and reporting.
- Lead the development of DFF's annual budget, working with project teams and Corporate Services to build accurate, bottom-up plans.
- Translate strategic priorities and initiatives into funded and appropriately resourced budget lines.
- Manage the annual planning cycle end-to-end, including templates, timelines, consolidation, review, and sign-off.
- Constructively challenge budget submissions, testing assumptions and ensuring expenditure is justified and aligned with strategic priorities.
- Establish clear budget ownership and accountability across departments, with defined baselines against which performance can be measured.
- Develop and maintain rolling budget forecasts, updating them as actuals, commitments, and business conditions change.
- Track and analyze DFF's expenditure across projects and corporate functions, understanding what is being spent, where, why, and against which budget.
- Conduct variance analysis across budget, actuals, and forecasts, identifying key drivers and recommending corrective actions.
- Work closely with project teams and Corporate Services to understand expenditure at source, anticipate potential overruns, and provide timely financial guidance.
- Build dashboards and financial reports that provide leadership with a clear and current view of financial performance and burn rate.
- Deliver scenario and sensitivity analysis to support informed decision-making under uncertainty.
- Lead financial analysis for new initiatives, partnerships, and program expansions, including business case development, DCF modelling, NPV/IRR, and payback analysis.
- Provide financial oversight and line of sight on DFF's investments and capital allocation decisions.
- Build and maintain robust financial models that quantify the cost, return, and risk associated with strategic choices.
- Support capital allocation and prioritization decisions through rigorous and comparable financial analysis across competing initiatives.
- Monitor the financial performance of funded investments against their original business cases, identifying and escalating underperformance at an early stage.
- Act as a trusted financial partner to project teams, Corporate Services, and leadership, translating financial information into clear and actionable insights.
- Prepare executive-ready financial reports, briefings, and board-level materials.
- Develop and deliver clear, well-structured presentations communicating financial performance, insights, and recommendations to leadership and the Board.
- Advise on cost optimization, operational efficiency, and value-for-money opportunities across the portfolio.
- Strengthen financial literacy and financial discipline across the organization, supporting non-finance teams in effectively planning and managing their budgets.
- Contribute to the continuous improvement of FP&A processes, tools, and financial systems.
DFF offers a dynamic and mission-driven environment that values collaboration, excellence, and measurable impact.
You will work alongside multidisciplinary teams passionate about execution, innovation, and the future of Dubai.
Expect diverse challenges, high-level exposure, and the opportunity to contribute directly to initiatives that support Dubai’s readiness for the future.
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or a related discipline. An advanced degree such as an MBA or MSc in Finance is an advantage.
- 3 to 5 years of experience in FP&A, corporate finance, investment analysis, transaction services, audit, or a related field. Candidates from diverse backgrounds, including corporate, consulting, Big 4, or investment environments are welcome.
- Professional finance qualification such as CFA, CPA, ACCA, CIMA, or equivalent is an advantage.
- Strong financial acumen across the full FP&A spectrum, including budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, and spend management.
- Advanced financial modelling skills, including investment analysis, business case development, DCF, and scenario modelling.
- Solid understanding of accounting principles and strong discipline in maintaining accurate and well-controlled financial records.
- Strong analytical skills, with the ability to translate complex financial data into clear, decision-ready insights.
- Exceptional attention to detail, combined with the ability to understand and communicate the broader financial picture.
- Excellent Excel and PowerPoint skills, with the ability to build robust financial models and develop polished, compelling presentations for senior audiences. Familiarity with ERP and financial systems, BI, and data visualization tools is an advantage.
- Outstanding communication skills, with the ability to explain financial concepts clearly to non-finance audiences and develop executive-ready narratives.
- Strong business partnering mindset, with the ability to work closely with teams, build trust, and influence decisions across functions and seniority levels.
- Comfortable working with ambiguity and able to deliver effectively under tight timelines and with incomplete information.
- Ability to work effectively with AI tools and emerging technologies and contribute to the development of AI-enabled tools and solutions that enhance organizational efficiency.
- High level of integrity and discretion when handling sensitive financial information.
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