Financial Planning and Analysis Manager

Americana Restaurants; Sharjah Emirate; On-site; AED 446,000 - 781,000; Full time

Job summary

Americana Restaurants is seeking a commercially minded and analytically strong Manager to lead the FP&A and Business Partnering agenda for indirect costs and IT spend across all brands and markets.

You will own end-to-end budgeting, forecasting, reporting and cost-control, manage a small team of analysts, and partner with IT, corporate and support functions to drive governance, automation and cost optimization.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of FP&A or commercial finance experience including team leadership.
• Experience in multi-brand/multi-country operations.
• Strong understanding of indirect cost drivers and IT cost management.
• Proficient with Excel, Power BI and planning/consolidation tools (Oracle Hyperion, SAP).
• Experience with automation tooling (Python) and data-driven governance.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management.
• Proven leadership and cross-functional collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Own budgeting, forecasting and long‑range planning for indirect costs and IT spend.
• Drive zero‑based budgeting culture and cost-to-sales targets.
• Prepare monthly/quarterly reports, dashboards and KPI visibility.
• Perform variance analysis and coordinate with key stakeholders.
• Partner with IT, corporate and support functions for governance and optimization.
• Lead IT vendor reconciliations and ensure SOPs for IT invoicing.

Skills

Advanced Excel

Financial modeling

Power BI

Leadership

Tools

Python

Oracle Hyperion

EPM

SAP

Job description

Seeking a commercially minded and analytically strong Manager to lead the FP&A and Business Partnering agenda for Indirect Costs and IT spend across all brands and markets. This role owns the end-to-end budgeting, forecasting, reporting and cost-control cycle for indirect and IT expenditure, leads a small team of analysts, and acts as the key finance partner to the IT/Digital, corporate and support functions. The successful candidate will drive visibility, governance, automation and cost optimization in a fast-paced, multi-brand, cross-border environment.

Responsibilities

FP&A, Planning & Reporting

• Own the budgeting, forecasting and long‑range planning process for indirect costs (utilities, maintenance, operating supplies & smallware, travel, licenses, insurance) and IT spend across all brands and markets.
• Drive a zero‑based budgeting (ZBB) culture across indirect spends and deliver budgeted cost-to-sales targets and absolute spend numbers.
• Prepare and review monthly and quarterly management reports, Board/BRM updates and dashboards highlighting KPIs, risks and opportunities.
• Perform variance analysis (GL scrutiny) versus budget, forecast and prior periods, driving cadence with key stakeholders.

Cost Control, Governance & Compliance

• Control IT and indirect expenses within approved budgets and monitor spend in owned cost accounts with proper periodic accruals.
• Own the contract-coverage and compliance tracker for all indirect spend; document supplier spend and drive visibility on spend.
• Review BPAs, contracts and RFPs to ensure financial and policy compliance in procurement decisions; enforce a "BPM/PO-first" culture and minimize delayed reporting of expenses.
• Support the IT project approval and business‑case governance process, validating financials, ROI and budget alignment.

Business Partnering

• Act as the finance business partner to the IT/Digital, corporate and support functions, enabling cost‑conscious decision‑making.
• Partner with the IT function (Infrastructure, Applications, Cybersecurity, Digital) to understand project requirements and financial implications, and support post‑implementation reviews.
• Collaborate with country and brand finance teams to ensure accurate cost allocations, accruals and consistent reporting.
• Support procurement and vendor negotiations with financial insight, ROI analysis and benchmarking.
• Lead IT vendor reconciliations, resolve legacy outstanding balances and reconcile vendor open items against accrual balances monthly.
• Standardize vendor invoice submission and approval processes and define SOPs for systematic IT invoice processing (CAPEX & OPEX).
• Drive accrual‑versus‑expense reconciliations, including utilities and maintenance accruals against vendor statements of account (SOA).
• Drive automation of recurring reporting and analysis using Power BI, Python and planning tools (e.g., dashboards for maintenance, IT, operating supplies and smallware spend).
• Lead, coach and develop a team of assistant managers, analysts and data analysts, building future finance talent.
• Maintain strong internal controls and ensure compliance with financial policies and procedures.

Qualifications & Experience

• 7+ years of progressive experience in FP&A, finance business partnering or commercial finance, including team leadership – preferably within QSR, FMCG, retail or multi‑country operations.
• Strong understanding of indirect cost drivers, IT cost management and cost‑control methodologies.
• Proven experience working with cross‑functional teams in a matrix, multi‑brand organization.
• Advanced Excel and financial modeling; hands‑on proficiency with Power BI and planning/consolidation tools (e.g., Oracle Hyperion / EPM, SAP).
• Exposure to automation tooling (Python) and a strong "digital obsession" / process‑improvement mindset.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence senior and executive stakeholders.
• Analytical, proactive problem‑solver with strong governance orientation and attention to detail.
• Effective people leadership, collaboration and stakeholder‑management capabilities.