Finance & Benefits Manager

Melbourne Water; City of Melbourne; On-site; AUD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Inclusive culture

Diversity & Belonging

Job summary

Melbourne Water is seeking an experienced Finance & Benefits Manager for a 12-month fixed-term role to support the Enterprise Productivity Program. You will partner with senior leaders to provide financial insight, challenge and assurance across the program, translating data into actionable recommendations.

You will oversee financial governance, benefits realisation, and budgeting processes, helping to ensure benefits are realistic, measurable and realised.

Qualifications

• Must have tertiary qualification in Accounting, Finance, Commerce or related discipline, with CPA/CA.
• Significant experience in finance business partnering, commercial finance, management accounting or FP&A.
• Experience engaging with senior/executive stakeholders, providing advice and influencing outcomes.
• Strong ability to interpret financial data and translate findings into insights and recommendations.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic financial advice, insight and constructive challenge across the Enterprise Productivity Program (EPP).
• Assess and provide financial assurance over business cases, baselines, models and assumptions.
• Oversee benefits governance, measurement and reporting for EPP initiatives.
• Embed benefits into budgets, forecasts and TechOne, ensuring alignment with commitments and outcomes.
• Maintain the benefits register and deliver auditable reporting on targets and actuals.
• Coach leaders and partners on benefits realisation and financial governance.
• Prepare executive and Board-level financial reporting and recommendations.

Skills

Analytical skills

Commercial acumen

Stakeholder management

Excel

Power BI

Financial modelling

Education

Accounting/Finance degree

CPA or CA qualification

Tools

TechOne

Excel

Power BI

Job description

In Melbourne, water is essential to our way of life.

As caretakers for Melbourne’s water cycle, we care for water, life and land throughout Melbourne: both its people and its biodiversity.

Each time you drink from the tap, flush a toilet or kayak down the Yarra, we’re there. Primed and ready, quietly delivering some of the world’s cleanest water for over five million residents and wildlife that call Melbourne home, just as we have for over 130 years.

If you value making it count, diving in with curiosity, and doing what’s right, you're in the right place.

Who We Are

In Melbourne, water is essential to our way of life.

As caretakers for Melbourne’s water cycle, we care for water, life and land throughout Melbourne: both its people and its biodiversity.

Each time you drink from the tap, flush a toilet or kayak down the Yarra, we’re there. Primed and ready, quietly delivering some of the world’s cleanest water for over five million residents and wildlife that call Melbourne home, just as we have for over 130 years.

If you value making it count, diving in with curiosity, and doing what’s right, you're in the right place.

About The Role

Reporting to the Senior Manager Business Performance & Analytics, we have a 12-month fixed-term opportunity for an experienced Finance & Benefits Manager to support the Enterprise Productivity Program (EPP).

This is a strategic finance partnering role, working with senior leaders and Finance Business Partners to provide financial insight, challenge and assurance across the program. You will interpret financial and non‑financial data, assess business cases and challenge assumptions to ensure proposed benefits are realistic, measurable and achievable.

You will oversee financial governance and benefits realisation across EPP, helping translate complex data into clear insights and recommendations that support executive decision‑making.

Key Responsibilities

In this role, you will:

• Partner with senior leaders and Finance Business Partners to provide strategic financial advice, insight and constructive challenge across the EPP portfolio.
• Assess and provide financial assurance over business cases and program initiatives, reviewing historical data, benefit baselines, financial modelling, assumptions, risks and overall achievability.
• Establish and oversee consistent standards for the identification, validation, measurement and banking of benefits across EPP initiatives.
• Monitor benefit delivery across the portfolio, identifying material variances, risks and emerging issues and working with stakeholders to determine appropriate actions.
• Partner with Senior Finance Business Partners to embed approved benefits into budgets, forecasts and TechOne, maintaining alignment between financial commitments, planning and reported outcomes.
• Maintain oversight of the EPP benefits register and provide clear, accurate and auditable reporting across targets, forecasts, actuals and budget adjustments.
• Build organisational capability by providing expert advice and coaching to business leaders, initiative owners and Finance Business Partners on benefits realisation and financial governance.

About You

You are an experienced Finance Business Partner or commercial finance professional who can confidently engage with senior and executive-level stakeholders. You combine strong financial capability with commercial judgement and can tell the story behind the numbers, translating complex financial and non‑financial information into meaningful insights.

You will bring:

• A tertiary qualification in Accounting, Finance, Commerce or a related discipline, with CPA or CA qualification.
• Significant experience in finance business partnering, commercial finance, management accounting or financial planning.
• Demonstrated experience working with senior and executive-level stakeholders, providing advice, influencing outcomes and constructively challenging assumptions.
• Strong analytical and commercial capability, with the ability to interpret historical and current financial data and translate findings into meaningful insights and recommendations.
• Experience in benefits realisation, business case evaluation, investment appraisal, budgeting, forecasting and financial modelling.
• Experience supporting transformation, productivity or enterprise‑wide change programs within a complex organisation.
• The ability to bring together financial and non‑financial information, assess business cases and create meaningful comparisons to support decision‑making.
• Experience preparing clear and concise executive and Board‑level reporting and recommendations.
• Strong communication, influencing and coaching skills, combined with sound professional judgement and the ability to operate independently.
• Experience with enterprise financial systems, preferably TechOne, together with strong Excel and Power BI capability.

For more information, please review the attached position description:EPP Finance & Benefits Manager.pdf

Why Join Us

At Melbourne Water, we care about water and all life that springs from it.

Our people are fuelled by passion, and with safety at the forefront, we have an unwavering sense of purpose, and are on a mission to protect every Melburnian’s way of life, one drop at a time.

We walk the talk when it comes to flexible working – but that’s not all. Our culture of purpose, safety, results, and learning permeates everything we do. We're dedicated to doing what's right, and this commitment extends to the meaningful work we do in a supportive and inclusive culture that encourages you to make the most of your talents.

Our long‑standing commitment to Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging means that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, LGBTIQ+ individuals, neurodivergent individuals, people living with disability, mature age and young jobseekers from all cultures can apply with confidence knowing they are safe, affirmed, and celebrated.

If you’re curious, action‑orientated, outcomes‑focused, and care deeply for public resources, community, and the environment, we'd love to receive an application and learn if you could be a great fit.

Closing date: Tuesday 13th October at 11:55pm AEST