Economic Monitoring and Planning Lead (FP&A)

NAVANTIA UK; Belfast; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading defense company is seeking an Economic Monitoring and Planning Lead in Belfast to provide financial insights and strategic support. This role is crucial for preparing budgets, forecasts, and financial reports, while ensuring data integrity and accuracy. The ideal candidate will have advanced Excel skills, experience in financial analysis, and familiarity with tools like Power BI. This position offers a permanent contract and the opportunity to play a strategic role within the business unit.

Qualifications

• Experience working in a fast-paced, multi-functional environment.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and critical-thinking abilities.

Responsibilities

• Prepare annual budgets, quarterly forecasts, and long-term financial plans.
• Monitor actual performance against budgets and forecasts.
• Develop and maintain financial models to support scenario planning.
• Act as a business partner to provide guidance on projects.

Skills

Advanced Excel skills

Financial analysis

Power BI

Communication skills

Education

Degree in Finance or related field

Tools

SAP FICO

SAP-PS

SAP Analytics Cloud

Job description

Economic Monitoring and Planning Lead (FP&A)

• Full-time
• Location: Belfast (New Build)
• Department: Finance
• Employment Type: Permanent

Navantia UK is a UK incorporated company, subsidiary of Spanish Navantia, created to work with UK industrial partners in shipbuilding, defence and in offshore wind energy. With a history that goes back more than 300 hundred years, Navantia is a world reference in the design, building, integration and life cycle support of state-of-the-art war ships for the Spanish Navy and international customers and has extensive experience in ToT programmes.

Job Purpose

The role is responsible for providing critical insights, budgeting, forecasting, monitoring and analysis to support strategic decision-making. The candidate will play a senior and strategically vital role within the Business Unit (BU).

This position is responsible for designing, governing, and delivering all performance reports and dashboards — both for internal stakeholders and external customers. The post-holder will lead the development and standardisation of budgets and reports ensuring that all data outputs are timely, accurate, and audit-ready.

Key Responsibilities

Economic Analysis, Planning & Forecasting

• Prepare annual budgets, quarterly forecasts, and long-term financial plans in collaboration with business units.
• Monitor actual performance against budgets and forecasts, identifying variances and recommending corrective actions.
• Develop and maintain financial models to support scenario planning and strategic initiatives.
• Prepare insightful management reports, dashboards, and KPI tracking for senior leadership.

Reporting and Analysis

• Ensure reporting is accurate, timely, dynamic, user-friendly, version-controlled, and aligned with KPIs.
• Standardise visuals and interfaces across functions to ensure consistency and ease of navigation.
• Assist with the design, development, and maintain a suite of reports / dashboards (using Power BI and/or SAC)
• Implement reporting QA checks, audit trails, and version control to ensure data integrity and traceability.

Strategic Support & Business Partnering

• Act as a business partner to the Business Management Office, operational and commercial teams, providing guidance on projects.
• Provide ad-hoc analysis to support decision-making by executive management.

Process Improvement & Systems Management

• Enhance processes through automation, improved data integrity, and streamlined reporting.
• Maintain and optimise financial planning tools, ERP systems, and data analytics platforms.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and critical-thinking abilities.
• Advanced Excel skills with a good working knowledge of Power BI
• Knowledge of SAP FICO and SAP-PS and SAP Analytics Cloud, is desirable
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to present complex financial information to non-financial stakeholders.
• Commercial awareness and understanding of key business drivers.
• High attention to detail and accuracy.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Accuracy and timeliness of reports.
• Improvements in process efficiency and reporting accuracy.

Qualifications

• Degree in Finance, or related field.
• Experience working in a fast-paced, multi-functional environment.

Role Summary

This role provides critical financial insight, planning, and performance analysis to support strategic decision-making across the Business Unit. Operating in a senior and strategically vital capacity, the role is responsible for leading budgeting, forecasting, and economic analysis, while monitoring performance against plans and advising on corrective actions.

The post-holder owns the design, governance, and delivery of all performance reporting and dashboards for both internal stakeholders and external customers. They will lead the standardisation of budgets, reports, and visual outputs, ensuring all data is timely, accurate, consistent, and audit-ready. Acting as a trusted business partner, the role supports executive leadership, the Business Management Office, and operational teams through high-quality analysis, scenario modelling, and insight-driven recommendations, while continuously improving systems, processes, and reporting capabilities through automation and best practice.

If you experience difficulties or are unable to apply for a role on-line please contact us at [e-mail] and one of the team will be in contact to help you.