Associate Director, Financial Planning Excellence & Governance, 12 month FTC

Jazz Pharmaceuticals; Dublin; On-site; EUR 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Jazz Pharmaceuticals in Ireland (Dublin) seeks an Associate Director to establish a Planning Excellence capability within FP&A Operations. This 12-month fixed-term leadership role focuses on capability building, governance, and operating model implementation to improve consistency, quality and scalability across Global Finance.

You will lead a programme to mature planning governance, forecasting standards, and a sustainable operating model, developing future leaders who can own the function

Qualifications

• Professional accounting qualification and strong finance experience.
• Significant FP&A, governance, forecasting and transformation experience.
• Proven ability to build and mature planning capabilities in global organisations.

Responsibilities

• Establish and mature the Planning Excellence capability within FP&A Operations.
• Design and embed sustainable planning governance, operating rhythms and execution standards.
• Own enterprise planning governance, including in-year budget management and rolling forecast.
• Lead forecasting methodologies, drivers and planning standards across the function.
• Maintain governance over FP&A actuals, accruals and allocations.
• Drive transformation, optimization and automation of planning processes.
• Coach and develop future leaders and build sustainable capability.

Education

Professional accounting qualification (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, CPA or equivalent)

Tools

Oracle

SAP

Oracle EPM

Job description

Brief Description:

The Associate Director, Financial Planning Excellence & Governance role has been created to establish and mature a newly formed Planning Excellence capability within FP&A Operations and develop the leadership capability required to sustain the function long-term.

This is a 12-month fixed-term leadership assignment focused on capability building, planning governance, operating model implementation and leadership development. The successful candidate will establish sustainable planning processes, governance frameworks, forecasting standards and ways of working that improves consistency, quality and scalability across Global Finance. A key objective of the role is to establish a sustainable capability and develop future leaders who can assume long-term ownership of the function.

Essential Functions/Responsibilities

Capability Build & Operating Model Implementation

• Establish and mature the Planning Excellence capability within FP&A Operations.




• Design and embed sustainable planning governance, operating rhythms and execution standards.




• Define clear accountabilities, handoffs and ways of working across FP&A Operations, Corporate FP&A and Finance Business Partnering.




• Build a scalable operating model that supports planning consistency and organisational growth.




• Create and implement a roadmap for capability maturity and continuous improvement.

Enterprise Planning Governance

• Own the enterprise-wide In-Year Budget Management and Rolling Forecast governance framework.




• Establish planning cadence, Working Day structures, freeze management processes and exception governance.




• Ensure planning activities operate in a controlled, consistent and disciplined manner.




• Act as the senior escalation point for planning governance issues and forecasting exceptions.




• Drive compliance with established planning frameworks and enterprise standards.

Forecasting Excellence & Methodology

• Own and continuously improve forecasting methodologies, planning assumptions, drivers and planning standards.




• Drive consistency across planning approaches and forecasting practices.




• Improve forecast quality, predictability and transparency across actuals, forecast and budget cycles.




• Establish best-practice planning disciplines and forecasting governance.




• Lead initiatives that improve planning effectiveness and organisational planning maturity.

Actuals Governance & Control Environment

• Establish and maintain governance over FP&A actuals processes, including accruals and allocations.




• Ensure alignment between actuals, forecast and budget outputs.




• Maintain a strong planning and actuals control environment.




• Support SOX-relevant controls and governance requirements related to planning and reporting integrity.




• Act as an escalation point for planning control issues, audit observations and process risks.

Transformation & Continuous Improvement

• Lead the evolution and maturity of planning capabilities across Global Finance.




• Support Oracle EPM adoption and ongoing planning process optimisation.




• Drive process simplification, standardisation and automation opportunities.




• Partner with FP&A Data & Technology to improve planning tools, data quality and planning processes.




• Identify opportunities to leverage technology and AI to improve planning effectiveness and efficiency.

Leadership & Succession Development

• Lead, coach and develop a team of approximately ten finance professionals, building capability, leadership readiness and succession depth across the function.




• Build leadership capability across the function.




• Identify and develop potential future successors.




• Create development opportunities that broaden planning, governance and leadership capabilities.




• Establish a sustainable capability that can continue successfully beyond the duration of the assignment.




• Contribute as a senior leader within FP&A Operations and support the continued evolution of the Global Finance operating model.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Professional accounting qualification (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, CPA or equivalent) and good relevant Finance experience.




• Significant experience in FP&A, planning governance, forecasting excellence, finance operations or finance transformation.




• Proven experience building, transforming or maturing planning capabilities, Centres of Excellence, finance operations or shared services functions within complex global organisations.




• Experience leading Planning Excellence, Forecasting Excellence, Planning Governance or Finance Transformation initiatives strongly preferred.




• Strong understanding of budgeting, forecasting, planning governance and driver-based planning methodologies.




• Experience implementing planning frameworks, governance standards and operating models.




• Demonstrated leadership experience during periods of organisational change and transformation.




• Proven ability to coach and develop future leaders and build sustainable organisational capability.




• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills.




• Experience working within complex, matrixed global organisations.




• Strong communication skills with the ability to simplify complexity and translate strategy into practical execution.




• Experience driving planning process improvement, automation and operational excellence initiatives.




• Ability to balance governance, control, delivery and continuous improvement objectives.




• Demonstrated knowledge of financial systems including Oracle and SAP.




• Willingness to travel internationally, including to our headquarters in Dublin.

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