Lead Analyst - FP&A

Principal Financial Group; Pune District; Hybrid; INR 1,200,000 - 2,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Principal Financial Group in Pune, India is seeking a Lead Analyst– Financial Planning & Analysis to partner with FP&A teams and executive management. This role builds and maintains FP&A infrastructure, delivers actionable insights, and supports forecasting, reporting, and variance analysis.

You will redesign processes for efficiency, drive data visualization, and collaborate across departments to support strategic initiatives.

Qualifications

• Minimum 4 years' experience in BFSI or related finance domain.
• Experience in Financial Planning & Analysis, forecasting and reporting.
• Knowledge of Lean/Six Sigma or Operational Excellence is mandatory.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead FP&A, management reporting, forecasting and ad-hoc analyses.
• Collect forecast/actuals data from business units and link to initiatives.
• Validate data from diverse sources for deep analysis.
• Provide metrics, income statement and balance sheet insights; analyze variances.
• Redesign processes/reports to improve efficiency and consistency.
• Develop standardized data submission templates and collaborate across teams.
• Build deep knowledge of financial data structures to support reporting.
• Manage projects and prioritize multiple responsibilities.

Skills

Analytical skills

Problem-solving

Decision-making

Data visualization

Education

Master’s degree / Professional Degree / Certification

Chartered Accountant or MBA Finance

Tools

Advanced Excel

MS Office

Financial & reporting applications

Job description

Responsibilities

Lead Analyst– Financial Planning & Analysis

About Principal: understand who we are

With more than 19,000 employees worldwide, Principal helps people and companies in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and North America build and protect their financial well-being. We have been doing this for 145 years. A FORTUNE 500 company, we are known for our innovative ideas and real-life solutions that help customers make financial progress, no matter their income or portfolio size.

Principal Global Services (PGS) is the global business services (GBS) for Principal Financial group with offices in India and the Philippines. For more information, visit www.principal.com Follow us on Xcorp (previously Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Job Purpose: this section helps you understand the business and provides high level summary of the role

Lead Analyst – Financial Planning & Analysis will be part of PGS Finance - Financial Planning & Analysis Team (Enterprise / Corporate Finance). This role will be a strategic partner in the financial planning, analysis, and reporting processes for Service Center Business Units (SCBUs). This role is responsible for building and maintaining the infrastructure to track, monitor, and report on some of the organizations largest initiatives and delivering actionable insights to leaders and executive management, including the CFO working group. The role will also partner closely with SCBU FPA team and cross BU finance contacts.

Essential deliverables: the section helps understand the job ownership and accountability

• Support FP&A, Management Reporting, Forecasting, Project/Ad-hoc work. Modeling of financial results and ability to link initiatives to the results.
• Execute the collection of forecast and actuals data from various business units to support value analysis.
• Collect, aggregate, and perform initial validation of data from diverse sources, preparing it for deeper analysis.
• Provide analytical support related to performance metrics, income statement and balance sheet activity. Evaluate actuals and forecast and the key drivers of variances.
• Redesign processes and reports to optimize efficiency and align with changing business needs.
• Develop and maintain standardized data submission templates and processes to ensure consistency and efficiency.
• Work collaboratively with other teams across the department and the Enterprise to share best practices and deliver on strategic and financial initiatives.
• Gain deep knowledge of the company’s financial data structure and tools to support reporting needs across specific SCBUs
• Manage projects and workload independently. Ability to prioritize and manage multiple responsibilities simultaneously.
• Presentation & data visualization skills

Leadership at Principal

As a leader at Principal, you are responsible for driving our strategy, meeting evolving customer needs, and creating an inclusive culture. Our Leadership expectations are our guide to the standards expected from all our leaders. Our leaders need to be a positive brand ambassador of our core values and purpose. They need to understand our code of conduct and know the responsibility to comply. They stay respectful of diversity and differences and work towards building inclusive teams and partnerships.

Qualifications

Qualifications-Certifications-Relevant Work Experience

Preferred educational background:

Master’s degree / Professional Degree / Relevant Industry Certification

Preferably Chartered Accountant or MBA Finance

Proven track record of working in complex Finance & Accounting function for medium/large scale operations

Knowledge & experience of transitions and transformation (process, digital, etc) for Finance & Accounting domain

Advance Excel, MS Office, Financial & reporting applications skills and experience

Must have a good knowledge and experience of working in Operational Excellence environment as Project Lead, certification in any of the improvement methodologies like Lean, Six Sigma, etc. is mandatory

Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills. Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and inspire others.

Total years of industry experience: Minimum 4 years' experience (preferably in BFSI Industry, either in GCC / service provider environment)

Reporting Relationships

This role reports to: Senior Manager/Associate Director

Flexibility Option and Base Location

Principal offers modern hybrid working arrangements that allow all employees to adapt to changing work preferences.

Flexibility Option for the role:

Hybrid, 3 days in-office with flexible work hours.

Shift: Comfortable working US hours (6:00PM to 3:00AM IST) only during process transfer period of 4 – 6months initially and subsequently during quarter ends.

Base Location

Pune, India