Senior Manager (Financial Planning, Analysis and Costing)

Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS; Perak; On-site; MYR 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading university in Malaysia seeks a Financial Planning Manager to formulate and lead financial strategies, manage budgeting processes, and provide strategic insights to support growth. The ideal candidate has over 10 years of experience in financial management, strong leadership skills, and advanced proficiency in financial analysis tools. This role offers an opportunity to contribute to the university's financial sustainability and strategic decision-making.

Qualifications

• 10 years of progressive experience in financial planning and budgeting roles.
• Minimum of 3 to 5 years in managerial capacity, preferably in higher education.
• Experience with ERP systems like SAP or Oracle.

Responsibilities

• Formulate and lead financial planning and budgeting processes.
• Develop medium-term and annual budgeting and forecasting.
• Lead analysis to support informed decision-making at senior levels.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Leadership

Financial modeling

Communication

Project management

Education

Recognized Degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics

Professional qualification (e.g. ACCA, CPA)

Master’s Degree

Tools

SAP

Microsoft Excel

Power BI

Job description

JOB PURPOSE

Formulate and lead financial planning, forecasting, budgeting and cost management processes for UTP as well as providing strategic financial insights to support the organization's growth and profitability, including system, control, financial risk, governance and compliance in line with the legislation and statutory requirement, accounting standards.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Strategic Financial Planning

Formulate the development and continuous enhancement of UTP’s long-term strategic financial plan to support institutional sustainability, competitiveness and growth aspirations. This includes formulating multi-year financial frameworks and scenario-based models that align financial resources with strategic objectives and emerging priorities of the university. Drive comprehensive financial analysis to evaluate macroeconomic trends, internal capabilities, sector dynamics, regulatory landscape and potential risks and opportunities. Provide strategic insights to senior leadership on resource allocation, funding strategies, investment priorities and financial implications of major strategic initiatives. Ensure the strategic financial plans integrate academic, research and operational priorities while maintaining financial resilience, enabling evidence-based decision-making and positioning UTP for long-term financial success.

Budgeting and Forecasting

Develop, manage, and monitor UTP’s medium-term and annual budgeting and forecasting processes encompassing Operating Expenditures (OPEX), Capital Expenditures (CAPEX) and consolidated financial plans. Ensure the budgeting framework integrates strategic priorities, operational needs and compliance requirements. Provide leadership in setting financial targets, validating business assumptions and establishing financial guardrails that reflect business realities and risk profiles. Deliver timely, accurate and actionable forecasts based on data-driven modeling, trend analysis and sensitivity testing. Support business units with financial planning tools and guidance to promote ownership and alignment, while ensuring consistency, transparency and compliance with internal policies, accounting standards and statutory requirements.

Financial Performance & Management Analysis, Insights and Reporting

Lead the analysis and interpretation of UTP’s financial and operational performance to support informed decision-making at the leadership and board levels. Develop and implement a performance reporting framework that goes beyond traditional variance analysis to include key value drivers, KPIs, benchmarking and trend diagnostics. Translate financial results into strategic insights, highlighting performance risks, opportunities and areas for optimization. Collaborate with business units to monitor financial health, evaluate the effectiveness of initiatives and recommend corrective actions where necessary. Champion the use of dashboards, scorecards and visualization tools to enhance understanding and communication of financial performance across the institution.

Cost Accounting, Pricing and Cost Recovery

Establish and implement cost management strategies to ensure UTP’s resources are used efficiently and sustainably. Develop cost structures, costing methodologies (e.g., activity-based costing, cost drivers) and allocation models that support transparency, accountability and strategic decision-making. Identify cost optimization opportunities through benchmarking, variance analysis and root cause assessments. Provide guidance on pricing strategies, resource utilization and value-for-money assessments to enhance financial discipline across departments. Ensure that cost management practices are embedded in operational planning and aligned with the university’s financial sustainability agenda.

Financial Risk

Financial Governance

Lead, drive and facilitate the implementation and compliance of effective and robust financial policies, guidelines, frameworks and systems that is aligned to PETRONAS’ policies, procedures and guidelines but adaptable to Company through effective design and development of the work procedure manuals to ensure the practices and operations are in line with PETRONAS’ policies, procedure Limits of Authority and best practices.

Financial Risk

Lead and manage the assessment of the financial risk exposure of Company involving market and liquidity and provide recommendation to the management on the intervention or mitigation plans consistent with the business priorities and policies in order to create economic value for PETRONAS.

Financial Systems and Process Enhancement

Lead and manage the establishment, implementation and management of the SAP and Student Management Systems solution for Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) module which encompasses automation of GRC activities leveraging on best practices and enabling proactive and timely identification and mitigation of system related risk events and compliance violations; allowing company to embed GRC programs into strategy and planning thus reducing the cost and effort of managing GRC while protecting revenue streams and optimizing financial performance.

Business Partnering and Decision Support

Assist in providing advice on financial related matters to business stakeholders (e.g. new business ventures, new subsidiaries, capital structure, funding, operations and divestments) particularly on those areas related to Planning, Budgetary Control, Cost Recovery/Allocation, System, Compliance, Governance and Financial Risk and so on through engagement with relevant stakeholders, understanding the objectives and challenges and propose recommendations in order to safeguard PETRONAS’ interest both financially and operationally and to ensure good corporate governance are in place.

Miscellaneous

To undertake any reasonable task requested of you by Senior Management. The listed responsibilities are subject to change to meet the future business requirements. As such, they are neither exclusive nor exhaustive.

QUALIFICATION & EXPERIENCE

Qualification:

• Recognized Degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics or related field.
• Professional qualification (e.g. ACCA, ICAEW, CAANZ or CPA) and a Master’s Degree would be an added advantage.

Experience:

• 10 years of progressive experience in financial planning, budgeting and analysis roles.
• Minimum of 3 to 5 years in managerial capacity/position, preferably in higher education institution and possess working appreciation of the role and orientation of the top management.
• Experience with ERP systems (e.g., SAP, Oracle, or similar) and advanced financial modeling techniques.
• Knowledgeable in IFRS, IAS, Companies Act, Income Tax Act and other relevant Acts.

Skills and Competencies

• Strong analytical and strategic thinking abilities to review and analyze performance and business issues in broad perspectives.
• Excellent leadership and team management skills: planning, organizing, communicating and implementing (including problem-solving).
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Power BI and financial analysis tools.
• Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate complex financial information to non-finance stakeholders.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Knowledge in the operations of PETRONAS Group and higher education finance structures and regulations is an advantage.

Personal Attributes

• High integrity and professionalism.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Proactive and solutions-oriented mindset.
• Collaborative and able to work effectively with cross-functional teams.