Director, Business Planning & Financial Analysis

Advance Local; Hilton Head Island (SC); Remote; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Advance Local seeks a Director of Business Planning & Financial Analysis to serve as the Automotive lead analyst and strategist. This remote-based role partners with Sales, Operations, Product, and Finance to improve forecasting, decision-making, and profitable growth.

You will translate data into actionable insights on contracts, OEM programs, product mix, and cost drivers, and develop forward-looking forecasts and scenario analyses to strengthen planning.

Qualifications

• Seven+ years of experience in revenue or sales operations, commercial strategy, business operations, strategic planning, analytics or related; automotive experience preferred.
• Experience advising executive leaders through strategic analysis, scenario modeling, forecasts and performance reporting.
• Strong understanding of revenue drivers, COGS, gross margin, customer and contract economics and performance metrics.

Responsibilities

• Lead as Automotive's primary commercial analyst and strategist, guiding profitable growth and operating performance.
• Build business cases, investment evaluations, scenario modeling, and long-range planning.
• Develop revenue operations dashboards tracking pacing, pipeline, customer activity, KPIs, and product performance.

Skills

Advanced Excel

AI proficiency

BI / data visualization tools

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business / Economics / Analytics / Finance / Management

Advanced degree preferred (MBA or related)

Tools

BI tooling

Job description

Strengthening and empowering all of the communities we serve.

Director, Business Planning & Financial Analysis

Remote-based position

The Role

We are seeking a Director, Business Planning & Financial Analysis to serve as Automotive's lead analyst and strategist. This highly visible senior individual contributor will partner across Sales, Operations, Product, and Finance to improve decision-making, forecasting, execution, and profitable growth. The role owns sales and revenue performance analytics, commercial forecasting inputs, customer and OEM economics, business intelligence, operating metrics, and strategic planning support.

You will translate data into actionable insights and assess how contracts, OEM programs, product mix, delivery models, third-party costs, and operational decisions affect revenue, COGS, margin, and profitability. You will also develop forward-looking forecasts and scenario analyses to strengthen commercial decisions and business planning.

What You’ll Do

• Serve as Automotive's lead commercial analyst and strategist, providing analysis and recommendations that support profitable growth, operating performance, and strategic decisions.
• Lead business cases, investment evaluations, scenario modeling, market and customer opportunity analysis, resource-allocation decisions, and long-range planning.
• Develop revenue operations reporting and dashboards that track pacing, pipeline, customer activity, product performance, KPIs, and other operating metrics.
• Develop commercial forecast inputs with Automotive leaders and partner with Finance, which owns the budget and forecast processes, to improve forecast quality and explain business drivers.
• Assess and forecast COGS by customer, OEM program, product and segment, including third-party, fulfillment, delivery, vendor and other variable cost drivers; identify trends, risks, and margin pressure.
• Evaluate the revenue, COGS, gross margin, scalability, and risk of contracts, OEM arrangements, pricing proposals, products, and other commercial initiatives before commitments are made.
• Analyze actual versus expected revenue, COGS, margin, customer and product profitability, concentration, retention economics and downside risk; recommend actions to improve results.
• Partner with Sales leadership on quotas, territories, coverage, capacity, seller productivity attainment, performance benchmarks and sales compensation design and evaluation.
• Identify process, data-quality and reporting improvements; define requirements and partner with Operations, Product, Technology and Finance on implementation.
• Align Automotive leadership and cross-functional partners around shared assumptions, accountability and executive-ready recommendations explaining results, outlook and proposed actions.

What You Bring

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Economics, Analytics, Finance, Management or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• At least seven years of progressive experience in revenue or sales operations, commercial strategy, business operations, strategic planning, consulting, analytics or a related discipline; automotive experience strongly preferred.
• Experience advising executive leaders through strategic analysis, scenario modeling, business cases, forecasts and performance reporting.
• Strong understanding of revenue drivers, COGS, gross margin, customer and contract economics, product profitability, and commercial performance metrics.
• Experience forecasting variable and third-party delivery costs and translating operational assumptions into margin outcomes.
• Experience with sales compensation, quota setting, territory modeling, capacity planning or sales performance analysis.
• Ability to communicate complex analysis as clear, practical recommendations and influence cross-functional outcomes without direct authority.
• Excellent communication, presentation, organization and relationship-management skills.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel and AI proficiency, with experience using business intelligence and data visualization tools; automotive advertising, digital media, SaaS, OEM program, or related industry experience preferred.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

This role operates in a general office environment and may be performed remotely. Business hours align to East Coast management. It requires extensive computer use and analytical work. Occasional travel may be required.