Purpose

Responsible for managing the Group’s financial planning in its several components, being it either in-year forecasting, yearly budgeting or medium & long-term financial planning and scenario building, and responsible for building their respective communication materials, incl. presentations to CFO, Shareholders, Board, and external parties. Support in the preparation and review of management reporting materials, in close collaboration with the rest of the Financial Planning & Strategy department (Mgmt. Reporting, Finance Business Partners, and Corporate Strategy) and the rest of the Finance division (namely, Financial Reporting & Control, Treasury, Fleet Planning and the CFO). This role is to report to the SM of Group Financial Planning, together with an existing team member.

Accountabilities

Financial Planning & Analysis

• Assist SM in the process of in-year forecasting, budgeting and long-term planning activities, incl. defining calendar and activities/ owners to meet set deadlines and identifying key assumptions;
• Manage inputs from several internal stakeholders, incl. ensuring comprehensiveness of inputs collected and alignment of assumptions;
• Prepare forecasted Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statements for the entities being forecasted;
• Liaise with Finance Business Partners and the rest of the Financial Planning & Strategy team, with Treasury, Financial Reporting and other finance and business functions to fully understand, and challenge, forecasts prepared;
• Prepare top-down forecasts and what if scenarios, based on deep knowledge of key value/ cost drivers for each of the areas being forecasted;
• Highlight risks and opportunities in business proposals, challenging assumptions, proposing revisions and suggestions alternatives and thus assisting leadership in the evaluation of impact of proposals on business overall;

Capex, fleet ownership and debt forecasting

• Prepare quarterly capex forecasts, in close coordination with Finance Business Partners, Fleet Planning, Treasury and Financial Reporting;
• Prepare fleet ownership forecasts as per IFRS16, together with Fleet Planning, Treasury and Financial Reporting, and suggest opportunities for efficient management of cost and of leverage;
• Prepare debt forecasts, together with Treasury and Financial reporting;

Prepare all related communication materials, being it either to internal stakeholders (Strategy & Investment Committees or Board Meetings, for example) or external stakeholders (e.g., support in the preparation of materials for investors or to support discussion with rating agencies)

Existing tools and processes: improve existing tools and processes for the management of the budgeting and forecasting processes, incl. playing an active role in the development of the new budgeting tool – Anaplan

Ensure internal control and compliance with all Group policies and procedures and assist internal audit for ad-hoc requests on data sharing for owned processes

Requires engaging with stakeholders across several areas and of different tenures, incl. Chiefs, VPs, Heads of Department, and Senior Managers. 

Education & Experience

• Masters or a Bachelors Degree in Business/Finance or equivalent;
• Minimum of 5 years of work experience with at least 2 years in accounting, finance, budgeting and/or forecasting;
• Preferred experience in corporate finance roles; experience with airlines is a plus;
• Proficient in building and managing complex excel models (experience in other tools such as Anaplan is a plus);
• Ability to make recommendations based on data and analysis;
• Ability to apply governance, risk and compliance components, and to maintain confidentiality;
• Ability to build top-down but detailed and visually appealing decks;
• Advanced communication skills – English (verbal and writing); fluency in Arabic is an advantage