Finance Business Partner

• supporting the budgeting and forecasting process,
• driving the direct cost management for all functions,
• supporting the monthly performance reviews, thereby creating in-depth analyses of the performance vs. budget, forecasts, and prior periods, and providing insightful commentaries,
• supporting commercial decision making by identifying opportunities as well as recognizing and escalating undesired developments and potential risks & issues and proposing corrective actions,
• providing finance support to M&A and other projects, programmes or activities as required.

• Drive the direct cost management for the market (headcount / labour costs, supply chain costs, marketing budget, paid advertising, supplier funding, other overheads), thereby constantly track performance and create in-depth analyses.
• Support the budgeting and forecasting process including building assumptions and reasoning, liaising with other functions, guaranteeing alignment, consolidation of the forecast, and final load into the respective reporting tools.
• Support monthly performance reviews for the market. Thereby, provide insightful commentaries, including root cause and risk analyses. Regularly track performance and create in-depth analyses as required to monitor performance vs. budget, forecasts, and prior periods.
• Identify opportunities for P&L optimization/ growth and assist other teams to drive them further, in line with strategy.
• Provide finance support in the preparation of business cases and investment proposals as required.
• Develop further the local finance reporting for the Italy market, thereby setup and maintain high level reporting standards and ensure corrective actions are taken in case of data quality issues or identified errors.
• Prepare ad-hoc reports and analyses for different stakeholders in the organisation as required.
• Support the monthly closing process through sense-checking of outcomes and updating accruals.
• Support the finance team in meeting Group reporting submission deadlines.

• Support the market teams' decision-making process by providing financial insights and support.
• Support the market teams on their way towards a data-driven decision-making process.
• Develop and maintain effective relationships with relevant functional team colleagues as well as the Market's management and wider teams.
• Find new and innovative ways to present data to ensure that the business fully understands the trends, issues, and opportunities.
• Recognise and escalate potential risks and issues in a timely manner.

• Provide Finance support to other projects, programmes or activities as required.
• Work with the wider Finance team to develop and use common approaches and practices.
• Link with the wider EMEA Finance team to collaborate in specific projects and/ or sharing of best practices.

• Establish a continuous improvement mindset through constantly questioning the status quo. Proactively address potential areas for improvements.
• Be an effective team member within the finance team.
• Manage own development proactively and demonstrate role model behaviour.

• At least 5 years' work experience in FP&A/ Controlling/ Finance
• University degree in Business Administration / Economics / Finance or related disciplines; alternatively professional accountancy qualification.
• Solid finance understanding (specifically in financial business support) and overall business experience in commercial environments.
• Solid knowledge of accounting (local GAAP, IFRS) and financial statements (B/S, P/L, Cash Flow).
• Working experience with Finance IT systems including the usage of Excel and the familiarity with SAP and Data Warehouses.

• Analysis, forecasting and reporting skills, with the ability to translate financial data into actionable insights and recommendations.
• Ability to analyse data and situations quickly from different perspectives, identify issues/opportunities and propose solutions/alternatives.
• Ability to connect the dots between financial data and its non-financial root causes.
• Practical skills in relevant IT / Data Warehouse systems and MS Office products (especially Excel).
• Proactive and collaborative individual with a “can do” attitude and open mind.
• Ability to work in an agile environment at pace and being comfortable with complexity and ambiguity.
• Effective and good communication at different levels of the organization.
• Very good knowledge of spoken and written English;
• Commitment to upholding the highest standards of integrity, professionalism, and ethical conduct in all aspects of the role.

• Financial modelling skills.
• Experience with OneStream, Power BI, SAP and/or Business Objectives.
• Experience in working cross-functionally.
• Prior experience in B2B services.
• Background in an international organisation, able to demonstrate cultural awareness and appreciation

RS Group plc