Director, Finance Business Partner - Africa at Mastercard

Job description

Major Accountabilities

Reporting directly to the CFO Middle East & Africa, the Director, Finance Business Partner (DFBP) will be responsible for supporting two Mastercard divisions in Africa: Southern Africa (incl. South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, Mauritius) and Sub-Saharan Africa (incl Nigeria, Kenya). The DFBP will be a member of the MEA Regional Finance Team and the respective management teams of the Southern African & Sub-Saharan African divisions. Key priorities of this position include:

Responsibility for all financial aspects of the Divisions and for partnering with the respective management teams in making key decisions around business strategies, (b) Responsibility for financial planning, budgeting and forecasting, performance metrics, (c) Responsibility for accounting, statutory reporting and internal controls. The DFBP will support, challenge and influence at the business unit leadership level.

As an integral part of the SA & SSA Management Teams, the DFBP is responsible for:

• Business and Strategy
• Act as the primary finance leader for the divisions
• Ensure that Finance is at all times closely integrated with, and positively supports the business, providing managers at all levels with the necessary information to maximize revenue, profitability and efficiency;
• Identify, advise and provide solutions to SA & SSA management regarding business / product financial trends, risks and opportunities, market trends;
• Work with the management team in the development, coordination and implementation of short and medium term strategic and tactical plans for customers and countries and provide the financial input required to that process;
• Coordinate key business development opportunities, challenge Country Heads and review, compare and optimize business deal structure to manage P&L impact
• Provide analysis and financial support of new business lines, potential mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures
• Budget and Forecasting
• Ensure alignment of business objectives to divisional and corporate objectives and achieve financial results;
• Lead planning and budgeting process for the divisions, including development of priorities, establishing revenue targets, development of execution plans and alignment of divisional plans with cross-functional partners;
• Support budgeting and strategic planning sessions and work extensively with the management teams to ensure an accurate forecasting process is implemented;
• Manage the completion of reporting and provision of performance information and variance analysis;
• Manage divisional financial close and forecast, including analysis of key business drivers, revenues and expenses and development and communication of risks and opportunities;
• Financial Control, Accounting & Financial Reporting
• Drive controllership excellence across the divisions;
• Ensure compliance with relevant accounting and operational policies and procedures;
• Lead all accounting for the divisions, including: recording all expenses, timely and accurate close; reconciliations, local currency balance sheet control;
• Ensure integrity and timeliness of all information to be included in financial reporting for the divisions, including statutory and regulatory reporting, Tax & VAT returns, as well as external audits for legal entities
• Work closely with MEA HQ Controllers Group on complex Accounting and Reporting matters;
• Actively support our MEA Tax and Legal departments in building an appropriate legal entity structure in the divisions, and corresponding finance organization

Key Relationships: Division Presidents and Country Heads, MEA Chief Finance Officer, functional leaders in MEA HQ Finance (FP&A, Controller MEA, Tax MEA, Business Development, Business Planning)

Experience And Skills Required

• Relevant qualification in business, accounting and/or Finance with a Master’s Degree preferred;
• Fluent written & spoken English language skills, fluency in French a plus;
• Broad understanding of all the different areas of finance;
• Strong international experience;
• Results oriented and performance driven with a focus on excellence;
• Able to work efficiently under pressure and to deadlines;
• Good understanding of reporting, forecasting and budgeting techniques;
• Strong leadership skills, thought leadership and business acumen
• Strong communication, negotiation and influencing skills;
• Experience leading and motivating a team:
• Develops subordinates’ skills and competencies by planning effective development activities related to current and future job responsibilities
• Fosters the expectation and motivation for learning and performance improvement in others.
• Utilizes appropriate interpersonal styles and methods in guiding individuals towards accomplishments and goals
• Strong personality, tough, adaptable and resilient - able to work with different personalities;
• Hands-on, must have a good eye for detail, but also be able to step back and see the bigger strategic picture;
• Ambitious, highly driven and motivated. An agent of change;
• The maturity to challenge ideas and balance opportunities and threats;
• Understands and articulates the projected direction of the divisions and how changes might impact the divisions;
• Develops a view and establishes a course of action to accomplish long-term goal divisional goals;
• Demonstrated ability to follow sound business ethics when executing job responsibilities to build and maintain management confidence;

Equal Opportunity Employer