Senior Director, Head of Finance at Visa

Job Description
Working in a matrixed organization, reporting directly to CEMEA Chief Financial Officer, and SSA Group Country Manager. The role is responsible for creating and maintaining a high standard of financial discipline, business decision support, and accountability within the geography. The role will oversee all financials aspect of the business from Financial Planning and Analysis to management reporting, consolidation, and longer term strategic planning of SSA. The role is also expected to constantly enhance processes and procedures and challenge business owners to continuously drive efficiency, and cost savings. In this role. He/She is required to continuously balance risk mitigation with operational efficiency and support strategy formulation, and execution. The role will serve as a member of the leadership team for SSA and for CEMEA Finance leadership team and be their focal point for finance-related matters.
This role is a key advisor and thought partner to the Group Country Manager to facilitate delivery of the short-term financial targets as well as long-term growth targets.

Keys Area Of Responsibility

• Lead the business planning, budgeting and forecasting processes for Revenues, Client Incentives and Operating Expenses for the function
• Coordinate inputs from the various, regional, global, sub regions and functions for both Revenues and costs, plus lead the review and challenge process
• Own and orchestrate the functions ‘Annual Budget Plan as well as the long term strategic plan
• Focus on proactively communicating business implications observed from analysis, monitoring recent business trends to ensure forecast accuracy and clarity of calculations
• Produce final materials for executive management review and approval with best clarity, accuracy, and timeliness of analysis
• Provide leadership in the areas of revenue management and decision support analytics
• Directly engage with various functions heads across the company to develop domain expertise regarding the drivers of our revenue, relevant market trends and risks
• Drive with head of functions and BPO the Project management and scorecard planning, tracking and reporting
• Partner closely with CEMEA head of Pricing and Interchange providing analysis & recommendations on pricing proposals that support revenue improvement across the business
• Ability to simplify complex issues and structure analysis to answer business questions and communicate business implications from financial analysis at all levels
• Lead team of analysts in reporting and understanding periodical financial results and highlight risk and opportunities and provide risk mitigation plans as well as ways to capture the opportunities
• Manage the Opex Budget and Headcount of the function
• Independently coordinate and execute revenue variance analysis and outline contributing factors. Perform monthly close variance analysis with emphasis on communicating business implications
• Produce communication materials related to business and revenue performance for CEMEA management
• Ensure data integrity and consistency of information as well as organized documentation of results and data sources used
• Support the Budget Target setting, Communication and explanation of targets setting process to Sub-Regions / Entities
• Secure timely communication of guidelines governing the above to the field (cascade, explain, clarify)
• Handle all ad-hoc request in a timely and accurate manner
• Outstanding analytical and quantitative skills; can-do attitude to resolve tough business problems with well-structured analyses
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills and ability to clearly communicate results with senior level executives and able to influence decision making
• Able to work cross functionally, geographically and with virtual teams while promoting a culture of openness, trust and flexibility
• Must be proactive, high-energy, motivated team player capable of delivering on multiple initiatives on tight timelines
• Proactive and enjoy a fast-paced and dynamic environment
• Critical Success Factors In The Role
• Solve unique and complex business issues by always being on top and understanding the impact of changes in the political, macro economical, regulatory and competitive landscape
• Ability to develop targets that are smart and challenging and provide enough assurance on how to deliver on
• People management and ability to influence cross functionally and higher management
• Operate with limited guidance in a complex environment and as much as possible independently
• At times, Deliver on short notice ad-hoc requests
• Leadership skills:
• The candidate must have advanced people management skills and a proven authentic leader who is able to:
• Work cohesively with Function Heads to drive the Finance CEMEA strategy forward
• Provide guidance to all business partners on matters of AOP, Budgets, tracking, reporting and analytics
• Engage team members in Finance to develop analytics and deliver information in a format that adds value to the business.

Qualifications
Required Experience

• Mastery in Finance, financial reporting & analysis, revenue, forecasting, financial modelling
• Electronic Payments industry experience; knowledge of Visa business and revenue streams is preferred
• At least 10 years of work experience
• Previous consultancy experience is highly appreciated
• Project Management skills
• Ability to influence peers and other teams to drive outcome
• Postgraduate degree from a top-tier school, preferably Finance and Accounting, MBA preferred
• User knowledge of TM1 and Hyperion desired
• Practical knowledge of US GAAP and IFRS
• Local / CEMA region language skills (Arabic, French and Russian) is an advantage

Additional Information
Job Number: REF23906X