Director, Client Finance - London

Director, Client Finance - London

Publicis Sapient is a digital transformation partner helping established organisations get to their future, digitally-enabled state, both in the way they work and the way they serve their customers. We help unlock value through a start-up mindset and modern methods, fusing strategy, consulting and customer experience with agile engineering and problem-solving creativity. United by our core values and our purpose of helping people thrive in the brave pursuit of next, our 20,000+ people in 50+ offices around the world combine experience across technology, data sciences, consulting and customer obsession to accelerate our clients’ businesses through designing the products and services their customers truly value.

As a member of the global Finance team, you will provide expert & collaborative financial partnership to our business leaders through accurate reporting, reliable analysis and actionable insight to support decision making for sustainable and profitable growth.

You will play a pivotal role in shaping strategy and driving key initiatives within the Client Finance team. In this capacity, you will partner closely with business teams and industry leader to manage the financial operations of your industry client portfolio. This will involve working collaboratively with Market and Country leaders, Capability heads, and other executives. Additionally, you will engage with Market Finance Leads and regional finance teams across Financial Planning & Reporting and Controllership to ensure alignment and operational excellence. The Director reports to the VP, Client Finance for their respective Industry and will work in a matrix environment. You will lead a diverse team of Client Finance professionals based in multiple geographies with responsibilities across commercial finance and business operations and will be responsible for their growth and development.

The individual is expected to demonstrate strong leadership presence, clearly communicate team and departmental goals, translate strategy into actionable plans, and contribut

Your Impact

Commercial Management – Support senior level decision making to achieve short and long term commercial objectives.

• Partner with and Support (with Industry Leads/business teams) to deliver on annual growth and contribution margin targets for the industry client portfolio
• Work with commercial teams to evaluate business development opportunities in the context of strategic fit, commercial attractiveness and market risk
• Support the preparation of pricing proposals and deal structure, supported by the Commercial Success Team as needed
• Support commercial leadership and legal counsel in reviewing and negotiating contract terms to align with company standards, including identifying and escalating potential risks from proposed deviations
• Contribute to enhancing financial competence across the business team by sharing expertise and supporting learning & development initiatives

Financial Planning & Analysis – Anticipate opportunities/risks and initiate actions to achieve financial objectives.

• Support Business Teams in the preparation of their annual strategic plans
• Prepare revenue scenarios and contribution margin expectations in support of annual planning cycle (Commitment and Target), taking into account business initiatives, investments, analysis of prior period trends and company financial objectives
• Lead and manage the preparation of rolling forecasts for revenue and contribution margin by providing analysis on changes from prior expectations and insights into assumptions impacting future projections, to inform decision-making and capacity planning
• Collaborate with Controllership and Revenue teams to ensure accurate and timely revenue recognition during monthly and quarterly close cycles. Provide guidance on new and complex transactions by aligning on accounting treatment and operational implementation, ensuring compliance with policy and close deadlines
• Support weekly revenue guidance process, evaluating key indicators (i.e. pipeline, sales expectations and delivery risks) to provide ongoing visibility to executive leadership and recommendations on appropriate updates to be provided
• Leverage key financial indicators to bring strategic, commercial and operational insights to business leads to lead discussions and drive change needed to achieve objectives

Business Operations – Work with delivery and business teams to maximise profitability and optimise operational performance for the industry portfolio.

• Leverage quarterly results and profit modeling to maintain a forward-looking view of full-year profitability across clients, regions, and industries. Analyze key drivers of performance and identify actionable opportunities to enhance industry-level profitability. Collaborate with senior leadership to develop and support execution of plans that address risks and drive margin improvement
• Manage the team responsible for minimising the “quote to cash” time table (i.e. billing, collections) to optimise trade working capital and limit long standing overdue balances and accrued revenue
• Intervene in concert with business leaders and Market Finance Leads to address and resolve client related issues
• Optimise ways of working and operating procedures in support of client commercial management

Other

• Lead and actively contribute to initiatives that strengthen collaboration, inclusion, and knowledge-sharing within the Client Finance Team and the broader local Finance Community, fostering a connected and high-performing culture
• Create and foster an environment of learning, growth and excellence by promoting learning and development initiatives and knowledge sharing
• Assist with any Groupe requirements including and not limited to audits, compliance, partnering with other Publicis Groupe Agencies

Skills & Experience

• 8+ years’ experience managing a team in finance and operations
• Speak fluent English
• Strong Excel competency
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Experience influencing decision making in a matrixed organisational structure
• Highly organised and able to work according to fixed calendar cycles at a global scale (multinational across multiple time zones)
• Education:
• Bachelor’s degree, MBA or accounting qualification preferred

Additional Information

Set Yourself Apart With

• Experience working closely with senior leaders and contributing to presentations for executive-level stakeholders
• Strong presentation/PowerPoint and PowerBI competency
• Experience in Technology Consulting or other service sector
• Experience working at one of the top global marketing & communications networks