Manager, Finance Business Planning & Budgeting

Role Overview

This position sits within the finance function of a commercial bank and is central to turning raw financial data into actionable business direction. Day to day, the role involves building budgets, forecasting performance, reviewing actual results against targets, and translating management information into clear stories for business heads, branches, and frontline teams. The work matters because it directly shapes how the bank allocates resources, prices products, controls costs, and decides which initiatives or channels deserve investment.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the annual planning and budgeting cycle for the bank, including coordination across Corporate, Retail, Distribution, and Treasury segments, and roll forward forecasts throughout the year.
• Run periodic performance reviews with business units, investigating variances, challenging assumptions, and proposing corrective action where actual results deviate from targets.
• Prepare and distribute management information on daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly cycles, covering segments, products, branches, customer relationships, and distribution channels.
• Design and maintain KPIs for frontline roles, including branch managers and relationship managers, ensuring measures align with the bank’s strategic objectives.
• Manage cost allocation and funds transfer pricing processes at a granular level to support profitability reporting, dashboards, scorecards, and product-level analysis.
• Support statutory financial reporting by preparing management accounts, board papers, and group reporting packs, and by assisting with the year-end audit where needed.
• Identify cost efficiency and revenue optimisation opportunities across units and channels, and carry out revenue assurance reviews to safeguard income.
• Oversee project accounting, ensuring initiatives have approved financial documentation, benefits are clearly articulated, and post-implementation reviews are completed.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Fully qualified Certified Public Accountant or Chartered Accountant, or an equivalent professional accounting certification.
• A university degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Studies, or a closely related discipline.
• At least seven years of post-qualification experience within accounting, financial management, or audit, ideally within a financial services environment.
• Strong analytical and numerical skills, with the ability to interpret complex data and explain financial performance clearly to non-finance stakeholders.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including modelling, pivot tables, and complex formulas, plus practical experience using SQL for data extraction and data mining.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with confident presentation skills and the ability to influence senior business leaders.
• A collaborative working style, comfortable engaging with internal teams such as operations, IT, human resources, internal audit, and compliance, as well as external parties like regulators and auditors.