Apply Now

Director, Financial Planning & Analysis

Optica is looking for a Director, Financial Planning & Analysis.

The Director, Financial Planning & Analysis, reports to CFO and has a commitment to Optica’s mission, vision and culture. The Director supports the CFO and Finance team’s overall goals, and has the following primary areas of responsibilities:

1. Planning and Forecasting: Manage the development of the annual operating budget and quarterly estimates, and contribute to the development of the multi-year plan and rolling forecasts.     
2. Financial Analysis: Provide management decision support through ad hoc reports, special projects, financial analysis, and ongoing analysis of key performance indicators.
3. Financial Reporting: Review and produce monthly financial reporting packages, and annotate budget vs. actual variances, for the Executive Team and Senior Team. Support to prepare Board meeting materials as assigned. 

Primary Responsibilities

1. Annual Budget and Quarterly Estimates Process:
   1. Partner with Controller and Finance team as well as cross functional stakeholders to manage the development of the Optica-wide annual budget and quarterly estimates, rolling forecasts, and support the Executive Team in creating a multi-year plan. 
   2. Recommend and implement process improvement in the financial planning function; maintain the tools used for planning and reporting. 
2. Management Decision Support: 
   1. Analyze trends in business line revenue, expenses and operations to identify potential issues and opportunities; optimize ROI and pricing models.
   2. Synthesize complex financial information to provide accurate, timely and thoughtful recommendations to management for decision-making purposes.
   3. Review current and past trends of key performance metrics; introduce predictive analysis of revenue, direct costs, overhead expenses and capital expenditures.
3. Financial Reporting:
   1. Review financial statements, capital expenditures, and other performance indicators and prepare monthly management reporting packages with variance analyses and annotations. 
   2. Assist in the preparation and review of materials for Board Finance and Audit committees and Investment committee. 
   3. Create and maintain financial dashboards and other graphical presentation of data for management, verifying data integrity and the story behind the data

Secondary Responsibilities

1. Assist the Finance team, Executive Team, and other senior team members on financial strategy planning and business analysis as needed.
2. Assist the CFO with treasury, investment management, or other tasks as assigned.
3. Contribute to the development and maintenance of appropriate financial policies and procedures. 

Education and Experience

1. Bachelor’s degree in Finance or Accounting; MBA and/or CPA, CMA, CFA or similar professional designations preferred.  Knowledge of accounting is essential for this position.
2. More than 8 years of progressive experience in accounting/financial/operational analysis in a medium to large-size society, non-profit, or public companies.
3. Strong problem-solving and critical thinking skills, with the ability to synthesize large quantities of complex data, exercise sound judgment, generate business insight, and recommend actionable solutions based on accurate and thorough analyses.
4. Strong working knowledge of cost accounting: unit pricing, incremental cost, breakeven analysis, activity-based costing, fixed and variable costs, overhead allocation, labor job costing, labor utilization, etc. 
5. Demonstrated ability to roll-up sleeves and work with team members in a hands-on management capacity.
6. Established track record of building relationships and credibility with C-level staff, department heads, senior managers, and other stakeholders.     
7. Excellent business/financial systems and project management skills. 
8. Strong presentation skills, particularly with executive management and board members, with the ability to communicate, verbally and in writing, complex financial information at the right level, depending on the audience.
9. Ability to understand and appreciate data and details without losing focus on the big picture.
10. Comfortable with ambiguity and able to synthesize disparate data sources to complete analyses. 
11. High level of integrity and dependability with a sense of urgency for completing quality work on time. 

 

Skills and Abilities

1. Advanced Excel skills and strong demonstrated use of PowerPoint and Word required.
2. Recent experience with Microsoft Dynamics SL/Solomon or similar ERP systems preferred.
3. Experience with BI360 product suite (planning, reporting, data warehouse) and Tableau, or similar enterprise data analytic platforms, strongly preferred.
4. Knowledge of data mining tools such as Python, SAS, SQL, Access, or VBA a plus.

About Optica

Located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC, Optica offers a competitive salary and benefits. Please send your resume and cover letter with salary requirements to resumes@optica.org.

Optica is an equal employment opportunity employer and will not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, age, sex, national origin, disability, religion, maritial status, veteran's status, personal appearance, political affiliation, sexual orientation, family responsibilities, matriculation, or any other basis prohibited by law.

Apply Now