Finance Business Partner - Senior Manager

As a Finance Business Partner - Senior Manager at Substance, you'll partner with C-level executives to shape the financial strategy that drives commercial success. You'll lead financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting while developing financial models that provide valuable insights into operational efficiencies and profitability. Your role will also involve influencing senior stakeholders and navigating complexities to identify risks and opportunities, ensuring that financial insights align with the overall business strategy.

Candidates for the Finance Business Partner - Senior Manager role at Substance should have a minimum of 10 years of experience in finance, with expertise in finance business partnering, FP&A, or commercial finance. Proven ability to engage and influence demanding senior stakeholders, particularly C-suite executives, is essential. Strong analytical skills, a solutions-driven mindset, and a background in fast-paced, high-growth environments are also critical for success in this role.

The Finance Business Partner - Senior Manager plays a pivotal role in strategic decision-making at Substance by serving as the trusted advisor to senior leadership. By providing data-backed insights and challenging the status quo, you'll contribute to shaping business strategies that align with our goals. Your ability to develop robust financial models and improve operational efficiencies will directly impact the company’s profitability and overall success.

At Substance, the work environment is dynamic and fast-paced, ideal for individuals who thrive in high-impact situations. As a Finance Business Partner - Senior Manager, you'll collaborate closely with various teams and senior stakeholders, offering you the opportunity to engage with top-tier leadership while driving meaningful change within the organization.

Success in the Finance Business Partner - Senior Manager position at Substance requires a hands-on, solutions-driven mindset and exceptional stakeholder management skills. You should know when to challenge and when to collaborate, demonstrating strong analytical and problem-solving abilities. Your capacity to connect with senior stakeholders and influence decision-making will be crucial as you work to improve financial strategies and operational performance.

Your answer should highlight specific experiences where you've partnered with different business units, detailing how you translated financial data into strategic insights that drove decisions. Emphasize significant projects and the impact they had on the organization.

Share examples where your financial insights led to important business decisions. Detail how you presented data, navigated stakeholder relationships, and your approach to ensuring that your recommendations were adopted by executive leadership.

Discuss specific methodologies or tools you've employed to identify inefficiencies and your process for implementing change. Highlight a past experience where these actions led to measurable improvements in operational performance.

Illustrate your conflict resolution techniques, providing real-life examples. Discuss the importance of navigating these situations with diplomacy while still advocating for financial best practices.

Discuss a specific model you created, focusing on its purpose, how you built it, and what insights it provided. Emphasize the impact of this model on strategic decision-making within your organization.

Describe your methodology for creating budgets and forecasts, including how you ensure alignment with business goals and how you adjust plans based on changes in the business environment.

Explain the importance of data in your past roles, focusing on how data analysis has driven decisions and led to successful outcomes. Provide examples where your data-driven approach has produced impactful results.

Discuss the key factors you evaluate when considering new partnerships, including financial risks, alignment with strategic goals, and the synergy between organizations.

Share the resources you utilize, such as professional networks, finance journals, or industry seminars, and explain how this knowledge informs your work as a Finance Business Partner.

Emphasize your ability to present complex financial concepts in an accessible manner. Give examples of how you tailor your communication style to ensure clarity and understanding among non-financial audiences.