Urban Gabru - Business Finance Partner - Financial Planning & Analysis

Sr. Specialist / Manager / Lead - Business Finance Partner (FP&A)

Position Title: Business Finance Partner - FP&A (Designation per experience band below)

Function: Finance - Financial Planning & Analysis

Reporting To: CEO (transitioning to CFO as the finance organization scales)

Location: As applicable

Experience: 5 - 10 years in FP&A, business finance, or financial controlling

Designation Band: 5 - 6 yrs: Sr. Specialist | 7 - 8 yrs: Manager | 9 - 10 yrs: Lead

Role Purpose:

The Business Finance Partner will serve as a strategic finance interface between leadership and business units, owning end-to-end P&L management, corporate planning, and executive reporting. The role translates complex operational and financial data into clear strategic narratives that protect margins, optimize cost structures, and support scalable, profitable growth.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Executive Reporting and Business Decision Support:

• Prepare and deliver corporate P&L decks, executive MIS, and strategic performance reviews to CXO-level leadership.
• Provide granular visibility into performance versus budget, risks to top-line growth, and margin slippage.
• Align business-unit performance reporting with group and headquarters requirements, including IFRS-compliant metrics such as EBIT and Return on Sales.

2. Corporate Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting:

• Lead end-to-end Annual Operating Plan (AOP) preparation, rolling forecasts, and headcount planning in partnership with business and functional leaders.
• Manage revenue bridging and pipeline-to-revenue conversion reviews with sales leadership to align targets with corporate financial plans.
• Continuously improve forecasting models to raise accuracy and reliability.

3. Margin Protection and Variance Control:

• Execute structured variance analysis to identify and eliminate revenue leakage.
• Drive improvements in billable utilization, gross margin, and working capital metrics including AR, AP, DSO, billing cycles, and bad debt provisioning.
• Resolve costing anomalies and govern large operating budgets to prevent margin drag.

4. Commercial Structuring and Pricing:

• Develop value-based pricing frameworks for large engagements to maximize portfolio gross margins.
• Build DCF-based feasibility models for new launches and investments.
• Structure commercial terms for high-value deals using multi-tiered frameworks that improve annual contract value.
• Optimize cost allocation methodologies across entities and geographies.

5. Special Projects and Digital Transformation:

• Support fundraising and due diligence activities including data room management and investor Q&A.
• Automate P&L, budget, and management reporting through VBA, Power Query, or equivalent tools.
• Participate in ERP transformation initiatives including UAT and migration for finance modules.

Candidate Profile:

Education:

• MBA / PGDM / MSc in Finance or equivalent; engineering undergraduate background preferred.

Experience:

• 5 - 10 years across FP&A, business finance partnering, financial controlling, or corporate planning, ideally spanning both large enterprises and high-growth environments.
• Exposure to global or multi-entity P&Ls and direct C-suite reporting is essential.

Technical Skills:

• SAP S/4HANA or equivalent ERP, Power BI, Power Query, SQL, Advanced Excel (VBA/Macros), planning tools such as COGNOS TM1, and working familiarity with Generative AI productivity tools.

Functional Knowledge:

• AOP and corporate budgeting, P&L and sales forecasting, standard costing and variance analysis, cost allocation frameworks, contribution margin analysis, balance sheet and cash flow analysis, and SaaS and KPI metric frameworks.

Behavioural Competencies:

• Strong executive communication and storytelling with data, cross-functional stakeholder management, commercial acumen, attention to data integrity, and ability to operate independently in ambiguous, fast-scaling environments.