Senior Manager - Development Financial Analysis - 50011701 HB4

Position Overview

We are seeking a seasoned Senior Manager - Development Financial Analysis to join our dynamic team, reporting to the Director of Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A). This pivotal role will play a central part in driving the financial agenda for our Sports asset portfolio, with a specialized focus on construction and development-stage financial management. The ideal candidate will combine deep financial expertise with a passion for automation and standardization, leveraging advanced systems such as SAP and PRISM to deliver a unified, accurate, and actionable financial perspective. As the financial integrator, you will bridge critical functions including Development, PMO, Commercial, Risk, Treasury, and IT, ensuring seamless alignment and robust financial governance across all stages of project delivery.

Key Responsibilities

Budgeting & Forecasting

This role is responsible for leading comprehensive budgeting and forecasting processes, encompassing annual, multi-year, and rolling forecasts across all assets and business units. You will establish and maintain Total Development Cost (TDC) baselines, reforecasts, and cash-flow projections, integrating real-time construction progress and procurement strategies. By implementing driver-based budgeting models, you will link scope, program, procurement, and construction productivity drivers directly to financial outcomes. Your work will ensure budget phasing is perfectly aligned with construction programs, supporting funding plans, cash calls, and liquidity management. Additionally, you will align financial plans with funding strategies, including equity, debt, drawdowns, and covenant compliance.

Project Accounting & Financial Control

In this capacity, you will oversee project accounting and financial control processes within SAP and PRISM, including budget uploads, transfers, commitment creation, accrual postings, and cost allocations. You will maintain meticulous tracking of commitments and actuals at the project, package, and contract levels, ensuring timely and accurate capture of construction costs. Your responsibilities will include monitoring forecast-to-complete (FTC) and updating projections based on certified quantities, executed variations, and procurement commitments. You will track Total Development Cost (TDC) movements, including approved budget changes, reallocations, and the cumulative impact of variation orders and claims. Furthermore, you will record and monitor contingency, inflation, and risk drawdowns, ensuring all approvals are obtained and accurately reflected in financial systems.

This role demands rigorous monthly reconciliations between budgets, commitments, actuals, and cash flow, with a keen focus on investigating and resolving variances. You will maintain complete audit trails for all budget changes, approvals, and re-baselining actions in accordance with governance requirements. Additionally, you will provide transaction-level support, reconciliations, and documentation to facilitate internal and external audits, while ensuring strict compliance with financial policies, approval matrices, and delegations of authority related to construction and development spend.

Planning & Decision Support

You will provide strategic financial support to asset feasibility and development-stage business planning, ensuring that assumptions around construction cost, revenue, program, and lifecycle are realistic and aligned with the organization’s financial strategy. Your expertise will be critical in leading option analysis, including phasing, packaging, procurement strategy, and acceleration/deceleration scenarios, quantifying financial trade-offs across development and construction stages. You will develop scenario and stress-testing models to assess the financial impacts of inflation, delays, constructability risks, funding constraints, and scope changes. Your insights will be instrumental in supporting stage-gate financial readiness reviews, where affordability, funding, constructability, and risk impacts are clearly articulated.

Collaborating closely with Development, Construction, and PMO teams, you will translate master programs into financially phased plans, ensuring that financial and operational objectives are fully integrated. Your ability to deliver clear, data-driven insights will empower leadership to make informed investment and delivery decisions.

Reporting & Insights

This role is responsible for delivering consolidated business unit-level financial and non-financial reporting across development and construction phases. Key deliverables include TDC baseline vs. forecast vs. actual analysis, construction cost and progress variance analysis, funding availed vs. required comparisons, and cash-flow projections. You will design and deliver comprehensive management, Executive Committee (ExCo), and Board dashboards, providing clear narratives on construction and development progress. Your reporting will embed early-warning indicators for cost overruns, program slippage, and cash pressure, ensuring that financial insights drive proactive decision-making rather than mere compliance.

Risk & Governance

You will coordinate closely with the central Risk team to ensure consistent risk taxonomy and scoring, aligning financial planning with enterprise risk management (ERM) frameworks. Your role will involve integrating risk considerations into financial models and reporting, ensuring that risk impacts are transparently reflected in all financial analyses and forecasts.

Ideal Candidate Profile

• Education: Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CPA) or equivalent, with a strong academic background in finance, accounting, or a related discipline.
• Experience: Minimum of 8-10 years of progressive financial analysis experience, with at least 5 years in a senior managerial role within construction, development, or infrastructure sectors.
• Technical Skills: Proficiency in SAP and PRISM, advanced Excel skills, and experience with financial modeling and scenario analysis. Familiarity with enterprise risk management (ERM) frameworks is advantageous.
• Soft Skills: Exceptional analytical, communication, and stakeholder management abilities. Demonstrated leadership in driving financial processes and fostering cross-functional collaboration.
• Personal Attributes: High attention to detail, strong problem-solving skills, and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.