Terracotta is currently recruiting an experienced Business Planning & Budgeting Manager on behalf of a leading organization within the UAE's Utilities sector.
This is an excellent opportunity to play a key role in group-level financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, and portfolio performance management across a diverse portfolio of energy assets. The successful candidate will work closely with senior finance leadership and operating companies, providing financial insights, challenging performance assumptions, and supporting strategic investment and capital planning decisions.
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Key Responsibilities:
1. Financial Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting
- Lead annual budgeting, business planning, and forecasting activities across multiple entities and assets.
- Review actual financial performance against budgets, forecasts, and business plans, identifying key variances and areas requiring corrective action.
- Analyse revenue, costs, profitability, and cash flow to assess financial performance and support business planning.
- Challenge financial assumptions and forecasting methodologies to improve accuracy and reliability.
- Support the development of financial plans aligned with business objectives and long-term strategic priorities.
2. Group Consolidation & Financial Reporting
- Review and oversee group-level financial consolidation across multiple operating companies, entities, and assets.
- Ensure appropriate intercompany reconciliations and eliminations are reflected in consolidated financial reporting.
- Review and analyse financial statements, including profit and loss (P&L) and cash flow, to assess overall financial performance.
- Validate financial information submitted by operating companies, challenging inconsistencies and investigating significant variances.
- Ensure financial reporting aligns with applicable IFRS requirements and internal reporting standards.
- Prepare consolidated financial analysis and management reports to support senior leadership decision-making.
3. Portfolio & Asset Performance Management
- Review monthly financial performance reports submitted by operating companies across a diverse portfolio of energy assets.
- Monitor and evaluate financial performance across multiple assets, entities, and investments.
- Participate in performance review meetings, challenging reported figures and assessing performance against budgets, forecasts, and approved business plans.
- Identify financial risks, underperformance, cost overruns, and opportunities to improve operational and financial results.
- Analyse trends across the portfolio and provide recommendations to improve financial performance and accountability.
- Work closely with operating companies and internal stakeholders to ensure the accuracy, consistency, and transparency of financial information.
4. Investment Analysis & Capital Planning
- Review investment cases and assess financial feasibility, projected returns, and underlying financial assumptions.
- Monitor actual investment performance against approved business cases and original financial projections.
- Support capital expenditure (CAPEX) planning, investment assessments, and long-term financial planning.
- Analyse capital requirements, investment performance, and potential financial risks across the portfolio.
- Provide financial insights to support investment decisions, capital allocation, and strategic planning.
5. Stakeholder Management & Financial Governance
- Work closely with senior finance leadership, operating companies, and relevant business stakeholders to review and challenge financial performance.
- Present financial analysis, performance trends, and key findings to senior management.
- Strengthen financial planning, consolidation, forecasting, and reporting processes across the organisation.
- Ensure consistent financial methodologies, reliable reporting, and effective financial governance across the portfolio.
- Identify opportunities to improve financial controls, forecasting accuracy, and management reporting.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related discipline.
- Minimum 7 years of relevant professional experience in financial planning and analysis (FP&A), business planning, budgeting, forecasting, or group finance.
- Strong hands-on experience in group financial consolidation and intercompany eliminations.
- Excellent understanding of IFRS, consolidated financial statements, P&L, and cash flow.
- Proven experience analysing financial performance across multiple entities, assets, investments, or operating companies.
- Experience in investment analysis, financial modelling, feasibility assessments, and CAPEX planning.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and financial modelling skills.
- Ability to validate and challenge financial information, investigate variances, and communicate findings to senior stakeholders.
- Experience in industry-side finance functions is highly preferred.
- Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and presentation skills.
Preferred Industry Experience
We are particularly interested in candidates with experience in:
- Power Generation
- Energy & Utilities
- Renewable Energy
- Infrastructure
- Independent Power Producers
- Investment Holding Companies
- Portfolio and Asset-Based Businesses
- Diversified Groups with Multiple Operating Companies
Candidates with a strong combination of FP&A, group consolidation, and portfolio financial performance analysis are particularly encouraged to apply.
