Mgr, Finance RCI Latam

Position Summary:

This Manager role is responsible for the management and oversight of the Brand’s financial performance in the LATAM region aimed at driving long-term profitable growth. The role will have a direct reporting line to the International FD and a close dotted line to the AVP of the LATAM region. It will have specific oversight of all LATAM RCI acquisition costs including Brazil (Commissions, SG&A etc), ensuring costs of sale and overhead remain controlled, and reporting is timely and accurate. They will proactively benchmark against other markets/ sister brands/ competitors, with the aim of driving best practice & improvements in business results. Investments will be appraised for effectiveness and whether they influenced travel partner behaviour. In addition, they will be a true partner to the commercial business operations and play a vital role in the development of the region’s strategies.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Role portfolio:  Guests 200k, NTR $170M, SG&A $14M; Commissions $18M:

1. Monthly close process:   

• Oversee the monthly close for RCI across the LATAM region, covering all aspects of commission and SG&A costs, including the reporting of all issues to the International FD.
• Report on sailed revenue performance and other key performance metrics on a monthly basis.

2. Planning & Forecasting:   

• Manage the RCI annual operating plan process for the region for both sailed revenue and expenditure (operating & capital).
• Manage the quarterly and monthly forecast process for the region. Deliver a high level of forecast accuracy.
• Prepare presentations for the annual plan and quarterly forecasts in review meetings with senior management.
• Identification and quantification of risks and opportunities in all forecast/ plans.
• Manage the capital acquisition request process to properly justify the benefits of capital expenditures while facilitating the approval process.

3. Routine Internal Reporting   

Responsible for the preparation of:

• Monthly management reporting on ship & market performance.
• Responsible for facilitating the monthly pre-close variance analysis review.
• Ad hoc reports, as requested.

Establish proper/ periodic communication protocol between LATAM Finance and corporate functions to ensure timely dissemination of accounting and forecast information (policy changes, reporting requirements, S&M or G&A program changes, etc.).

4. Channel and Commissions structures

• Evaluates the overall business model integrating all Channels (Trade, CO and Direct).
• Partners with the RCI commercial/ sales team to develop and review all commission proposals.
• Partners with central International Marketing team to understand investment decisions and ROI on these investments.
• Provide regular analysis on the commission expenditure / channel performance and profitability.

5. Contract & vendor selection

• Partners with budget owners to review vendor selection proposals/ bids.
• Oversee the Finance review of all contracts.

6. Capital Investment Projects

• Responsible for assisting business managers with preparation of cost and benefits justification for capital investment projects including IRR and NPV calculations.
• Responsible for analysing capital projects for reasonableness.
• Responsible for facilitating the approval process for capital projects in a timely manner.
• Responsible for post project review of capital investments to ensure forecast benefits have been achieved.

7. Management of staff

• Responsible for management of one member of staff based in our Mexico office.
• Develop the LATAM Finance team addressing any performance, development and workload optimisation.

9. Other

• Assist International Finance Director, Brand Finance VP and other senior management in ad hoc projects e.g.
  • Strategic Planning
  • Market Development & supporting non-traditional opportunities.

10. Performs other duties as required. 

• This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee occupying this position.  Employees will be required to perform any other job-related duties assigned by their supervisor or management.

Financial Responsibilities  (For management roles only)

• Responsible for monitoring & driving improvements in LATAM revenue - $170M
• Responsible for control & optimisation of LATAM investment – SG&A $14M; Commissions $18M

Key Relationships:

• RCI LATAM Sales & Commercial teams (based in Mexico & Miami)
• International Finance & RCI Brand Finance
• International Marketing
• Brazil shared service team
• Other shared service teams including Accounting, Legal, HR etc
• In-house Conduent team (who outsourced call centre)

Qualifications:

Minimum level of education and experience required to perform the work include:

• Bachelor’s degree in finance or related function.
• Minimum 3 years’ experience in a commercial environment in an analytical/ FP&A role.
• Fluent English.
• Prior management experience preferred.
• Travel industry knowledge/ experience desirable.

Knowledge and Skills:

This role requires:

• A manager with an open and direct style, one who practices participative management. Motivates, retains and develops the team.
• Critical thinker and pro-active.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and able to build strong working relationships.  
• Highly organised and able to manage and deliver on concurrent projects.
• Ability to integrate fully into RCL’s international and corporate cultures. 
• Significant experience of using a modern MIS system (such as EPM / HFM applications).
• Excellent PC/ financial modeling skills (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).