Finance Manager

Position Summary:

This Manager role is responsible for the management and oversight of the Brand’s financial performance in the Australia market 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 VP/ Managing Director of the Australia market. It will have specific oversight of all Australia RCI acquisition costs (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 local commercial business operations, be part of the Australia RCI leadership team and play a vital role in the development of the market strategies.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Role portfolio:  Guests 261k, NTR $326M, SG&A $20M; Commissions $11M:

1. Monthly close process:

• Oversee the monthly close for RCI across the Australia market, 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 market for both sailed revenue and expenditure (operating & capital).
• Manage the quarterly and monthly forecast process for the market. 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 Australia 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

• 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 within the Australia Finance team.
• Develop the Australia Finance team addressing any performance, development and workload optimisation.

8. Other

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

9. 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:

• Responsible for monitoring & driving improvements in Australia revenue - $326M
• Responsible for control & optimisation of Australia investment – SG&A $20M; Commissions $11M

Key Relationships:

• RCI Australia Sales & Marketing teams
• RCI Australia Commercial and Revenue Management teams
• International Finance & RCI Brand Finance
• International Marketing
• Shared service teams including Accounting, Legal, HR etc
• In-house Call Centre team

Qualifications:

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

• Professional Accounting Qualification required.
• Bachelor’s degree in finance or related function.
• Relevant post qualification experience in an international business.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in a commercial environment in an analytical/ FP&A role.
• Prior management experience required.
• Travel industry knowledge/ experience highly 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.
• Must excel in partnering with non-Finance functions and be able to work as part of a global matrix structure.
• Critical thinker and pro-active.
• Must be able to initiate improvements & run projects independently.
• 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).
• Experience in systems automation and an interest in how to apply AI