Manager, FP&A CoE Portfolio

Welcome to Warner Bros. Discovery… the stuff dreams are made of.

Who We Are…

When we say, “the stuff dreams are made of,” we’re not just referring to the world of wizards, dragons and superheroes, or even to the wonders of Planet Earth. Behind WBD’s vast portfolio of iconic content and beloved brands, are the storytellers bringing our characters to life, the creators bringing them to your living rooms and the dreamers creating what’s next…

From brilliant creatives, to technology trailblazers, across the globe, WBD offers career defining opportunities, thoughtfully curated benefits, and the tools to explore and grow into your best selves. Here you are supported, here you are celebrated, here you can thrive.

• Your New Role…
  As the FP&A CoE Portfolio Manager, you will oversee one of the key domains within the Center of Excellence (CoE), providing a unique opportunity to contribute to the finance transformation roadmap and establish standards for FP&A processes related to Advertising Sales. Your primary responsibility will be to ensure proactive, timely, and high-quality review of forecasting, budgeting, reporting, and analysis of the Ad Revenue to equip business partners with the necessary information for informed decision-making.

Your Role Accountabilities…

• Excellent oral and written communication skills are essential as well as strong initiative and the ability to work in agile and collaborative environments.
• Strong proficiency in Excel and other financial data visualization tools and techniques.  Demonstrated experience in financial modelling.
• Critical thinker and strong problem solver with excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to frame issues, articulate findings and present optimal solutions. Proven ability to distil complex findings into a ‘story’ with actionable findings to support commercial decision making.
• Proven ability to build confidence and trust-based long-term relationships with department members and external business partners.
• Experience working accurately and efficiently with high volumes of data under strict deadlines. Innovation and process improvement focus experience is mandatory.  
• Motivated by a challenging, high-energy environment.
• Strong organizational skills, very detailed oriented, and deadline driven.

Qualifications & Experience…

• 4+ years’ experience in financial planning and analysis.
• Bachelor’s degree in finance or accounting required. MBA and other post graduate studies will be considered a plus.
• Experience working accurately and efficiently with high volumes of data under strict deadlines.
• Strong working knowledge of financial software packages and Microsoft Office suite.  SAP, Hyperion, SmartView and other data visualization tools knowledge will be considered a plus.

Experience working in Shared Business Services and process continued improvement will be considered a plus.

• Experience in Entertainment industry preferred.

II.   MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Please explain in specific detail the main responsibilities of this position.  Explain not only what is done, by why it is done (and/or for whom).  Also include examples and note tools or equipment used to accomplish the duty. 

% time spent

Portfolio Consolidated Financial Review and Reporting:

Portfolio Consolidation – Monthly Forecasts, Annual Budgets

• Understand and become a subject matter expert in the close, forecast and budget calendar and achieve following activities withing deadlines.
• Obtain ad revenue forecasts from ad sales finance teams and load full Ad Sales Forecast into Forecasting/Budgeting System. Tie out totals by segment, business unit, and GL account to Models. Make any adjustments in the system as needed after forecast meetings and ensure numbers tie out to what was agreed.
• Run actuals vs forecast, actuals and budget reporting. Identify variances with US Ad Sales Finance consolidation team, work with ad sales finance teams to explain variances.
• Enter variance explanations into CXO reporting system and in management reporting as needed.
• Actively participate and represent the collective Ad Sales Finance team in monthly actuals close meetings and forecast meetings with Accounting and Finance, eventually leading variance explanations.
• Collaborate with US Ad Sales Finance team in developing variance explanations and story.

 Digital and Linear – Weekly Pacing Reporting

• Generate weekly linear + digital cash bookings report and compare them to projected cash bookings. Identify variances and with the US based Ad Sales finance Consolidation team, identify risk and opportunity based on bookings.
• Generate weekly linear direct response bookings report and compare them to projected cash bookings. Identify variances and with the US based Consolidation team, identify risk and opportunity based on bookings.
• Present cash and direct response bookings report as requested by US Ad Sales Finance meetings and in any email distributions as needed. Begin to understand pacing changes and explain meaningful differences in reporting and conversations with Ad Sales Finance Team. 40%

Forecasting and Analysis:

Linear Forecast Models

• Learn and understand linear ad revenue drivers in models and how models are built from the bottoms-up – Delivery, Capacity, CPM, Yield and Sellout.
• Understand how pacing/bookings – on the books, left to go, pipeline, open - sync up with forecasts.
• Update all linear network models with actuals activity.
• Lead forecasting on select linear network models in bi-weekly forecast process. Understand changes from prior forecast, budget and changes in Drivers. With the US Linear Entertainment team, tell the story of changes to the forecast and identify any risk and opportunity not reflected in the model.40%

Seek for Innovation and process efficiencies and ad hoc analysis:

Ad hoc requests include inventory valuation requests, BI reporting, CPM values, etc 20%

How We Get Things Done…

This last bit is probably the most important! Here at WBD, our guiding principles are the core values by which we operate and are central to how we get things done. You can find them at www.wbd.com/guiding-principles/ along with some insights from the team on what they mean and how they show up in their day to day. We hope they resonate with you and look forward to discussing them during your interview.

Championing Inclusion at WBD

Warner Bros. Discovery embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, regardless of sex, gender identity, ethnicity, union status, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, disability or any other category protected by law.

If you’re a qualified candidate with a disability and you require adjustments or accommodations during the job application and/or recruitment process, please visit our accessibility page for instructions to submit your request.