Senior Finance Specialist: Group Planning

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Job Summary

A Senior Finance Specialist in Group Planning is a senior expert position responsible for delivering high-quality, responsive and decision-useful forward-looking financial planning insights that support executive decision-making at a Group level. The role acts as a quality and credibility gate for key planning outputs, ensuring submissions are Exco/ Board-ready, internally consistent and supported by clear assumptions and sensitivities.

Job Description

Job Purpose:

Group Planning is part of Group Financial Decision Support (Group FDS) and the Senior Finance Specialist is a senior expert position responsible for delivering high-quality, responsive and decision-useful forward-looking financial planning insights that support executive decision-making at a Group level. The role acts as a quality and credibility gate for key planning outputs, ensuring submissions are Exco/ Board-ready, internally consistent and supported by clear assumptions and sensitivities.

Operating within established planning frameworks and strategic direction, the role translates Group strategy and business context into credible forecasts, scenarios, analysis and executive narratives. The Senior Finance Specialist applies strong business judgement, integrates complex information and constructively challenges assumptions to improve the quality of planning outputs.

The role is characterised by a depth of understanding of banking products, planning processes and tools, scenario analysis and forecasting and senior stakeholder management and messaging. The Senior Finance Specialist plays a critical role in stabilising delivery of planning processes, improving planning practice and supporting stakeholders through periods of pressure and change. Success in the role is reflected in consistent delivery under pressure, trusted judgement, adaptability and influence through expertise.

Key Accountabilities

Group Planning Delivery and Insight:

• Own the end-to-end analytical workstream for assigned planning outputs, accountable for quality, credibility and Exco/ Board-readiness with strong focus on quality, credibility and insight. Planning outputs include revised annual forecasts (RAF), medium-term plans (MTP), group projections, scenario planning, peer benchmarking, briefing notes, stress testing and strategic execution plans.
• Provide independent challenge on submissions received from Business Unit FDS teams and other stakeholders by testing attainability, reasonability and key drivers and documenting implications, risks and opportunities for decision-makers.
• Integrate financial, macroeconomic and business information to assess trade-offs, risks and sensitivities in forward-looking analysis.
• Translate complex analysis into clear scenarios and options, supporting informed executive decision-making.
• Exercise sound judgement within defined planning frameworks, escalating risks and issues appropriately.

Executive-Ready Communication and Stakeholder Influence:

• Prepare clear, concise and structured executive-level commentary, briefing notes and presentations.
• Communicate complex planning issues in a way that is accessible, balanced and decision-useful to stakeholders which include Heads of Business Unit Central FDS teams and their planning leads, Treasury, Risk, Financial Resource Management, Office of the CEO and the Productivity Programme, adapting messaging to suit different needs.
• Engage confidently with senior stakeholders and drive alignment on assumptions, narrative and key messages, ensuring consistency across the planning community and building credibility through accuracy, logic and insight.
• Represent Group Planning in planning forums and working sessions, ensuring issues are surfaced early and resolved in a structured manner.

Consistent Delivery Under Pressure:

• Stabilise delivery across stakeholders by clarifying requirements, sequencing dependencies and recalibrating prioritisation during peak periods, as appropriate.
• Sustain high performance across extended planning cycles characterised by tight timelines, ambiguity and competing demands.
• Manage personal resilience effectively and support team delivery during peak periods.
• Recover quickly from setbacks, incorporating feedback and adjusting approach constructively.

Adaptability and Continuous Improvement:

• Adapt analysis, assumptions and outputs in response to changing strategic or business context.
• Lead team-level and planning community-level improvements to planning processes, tools or ways of working within defined frameworks, embedding standardisation and scalability within defined planning frameworks.
• Pilot new approaches and challenge inefficiencies constructively, while maintaining delivery at a high standard.

Leadership and Capability Support:

• Coach and enable peers and junior team members through structured guidance, quality review and knowledge transfer, improving overall planning capability.
• Act as a trusted go-to expert during complex or high-pressure work.
• Act as a review and quality assurance point for complex analyses and executive narratives, ensuring consistency and decision-supportive outputs.
• Contribute to building overall team capability and confidence, without formal people-management accountability.
• Perform all other duties as reasonably assigned

People Investment Accountabilities:

• Demonstrate ownership of personal development and technical depth.
• Contribute to a collaborative, inclusive and high-performance team environment.
• Actively build capabilities across Group FDS and the planning community through structured knowledge-sharing, standards and reusable artefacts.
• Model professionalism and resilience consistently.
• Build and sustain stakeholder trust through reliability, independent challenge and consistent messaging.

Minimum Qualifications and Experience:

• B Com degree with Honours or Masters in Accounting, Financial Management or Economics
• CA (SA) / CIMA 5-8 years post qualifying or non-CA (SA) / CIMA 7-10 years’ experience in a complex financial services organisation
• Significant experience in Group-level or Business Unit-level financial planning, forecasting or decision support within a complex financial services organisation with demonstrated experience in producing Exco/ Board-ready materials and engaging stakeholders on planning assumptions, scenarios and trade-offs.
• Proven ability to operate effectively in ambiguous, high-pressure environments

Technical and Professional Skills:

• Advanced financial analysis, forecasting and scenario modelling abilities
• Good to strong executive-level report writing and narrative development
• Ability to provide independent challenge and articulate trade-offs clearly
• Strong understanding of financial markets, performance metrics and economic drivers
• Attention to detail and deadline driven
• Self-starter and good interpersonal skills
• Advanced Excel and Powerpoint capability and working knowledge of planning systems (e.g. Hyperion)
• Experience in handling big data and landing efficiency projects

Competencies:

• Business acumen: applies sound financial and commercial judgement to assess performance drivers, risks and trade-offs, and challenge assumptions within established planning frameworks
• Problem solving: analyses complex planning issues using structured, data-driven approaches and develops practical options in uncertain or evolving environments.
• Impactful communication: presents complex financial information clearly and concisely, translating analysis into decision-focused insights for senior stakeholders.
• Drive results: maintains high performance and quality under pressure, demonstrating resilience and accountability across demanding planning cycles.
• Collaborative team player: works effectively across the Group FDS and planning community, adapting and supporting delivery during peak periods.
• Strategic visioning: translate strategic intent into planning scenarios and implications
• Change agent: supports and drives team level and planning community level improvements processes, tools and ways of working within defined frameworks.
• Inspirational people leadership: influence and support peers through expertise, collaboration and role-modelling rather than formal authority.
• Digitally empowered: uses planning systems, data and digital tools effectively to improve insight, efficiency and scalability of planning outputs.

Education

Postgraduate Degrees and Professional Qualifications: Financial Sciences (Required)

Absa Bank Limited is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. In compliance with the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, preference will be given to suitable candidates from designated groups whose appointments will contribute towards achievement of equitable demographic representation of our workforce profile and add to the diversity of the Bank.

Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertised