Senior Finance Business Strategic Partner

Viavi Solutions•San Jose, CA

About The Position

VIAVI (NASDAQ: VIAV) is a global provider of network test, monitoring and assurance solutions for telecommunications, cloud, enterprises, first responders, military, aerospace, and railway. VIAVI is also a leader in light management technologies for 3D sensing, anti-counterfeiting, consumer electronics, industrial, automotive, government and aerospace applications. We are the people behind the products that help keep the world connected at home, school, work, at play, and everywhere in between. VIAVI employees are passionate about supporting customer success and we welcome people who bring their best every day to the company – to question, to collaborate and to push for solutions that will delight our customers. The Senior Finance Business Partner will be a key member of the Business Finance and Strategic team, and will provide financial strategic support to the Senior Vice-President of Global Sales, the NSE Global sales organization and the Regional Sales Leaders; by providing financial insights, strategic guidance and business partnering to drive decision-making and achieve our financial goals and manage a worldwide sales budget spend within 95% accuracy. The role will provide financial advice around forward looking spend visibility, business analytics around bookings, revenue and funnel; support tracking of productivity metrics, average selling price trends, product portfolio analytics, , bookings/revenue per headcount, benchmarking analysis; highly involve in strategic and long range plans for the NSE group and responsible for worldwide sales budget plan, forecast and actual variance analysis. The Networking and Service Enablement Group (NSE) has reported annual sales of about $800m per annum and sizable selling budget. VIAVI’s business finance operates in a fast-paced environment with Business Units groups, engineering , marketing, commercial teams and manufacturing locations across the globe. This role requires frequent interaction with senior management in the Business Unit and also partnering with members of the corporate office and other business and centralized functions. Ability to work independently while providing optionality to business partners to keep VIAVI on track to financial commitments amidst changing business needs. Exceptional analytical skills. Capacity to prioritize and be effective with little overview and guidance. Ability to produce coherent and succinct executive level management reports. Strong interpersonal, communication, and teamwork skills, with the ability to collaborate cross-functionally across all levels of the organization.

Requirements

A bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics, or a related field is required.
Significant experience in finance, preferably within the manufacturing industry.
Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to influence stakeholders.
Strong understanding of financial analysis, budgeting, and forecasting.
Advanced proficiency in excel is essential.
Excellent command of spoken and written English
Strong problem-solving ability and capability to work independently, taking ownership of complex financial challenges with minimal guidance.

Nice To Haves

Experience working in a global, publicly traded, matrixed organization is a plus.
Familiarity with Oracle 12 (including OBIEE and Project Accounting), Hyperion Planning, Essbase, Tableau is desirable.

Responsibilities

Act as a strategic and financial business partner for the business unit, proactively providing decision-making support, business analytics, financial insights and data-driven recommendations
Develop annual plans, quarterly forecast, monthly and quarterly spend & headcount trackers, and provide detailed variance analysis to leadership.
Provide business leadership with key financial metrics, full P&L insights, and ad-hoc financial modeling.
Develop and maintain financial models to support budgeting, forecasting, and long-term planning.
Support the Senior Vice-President of Global Sales by delivering strategic insights through cross-functional financial reviews and operational analysis.
Continuous search for efficiencies and identifying improvement opportunities for margin expansion, productivity gains and cash enablement
Review and approve requisitions following corporate governance policies.
Track monthly actual spend and investments, and partner with the business to achieve the financial goals, through KPI’s, forward looking visibility, timely actions development and others.
Lead the financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting processes for the Worldwide Sales organization.
Provide in-depth analysis of margin expansion opportunities, identifying trends, variances, and analytics cost optimization, productivity and inflationary mitigation actions.
Work closely with the Global Sales Organization and Regional Sales groups to ensure robust processes and tools are in place for efficient availability of timely and high-quality financial data as well as actionable insights into leadership for critical financial and business management decisions.
Act as a trusted advisor to Global Sales leadership, providing financial insights and strategic guidance to support decision-making.
Advocate for the business and collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including Regional Sales groups, Global Sales Operations, as well as Regional Senior Sales leaders in Americas, Europe and Asia, to build credibility and trust with partner functions by becoming deeply knowledgeable about sales, pricing, spending, performance metrics and capital projects, as well as financial and business implications.
Prepare and present weekly, monthly and quarterly financial reports to Global Sales leadership and other stakeholders.
Develop and maintain financial models to support business planning and decision-making.
Monitor and control cost and expenses, ensuring alignment with budget and strategic objectives.
Identify and implement cost-saving initiatives and process improvements.
Manage through trade off decisions across spend areas to maximize budget use and finding continuous efficiencies.
Support the development and execution of strategic initiatives, including productivity metrics, lean initiatives and funnel or demand creation.
Provide financial analysis and recommendations to support business cases and investment decisions in a face pace environment.
Ensure compliance with financial policies, procedures, and regulations.
Maintain accurate and up-to-date financial records and documentation.
Provide financial and strategic advice to the Business Partners
Support the annual budget with the expectation to land within [+0% / -5%] of target
A Senior Finance partner who is the point of contact and accountable of all the financial information, trending analysis, source data and translating into actionable initiatives to support the decision making.
Regular and timely updates around Plan, forecast, Actual and forward-looking financial visibility with the ability to elaborate from bottoms up to Executive overview around total Global sales Financials.
Fully understanding of Sales finance practices and operating mechanism to drive project investment and its close loop with original strategic plans.
Partnering with the Stakeholders to identify options to addressing any gaps presented at the monthly reviews.
Proactive and accountable participant in financial discussions, with the ability of problem solving.
Be the conduct between Global / regional Sales and all financial groups, such as accounting, accounts payable, corporate FP&A, etc. for accounting guidance and support.