Senior Manager, Store Payroll Budgeting and Planning

Ross Stores, Inc•Dublin, CA

44d•$121,000 - $198,700•Hybrid

About The Position

Our values start with our people, join a team that values you! Bring your talents to Ross, our leading off-price retail chain with over 2,200 stores, and a strong track record of success and growth. Our focus has always been bringing our customers a constant stream of high-quality brands and on-trend merchandise at extraordinary savings. All while providing a fun and exciting treasure hunt experience. As part of our team, you will experience: Success. Our winning team pursues excellence while learning and evolving Career growth. We develop industry leading talent because Ross grows when our people grow Teamwork. We work together to solve the hard problems and find the right solution Our commitment to Diversity, Equality & Inclusion, and our community. We celebrate the backgrounds, identities, and ideas of those who work and shop with us because our differences make us stronger. We strive to be a positive force in our community. Our Corporate headquarters are in Dublin, CA, we have 3 buying offices in key markets in New York City, Los Angeles, and Boston, and 8 distribution centers nationwide. With 2023 revenues of $20.4 billion, we are a Fortune 500 company who is committed to providing an inclusive work environment with continuous learning opportunities and development for our teams. GENERAL PURPOSE: The Senior Manager of Store Payroll Budgeting and Planning will lead the end-to-end annual planning cycle for Store Payroll, which funds labor expenses in all Ross and dd's stores. This is a key leadership position, with P&L responsibility for one of the company's largest and most visible operating expenses. Using engineered labor standards, workload drivers, and other key inputs, the Senior Manager will ensure that the annual Budget and 5-Year Plan reflect the labor required to operate all stores - properly accounting for new initiatives, adjustments to our operations, new technology that drives efficiency, or changes to our strategy (for example, the launch of our Ross-branded credit card) that require updates to how we plan labor in Stores. In addition to "core" planning activities, the Senior Manager will conduct additional analysis on Store Payroll (for example, budget variance explanations), and will create executive-facing materials to present and explain our annual Budget and 5-Year Plan to executive leadership. The Senior Manager should approach the role through a lens of process improvement, which could include updated file structures, new systems, or leveraging new/different data sources to drive efficiency in all team processes. A successful candidate must build and leverage strong partnerships with leaders in other departments including the NYBO Planning Team, Inventory Control, and Transportation to maintain a "pulse" on the business and how key workload drivers (for Stores) will vary throughout the year. NOTE: This position is focused on the planning, budgeting, and analysis of Store Payroll expense, and sits within the Store Finance team. This role is NOT responsible for issuing employee paychecks or administering employee pay. The base salary range for this role is $121,000 - $198,700. The base salary range is dependent on factors including, but not limited to, experience, skills, qualifications, relevant education, certifications, seniority, and location. The range listed is just one component of the total compensation package for employees. Other rewards vary by position and location.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree required with demonstrated superior college performance (preferably in business, finance, economics, mathematics, operations, accounting, or a similar analytical field).
Minimum of 10+ years post college experience with demonstrated success at increasing levels of responsibility
Strong familiarity with core financial planning and analysis processes including budgeting, forecasting and variance explanations
Outstanding analytical ability - must have a data driven approach to solving problems. Requires very strong quantitative skills, a good sense of how to dissect problems and a strong ability to "connect the dots" - e.g., understand how pieces of data interact with each other or how one finding should inform the result of another analysis
Demonstrated success with team development - managing individual contributors to high levels of performance and developing team members for growth and advancement
A clear understanding of basic financial, statistical and economic concepts
Excellent communication skills - must have strong writing skills to convey key messages to senior leaders, both in the Corporate Office and in the Field. This includes the results and implications of analysis in both verbal and written (PowerPoint) forms
A detail-oriented approach: Must pay very close attention to details and have the drive to get things right
Relationship Building - needs to be able to build effective working relationships with a broad range of people within the Store Finance, Field, LP and senior executive teams
Strong fundamental business technical skills - must have advanced skills with Microsoft Excel (particularly when building large files and models) as well as proficiency with other financial systems (Hyperion, RDW/DART, Flash Sales).
Must be trustworthy with confidential information
Job requires ability to work in an office environment, primarily on a computer.
Requires sitting, standing, walking, hearing, talking on the telephone, attending in-person meetings, typing, and working with paper/files, etc.
Consistent timeliness and regular attendance.
Vision requirements: Ability to see information in print and/or electronically.
This role requires regular in-office presence, including to engage in in-person team interaction, meetings and collaboration, client support, mentoring, coaching, and/or feedback. However, this role can perform duties effectively using a combination of in-office and remote work.

Nice To Haves

CPA or MBA preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead the annual planning process for Store Payroll for all Ross and dd's Stores, centered around the Annual Budget and the 5-Year Plan
Oversight and leadership over all key Store Payroll planning processes and files
Partnership with the Method Improvements team on labor saving initiatives, to ensure they are budgeted properly
Completion of all analysis and schedules to support the recurring review of quarterly results (in preparation for the quarterly Board of Directors meeting)
Completion of roll-forwards and executive-facing summary decks
Ensuring that all relevant minimum wage increases are built into the budget, and that other wage-driving factors (e.g., full-time vs. part-time mix, overtime) are accounted for properly
Identify and implement efficiency opportunities for how we budget, plan, and manage all Store Payroll expense
Assess how we currently manage store labor expense, and identify / implement payroll process improvements, including file architecture, data sources, and the use of key systems
Proactively identify potential issues, challenges, or risks during the annual budgeting process - and lead efforts to mitigate them
Lead additional Store Payroll analyses throughout the year, particularly those related to our store labor strategy (e.g., cashier labor investments, branded credit card expansion strategy, etc.)
Communicate our Store Payroll Budget and 5-Year Plan to executive audiences, up to and including our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer
Summarize and explain key variances, particularly those between different versions of the annual Store Payroll Budget
Draw and explain connections between changes in Store Operations and Store Labor Expense (for example, employee productivity assumptions, store operating hours, etc.)
Develop strong working relationships with key business partners in other departments and functions, and leverage these relationships to understand changes in key assumptions that impact Store Payroll spend levels in Stores
Sales plans and customer traffic
Average selling price (average unit retail / "AUR")
Minimum wage
Freight (merchandise arriving in stores)
Inventory levels
Unique or one-off events
Develop a high performing team. Coach and develop the team to maximize performance and value addition to the company while maintaining high morale. Cultivate a mindset of process improvement and efficiency at all levels.