Sr Director or VP Financial Planning & Analysis

UP Entertainment•Atlanta, GA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Sr. Director or VP Financial Planning and Analysis will play a central role in helping UP successfully meet its growth and financial performance objectives by building and maintaining models which drive decision making, providing financial analyses to senior stakeholders that facilitates clear visibility into the factors influencing present and future performance, and partnering with colleagues in senior management to help them successfully manage their areas of responsibility. The successful candidate will leverage their involvement in modelling performance across the business to help to identify and quantify opportunities for growth, new business, and greater efficiency and will be a key team member in the exploration and/or implementation of such projects. The role is expected to influence key business decisions across content investment, distribution strategy, advertising monetization, and streaming growth. As UP's Sr. Director or VP of Financial Planning & Analysis, you build the models that drive real decisions — across content investment, distribution strategy, advertising monetization, and the future of streaming — and you do it with the confidence of someone who has been in the room when those decisions mattered. You're not just a financial analyst — you're a strategic partner. You bring structure to ambiguity, a sharp eye for growth opportunities, and a genuine investment in helping your colleagues succeed. You're comfortable translating sophisticated financial analysis into insights that resonate across the organization, from the finance team to the C-suite. At UP, as Buffalo — we run toward the storm, not away from it. We're in the middle of an exciting and challenging evolution in the entertainment industry as we leverage our legacy cable and high growth streaming brands to create compelling content and uplifting viewing experiences. If you're driven to Be your Best , to build something meaningful, and contribute to an organization with a mission to uplift others— we'd love to meet you.

Requirements

A bachelor’s degree in finance or closely related discipline. MBA preferred.
A minimum of 12 years experience in financial management including at least five in media and TV.
Excellent analytical and communication skills. The ideal candidate will be able to synthesize models for a wide variety of general business scenarios and convey the key drivers of these scenarios to senior management stakeholders who are not finance professionals.
A communicative, constructive, and collaborative approach to working across functional teams and with key external partners.
A high level of attention to detail, ensuring integrity in the forecasting and reporting process.
Deep familiarity with television advertising and cable television affiliate models. Experience with streaming subscription models a major plus.
A sound understanding of television audience composition, measurement, and monetization.
Excellent workflow management skills and ability to work well in a deadline-driven environment.
Expert level skills with Microsoft Excel. Experience with cloud based forecasting platforms a plus.
Exceptional, written, and oral communication skills. Communicates well one on one, in small groups and larger presentations, including external public speaking. Writes clear, precise, well-organized documents using appropriate vocabulary, grammar, and wording
Ability to work independently and collaboratively as a team; experience working with cross functional teams
Identifies significant problems and opportunities. Analyzes problems in depth and achieves effective resolution. Determines root causes for issues and solves for them, striving for continuous improvement.
Consistent logic, rationality, and objectivity in decision-making. Neither indecisive nor hip-shooter. Generates sensible, realistic, practical solutions to problems. Exhibits a high level of integrity, earning trust of coworkers and putting organization and team above self-interest. Consistently delivers high caliber creative work product. Generates new approaches to problems or innovations to established best practices. Shows imagination. Deals effectively with not just concrete, tangible issues but with abstract, conceptual matters.
Demonstrates proficiency in systems, process tools, software and/or other technology and tools used by the company, which are essential to successful performance in the employee’s role. To perform this job successfully, an individual must be proficient with Microsoft Excel, Outlook, and Word. Advanced proficiency with Financial Modelling. Technical proficiency and understanding of import and export of data to and from excel; analyzing outputs from financial systems and updating inputs for financial reporting

Nice To Haves

MBA preferred.
Experience with streaming subscription models a major plus.
Experience with cloud based forecasting platforms a plus.

Responsibilities

Lead the company’s annual budget process, working collaboratively with business unit managers to build a plan which meets the company’s overall annual objectives.
Facilitate the company’s monthly financial review and forecast process.
Build, maintain, and integrate detailed business models to facilitate budgeting, forecasting, and analysis, including detailed revenue and expense models for cable network distribution revenue, television advertising revenue, and streaming subscription revenue.
Oversee and assist in actualizing projection models.
Oversee and assist in preparation of monthly and quarterly management discussion and analysis for senior management and other stakeholders.
Manage financial analysis and communication with certain business partners, including regular vetting and provision of streaming revenue share reports.
Work with senior ad sales and HR management to build and maintain advertising sales commission plans and payout models and to determine the applicable quarterly payout amounts.
Partner closely with Ad Sales, Programming, Distribution, and Operations leaders to support pricing decisions, commission structures, content investment analyses, ensuring financial implications are well understood and aligned with business objectives.
Oversee reconciliations for revenue streams from source data such as distributor remittance reports and determine applicable revenue accrual amounts.
Develop ad hoc models and provide input to senior management regarding potential new business opportunities and/or M&A opportunities.
Assist in other ad hoc analyses as may be required, such as state apportionment of various revenue streams and content acquisition ROI analyses.