Project Leader, Merchandising Finance

Position Purpose: P&L Support:The P&L Support Project Leader has responsibility for forecasting, planning and review of actuals on gross margin for a $12B+ merchandising department. This role also owns special projects and weekly reporting. The P&L Support role works closely with the Finance Sr. Manager and Merchandising Vice President to set the financial and strategic priorities that will drive the business to achieve its goals. The ideal candidate should feel comfortable presenting and defending their analysis to senior leadership.The P&L Support team member splits their time equally between the following three activities: planning and forecasting; ad-hoc analyses/special projects; and reporting. Some key examples of responsibilities include working with the Finance Sr. Manager and Merchandising business partners to provide support and insight into their businesses to help achieve financial and strategic goals, as well as completing ad-hoc analysis to support the Merchandising strategy including deep dives on sales and profitability, investment decisions, capital allocation, reporting on key initiatives and so forth.Sales & Inventory Support (S&I):The Merchandising Finance Project Leader, Sales and Inventory role has primary responsibility for all aspects of the Department Sales and Inventory/Turns for a Merchandising portfolio. The Finance Project Leader will provide financial leadership, direction, and analysis related to sales and inventory, which impact the Merchandising organization’s key metrics and strategy. The associate will personally own the creation and management of the Department’s sales and inventory budget, forecast, and reporting processes.To achieve the stated objectives, it will be critical that the associate collaborate, clearly communicate with, and influence cross-functional partners, up to and including executive level. This will require a thorough understanding of the tradeoffs associated with any decision, an ability to provide sound guidance and financial impact assessments to reach an informed recommendation, as well as an ability to effectively communicate those impacts and recommendations to help drive informed decisions.Finally, the associate should have a deep understanding of financial budgeting and forecasting; be able to balance many competing priorities; be able to quickly synthesize information; develop cross-functional trust and collaboration; and influence in environments.Key Responsibilities:40% PROJECT CONTROL - Develops an effective plan for controlling project scope, schedule and cost, and monitors project execution to ensure that the plan is being followed. Creates and effectively coordinates documentation to explain changes or potential changes to the baseline and ensures the approved changesare implemented.30% PROJECT COMMUNICATIONS - Develops an effective plan for communicating project information to the project team and to the project stakeholders. Develops written status reports and scorecards and creates/presents project review documents to senior leadership.10% PROJECT RISK ASSESSMENT - Leads the definition of project risks and the required mitigation approaches. Monitors project activities for the occurrence ofrisks and takes timely action to escalate or mitigate the risk. Advises project team members and stakeholders of actions required or completed.10% PROJECT LESSONS LEARNED - At the completion of a project or project phase, captures key lessons learned and communicates to peer Project Leaders. Effectively applies lessons learned in subsequent projects.10% PROJECT ENVIRONMENT - Shares responsibility with the project leadership for providing a good working environment. Ensures teams are staffed, duties andresponsibilities are understood by everyone and that an inclusive environment is maintained.Direct Manager/Direct Reports:Reports to Sr Finance Manager.This role has no direct reports.Travel Requirements:Typically requires overnight travel less than 10% of the time.Physical Requirements:Most of the time is spent sitting in a comfortable position and there is frequent opportunity to move about. On rare occasions there may be a need to move or lift light articles.Working Conditions:Located in a comfortable indoor area. Any unpleasant conditions would be infrequent and not objectionable.Minimum Qualifications:Must be eighteen years of age or older.Must be legally permitted to work in the United States.Preferred Qualifications:Strong working knowledge of Excel, Access, and PowerpointMBAPrior experience in corporate finance and/or retailMinimum Education:The knowledge, skills and abilities typically acquired through the completion of a bachelor's degree program or equivalent degree in a field of study related to the job.Preferred Education:No additional educationMinimum Years of Work Experience:3Preferred Years of Work Experience:No additional years of experienceMinimum Leadership Experience:NonePreferred Leadership Experience:NoneCertifications:NoneCompetencies:Ability to perform detailed analyses as well as create executive summaries of the analyses.Ability to present and defend own work and work of others to senior leadership.Ability to work independently.Ability to influence the decisions of individuals that you do not supervise.