Budget and Activity Planning Executive

Who we are:

At Wunderman Thompson we exist to inspire growth for ambitious brands. Part
creative agency, part consultancy and part technology company, our experts
provide end-to-end capabilities at a global scale to deliver inspiration
across the entire brand and customer experience.
We are ‎20,000 strong in ‎90 markets around the world; our people bring together
creative storytelling, diverse perspectives, inclusive thinking, and highly
specialized vertical capabilities to drive growth for our clients. We offer
deep expertise across the entire customer journey, including communications,
commerce, consultancy, CRM, CX, data, production, and technology.
Budget and Activity Planning Executive - Budget Management
This is a vendor role at Wunderman Thompson dedicated to one of the largest
accounts in the IT industry.
Responsibilities include:
Finance:
The Executive will help maintain a healthy quarter closure through educating
PO owners on completing their accruals by the stipulated due dates and
providing guidance for actioning on the system when needed. They will also be
responsible for making sure suppliers are paid their dues on time according to
their invoices' due dates through ensuring completion of compliant invoices
and proofs of execution on the system.
* * Following up with PO owners to complete their PO accruals at the end of every quarter while ensuring they understand the financial implication on budget utilization
* Maintaining a complete, sound end-to-end invoicing and payout cycle through overlooking collection of invoices and proofs of execution from suppliers in a timely manner and uploading them on the internal Microsoft invoicing portal
* Responding to suppliers invoicing and payment queries in a timely manner and liaising with the appropriate internal teams when needed
* Supporting with different ad hoc Finance requests in terms of collecting data and/or follow-ups
Marketing & Business Ops:
* * Setting the monthly/bi-weekly Rhythm of Business with Finance and Marketing Budget owners
* Leading marketing budget-related operations
* Partnering with Marketing stakeholders on continuous tracking of Marketing spend
* Incremental investment alignment with Finance
* Supporting MEA Finance in ad-hoc requests/questions
* Alignment within Marketing and Operations team in seasonality shifts for ‎7 subsidiaries and HQ
* Analysis of MTD, QTD, YTD marketing position in terms of actuals, open POs, expected cross charges and LTGs and the main action owner based on the underspend/overspend situation
* Reporting QTD exit positions to Leadership team
* Leading receipting/accrual process in MEA on a monthly basis and follow up with the PO Owners
* Running scrum calls based on the urgency on the overall spend specially for incremental investments
* Orchestration of the operations within stakeholders
MEA Rhythm of Business
* * Alignment with segment sales excellence teams for setting up the rhythm for pipeline outlook calls
* Landing the changes to MEA based on Business guidance and asks according to the outcome and feedback from Corp
* Alignment with MEA CVP, Finance and MEA BPM (stakeholder) on a monthly basis on overall rhythm of business and action items
* Community call support with local and regional stakeholders
* Supporting/guiding MEA RoC Administrator on scheduling important reporting meetings
EMEA and Corp Rhythm of Business
* * Alignment on Quarterly Business Review (QBR), Virtual Solutions Unit (VSU) rhythms and landing changes with area responsible and the main action owner based on the requirements
* Building Communications
* Roster/Attendee list update for solution areas
* Alignment on meeting schedules within MEA and from MEA to Corp
* Creating required materials for office hour sessions
* Attending Corp Calls about MEA VSU/QBR/APR (Area Performance Review)
* Building QBR materials for the ‎7 subsidiaries and brainstorming with the area responsible for the overall structure & to do's
* Creating central repository on Sharepoint or Teams site for decks/ppts in respective storage areas
* Following up on QBR Planning calls for landing changes to MEA based on area guidance and asks
Support:
* * Supporting Area Business & Sales Ops. Leadership team with Comms
* Supporting all stakeholders (Finance, Sales Excellence, Business & Sales Ops) in case of ad-hoc requests within area responsible scope
Desired Competencies/Skills:
* Understanding of Marketing Operations and Financials
* Ability to articulate and evangelize within the local marketing organizations
* Written and verbal communications; project management; business, systems and process analysis; relationship management, conflict resolution and cross-group collaboration with different stakeholders across MEA
* Microsoft Office proficiency (especially Excel)
* Ability to apply rules and policies to real-life cases
* Risk assessment capabilities
* Fluent in Arabic and English; other languages such as French and Turkish are a plus
Desired Characteristics:
* Self-starter with a proactive attitude
* Team player - must focus on winning as a team rather than individually
* Individual contributor able to work effectively across different teams
* Detail-oriented with an analytical aptitude
* Excellent attention to detail
* Superior Project Management and Communication skills
Required Experience:
* University degree in Accounting, Audit, Business Management
* At least ‎5 years of solid Financial Administration, Business Operations, Financial or Business Consulting experience
* Experience in Financial/Budget Management and Reporting are a must
At Wunderman Thompson, we are committed to actively building a diverse,
equitable and inclusive workplace where everyone feels welcomed, valued and
heard, and is treated with dignity and respect. As leaders and creative
partners across industries, it is our responsibility to cultivate an
environment reflective of our greatest asset; our people. We believe that this
commitment inspires growth and delivers equitable outcomes for everyone as
well as the clients and communities we serve.
Wunderman Thompson is a WPP agency. For more information, please visit our
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