Indigo Books & Music Looking for Director, Financial Planning & Analysis at Toronto, ON Full Time

Current Indigo employees should apply through the Internal Mobility page using your @indigo.ca email address.

Dedicated to telling stories and creating experiences, Indigo is always looking for bright, energetic and customer-focused people who can help bring our exciting mission to life in one of our more than 150 Indigo, Indigospirit, Chapters and Coles stores across Canada. We offer a variety of exciting opportunities at our retail stores, distribution centres, and home office for people who share our passions and want to be part of a dynamic and enriching culture.

WHO WE ARE

• We love books and all things beautiful
• We are Canada’s Cultural Department Store
• Books are our heart and our soul and Great Books are JUST the Beginning…

We play by the following rules:

• We exist to add joy to our customers’ lives each and every time they interact with us and our products
• Our job is to create joyful moments for our customers
• We treat each other the way we’d treat a valued friend
• We inspire each other to do our best work
• We seek to ignite creativity and innovation every day
• We give back to the communities in which we operate

The Director, FP&A acts as a key business partner to the Executive Team and Senior Leadership Team in supporting strategic business and operational decisions. Accountabilities include leading the key budget, forecasting and analytical responsibilities within the FP&A team and the oversight, leadership, and direction of the Capital Investment function.

Within Financial Planning & Analysis, this role is responsible for providing insights driven analytics to support business decision making. This will include the planning, coordination, analysis & “executive ready” communication of the quarterly and annual forecasts/budgets, business case evaluation and micro/macro analytics of various business problems. The Director acts as a coach to all analysts in the department with direct or indirect reporting relationship and will act as an expert in all systems and data requirements for the team.

Within Capital Investments, this role is responsible for creation, implementation and maintenance of the capital investments approval process at Indigo. This role will also lead and manage the annual capital budgeting and forecasting activities, as well as provide business partnership to all departments as it pertains to capital expenditures and reporting.

KEY PERFORMANCE METRICS

• Overall Indigo P&L and all associated metrics
• Return on capital investments
• Accuracy of forecasts and budgets
• Satisfaction of all business partners in team outputs (board, executives, others)
• Proportion of investment decisions that go through appropriate analysis and approvals
• Store renovation sales lift

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Strategic

• Support Indigo goals by executing on short to mid-term departmental goals (1 year)
• Maintain a high level of strategic foresight by identifying customer and business needs, and adjusting departmental and team objectives accordingly

Functional – FP&A

• Lead the semiannual & annual budgeting process and the quarterly forecasting process across Indigo. This includes:
  • Planning & coordination of the process across all areas of the business (Retail, Online, DC, Planning & all other cost centers) – Approx 60 stakeholders
  • Analysis of Plan against historical performance and future expectations
  • Collaboration with executives on setting realistic and stretch plans
  • Preparation of insightful presentations for executives and the Board
  • Coordination of the process across all analysts and senior analysts on the FP&A team
  • Conduct review meetings with business leaders, highlighting risks and opportunities
• Develop & implement a model for foreign currency hedging that will reduce Indigo’s exposure to any FX fluctuations
• Review monthly and quarterly executive management reports and generate actionable insights for business partners
• Provide financial expertise to other functional areas of the organization, including monthly variance reporting, explanation of variances and resolution of queries
• Prioritize financial system performance initiatives including business change modifications, upgrades and implementations.

Functional – Capital Investments

• Create and implement a new capital approval process across indigo. Process to include:
  • Business case creation and project valuation
  • Post investment analysis
  • Budget tracking
• Act as a partner/expert to the business in creating business cases for capital projects and ensure only sound investment initiatives are approved
• Work cross functionally to ensure all above processes run smoothly
• Lead the capital committee in decision making
• Play an active part in creating business cases for store renovations/new store opening/relocations (incl. Sales, cost and productivity estimates)
• Provide ad hoc reporting as requested from business units
• Ensure the execution of team deliverables and adapt team priorities based on changing needs
• Set/adhere to team budgets, as applicable
• Act as an advocate for the customer by placing them at the forefront of all design and decision-making processes
• Embrace and seek out technology that creates high tech and high touch solutions for Indigo’s customers
• Proactively identify and anticipate customer expectations and needs
• Challenge the status quo by consistently identifying areas for improvement, diagnosing issues and working to resolve them

People

• Build strong teams by attracting and developing the best talent
• Bring out the best in others, empower and constructively stretch talent
• Give authentic feedback on performance and potential
• Ensure all team members understand where they stand and have clear performance objectives aligned with Indigo and department goals
• Accountable for the overall engagement, productivity, turnover and bench strength of the team
• Supports the creation and maintenance of a talent succession plan
• Collaborate with others to drive flexible and iterative solutions, quickly and easily
• Share technical knowledge with others and actively seek to learn from those more knowledgeable than yourself
• Help others see the impacts of their efforts and proactively engage other functions to get input
• Encourage others to freely share their point of view and be open to feedback

Cultural

• Model Indigo’s beliefs and convey a positive image in everything you do
• Celebrate diversity of thought and have an open mindset
• Take an active role in fostering a culture of continual learning, taking risks without the fear of making mistakes
• Embrace, champion and influence change through your team and/or the organization

SCOPE

Reports to: SVP, Finance

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

Internal:

• Retail Operations
• Merchants
• Accounting
• Business Intelligence
• Planning & Allocation
• Information Technology
• Store Development

External:

• Board of Directors

#LI-Hybrid

Work Experience / Education / Certifications

• University degree in Business, Accounting or Finance preferred
• 5-10 years of experience in finance, including experience in budgeting, reporting and data management
• CPA designation

Competencies / Skills / Attributes

• Experience recruiting, training and managing financial analytic staff
• Exceptional skills in the areas of financial analysis, budgeting/forecasting, variance analysis
• Exceptional skills in Excel and PowerPoint
• User of SAP (FICO), BW and Hyperion
• Retail industry experience an asset
• Strategic
• Ability to think big picture and conduct the right level of analysis depending on the requirements

Additional Information

At Indigo, we are committed to our communities, our customers, and each other; together we can make a positive impact. We know that fostering diversity and inclusion brings out your full potential and creates a joyful and welcoming environment for everyone. We are driven to be an equitable employer, which highly values your diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We believe that you, in all your uniqueness, belong at Indigo. We welcome all applicants and encourage applications from individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, a person of colour, LGBTQ2+ and people with disabilities. Accommodations are available upon request to individuals who self-identify as having a disability or special need. Please contact Human Resources at [email protected] if you require an accommodation at any time during the recruitment process.

WELCOME HOME