Head of Financial Planning

Job Introduction

Who are Pizza Hut?

Started more than 60 years by the Carney brothers, Pizza Hut has grown to become the largest pizza company in the world with more than 18,000 stores in over 100 countries, of which 1,500 of these are across 25 countries Europe. Our European headquarters are based at the Restaurant Support Centre (RSC) in St Albans, Hertfordshire – a 22-minute train from St Pancras International. The majority of our stores are owned and operated by c. 130 franchisees.

About the role:

The Head of Commercial Planning reports into the Chief Financial Officer and leads the Commercial Insights & Planning team which provides strategic and financial planning support to the PH Europe & UK business. This role is responsible for leading annual and quarterly financial forecasts for the Europe & UK business, partnering with the control team to lead monthly variance analysis and communicating results to the leadership team. This role is also responsible for leading all commercial analysis for the UK business, including working closely with the UK Marketing team to lead analytics in support of the marketing strategy & roll-out as well as own end to end sales analysis. He or she will serve as a key commercial thought partner to the Europe & UK leadership team and functional heads by providing analytical support for strategic initiatives and identifying business model growth opportunities.

Thus, the Head of Commercial Planning will need to have strong senior stakeholder management skills and commercial acumen to succeed. He or she will also need to have a strong sense of accountability, urgency and ownership. This role is a great fit for an individual looking for significant stretch and growth in a vibrant and entrepreneurial company.

Areas you will impact:

Strategic & Financial Planning (40%)

• Lead financial planning for our 3 year, annual & quarterly P&L forecasts including new units, same store sales, company owned store costs, general & administration costs as well as other profit levers
• Work closely with key stakeholders across the business to bring together our business strategy and reflect this in our financial forecasts and reporting; Robustly challenge estimates to ensure gaps to plan are identified & addressed
• Partner with the control team to manage and deliver a high quality and insightful end-to-end month end process by analyzing financial performance versus forecast
• Track financial risks & opportunities as well as identify business levers to deliver the plan each month
• Communicate a clear and coherent story of performance and actions to the Europe & UK senior leadership team, including developing and building presentation decks for the senior leadership team
• Work directly with the planning team at Pizza Hut International headquarters (USA) to report monthly/ quarterly results
• Support process changes and contribute towards making the FP&A process more efficient, insightful and accurate
• Take personal accountability to drive and own business performance by driving insights, challenging status quo and building a holistic understanding of the business

Sales & Marketing Thought Leadership (30%)

• Act as a key business thought partner to the UK marketing team, bringing analytical rigor and discipline to marketing strategy and campaign roll-out. Examples of this include: menu pricing analysis, developing annual marketing calendars, driving financial forecast of new campaigns, dissecting & analyzing past performance, leading weekly financial sales forecasting
• Work closely with key cross-functional stakeholders across the business to bring together our UK business strategy and reflect this in our sales forecasts and reporting; Robustly challenge estimates to ensure gaps to sales targets are identified & addressed
• Own & analyze top-line performance by providing timely reports and analysis to the broader business
• Support the marketing team by providing business updates and other analytical support to our franchise partners

Commercial Thought Leadership (30%)

• Act as a key commercial thought partner to our UK & European cross-functional teams (including marketing, operations and development) to bring analytical rigor and discipline to functional strategic initiatives; Examples of this could include; pricing & value analysis, store profitability & benchmarking analysis, new concept development
• Act as a key strategic & analytical thought partner towards our UK & European franchise partners, providing support to franchise partners as well as business updates
• Lead or support other key strategic projects aimed at continuously evolving the business strategy

What We'd Love From You:

• Excellent communication skills (written & verbal), proven influencing skills and the ability to manage multiple deadlines and stakeholders
• Highly analytical, with excellent interpersonal skills, strong adaptability to a fast-moving environment and high sense of urgency and accountability
• An eye toward continuous process improvement, including the ability to innovate and simplify both finance and business processes
• Desire to develop career into senior leadership within group. Potential for future flexibility to relocate into global positions
• Best-in-class academics in a business and/or analytical topic; MBA or associated professional qualification (ACA, CIMA, ACCA) preferred
• Minimum of 3-5 years of experience in a financial analysis role or relevant experience in positions that require analysis, reporting financial results, forecasting, budgeting, variance analysis, and data interpretation of business impact and results
• Experience in one or several of the following fields: Consulting, Strategic Planning, Commercial Finance in FMCG, Retail, or Manufacturing preferred. Strong skills in financial planning and modelling required.
• Highly computer literate with excellent command of Excel and Powerpoint. Comfortable building and running highly complex financial models. Experience in Cognos and JD Edwards would be beneficial but is not required.

What we can offer you:

Reward, Progression & Recognition:

A career with Pizza Hut offers much more than just fantastic earning potential. We reward achievement with amazing incentives and benefits, including;

• Generous pension
• Private healthcare with the option to increase to include family cover
• Annual holiday allowance starts at 25 days with the option to buy or sell up to 5 extra days per year
• After 5 years’ service, annual holiday allowance increases to 30 days
• Flexible and Voluntary benefits including Dental Insurance, Health Screening and Gym Discounts.

Pizza Hut is also a very sociable company and we strive to incorporate our company value of fun whenever we can. We have continued this ethos through Covid and make sure we have loads of fun in an outside of the office ‘Socially distance style’.