Director Financial Planning and Forecasting HYBRID

The Director of Financial Planning & Analysis is primarily responsible for developing and owning the corporate annual budget and forecasting process, the long-range planning (LRP) process and reporting / analyzing financial and other business results to P&L owners, the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), our Board, and other stakeholders. We are excited about our future at David’s Bridal. We are well capitalized, our transformation initiatives are in place with demonstrated effectiveness, and we’re ready to grow.

You will lead our annual P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, and capital expenditure planning process, working with the entire organization to develop a financial plan, and produce compelling analysis and recommendations for presentation to our Board.

In your role leading our financial planning process, you will partner with all functional areas to create and periodically update our financial forecast. As the owner of the financial analysis process, you will work with Accounting to understand actual results, analyze variances and form actionable conclusions regarding our financial performance. In addition, you will create, monitor, analyze and report on key performance indicators (KPI’s) and project trends to inform the business targets needed to meet our financial objectives. As a key member of the Finance team, you will participate in our strategic planning process with senior leadership. Activities will include modeling new business initiatives, build ROI cases to support capital investments, research and present industry and other business data, model our LRP income statement, balance sheet, free cash flow and liquidity projections and provide ad-hoc analysis as needed to support our strategic roadmap.

We regularly report information to our very supportive Board of Directors on a monthly and quarterly basis, in addition to irregular meeting to discuss special topics. You will own the Monthly Operating Report (MOR) deck as well as quarterly Board decks and will be a significant contributor to materials presented to the Board.

Other regular recurring duties will include coordinating our monthly demand sales planning and selling margin forecast process, working cross functionally with Merchandise Planning & Analysis, Corporate Alterations, Stores and the Executive Leadership Team. Building relationships with cost center owners will be critical as you work with the teams to understand their expense plans and spend reforecasts. You will also own special order and deferred revenue planning and forecasting, identify risks and recommend actions to manage revenue. As a key contributor to inventory planning, you will have a deep understanding of our inventory health, composition, reserve position and make recommendations based on forward looking views of our aging and MOS pipeline. As we continue to invest significant capital into the Company, you will also manage the consolidated Capital Expenditures plan and forecast, update for actual results, host cross functional meetings to review, discuss ROI results, and update our forecast.

Identifying risks & opportunities and recommending actions will also be at the heart of what you do. You will also be a key leader in potential acquisition analysis and due-diligence and, be part of the core team that manages our capitalization structure. Finally, you will be a key business decision support leader for cross-functional critical Company initiatives and provide analysis and reporting maintaining adaptability in a dynamic business environment.

Essential Functions:

• Own and manage the annual budget process, review and prepare annual budgets, ensuring monthly forecast accuracy, for selected areas of the Company in partnership with the business.
• Serve as a business partner to senior leadership by developing extensive financial models, analyzing the business and providing decision support for critical initiatives.
• Create the monthly and quarterly financial review presentations, including compelling analysis of results, trends and what you see ahead.
• Drive process development and reengineering with business partners.
• Plan, coordinate and manage multiple projects with varying deadlines and schedules.
• Enable cross-functional management interaction and effectiveness.
• Provide overall direction and support for team and monitor and assess individual work in accordance with high standards of excellence; provide feedback and coaching; support opportunities for development; complete and deliver performance appraisals; take corrective action when appropriate; and participate in hiring and retention decisions.

Qualifications – Knowledge, Skills & Abilities (required or preferred):

Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Finance or Accounting
Licenses / Certifications / Training: Experience with dedicated financial planning software helpful, but not required. We use Longview.
Years of Related Experience: 10+ years of corporate finance experience including preparing and analyzing budgets required. 6+ years of financial analysis, capital expenditure analysis, financial and free cash flow planning.

Experience in a financial or planning capacity with a fast-paced, growth-oriented company is critical to success

Required Skills & Abilities:

Strong computer skills and best-in-class proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint required, and experience with PowerBI, data warehouse systems, GL systems and other financial and reporting systems preferred. Other abilities will include:

• Smart, with a great attitude and a willingness to learn
• Intensely curious, you like to dig through the details, and make recommendations
• Self-starter
• Natural networker
• Problem Solver
• Highly organized leader

Project management skills:

• Strong communicator
• Flexible collaborator with others

Travel Requirements: Minimal Travel Required (1 - 2 x per year)

Other Requirements: Ability to build strong working relationships across the organization particularly with senior management.

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to communicate promptly and accurately via computer, telephone, or similar device with or without assistive technology.
• Ability to perform sedentary work.
• Ability to travel by car, rail or air