Head of Financial Planning & Analysis - Automotive

About the role

Al-Futtaim Automotive is looking for a Head of Financial Planning & Analysis to lead the FP&A agenda across Automotive operations in the UAE and overseas markets. Reporting to the General Manager of Divisional Finance, you will lead a team of four and act as the key link between business units, Automotive leadership and Group Finance, driving consistent planning, forecasting and executive reporting.

Key responsibilities

• Own the annual budget, periodic forecasts and long-range plans, integrating P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, working capital and capital expenditure.
• Partner with business units to challenge assumptions on volume, pricing, margins, productivity, costs and investments, and develop scenarios and risk mitigations.
• Lead performance packs and business reviews for the Automotive CFO, President and senior leadership.
• Support commercial decisions on pricing, campaigns, incentives, channel strategy, cost optimisation and capital expenditure.
• Standardise KPIs, reporting methodologies and benchmarking across business units.
• Lead the FP&A technology roadmap, improve planning models and dashboards, automate reporting and support BI and AI-enabled decision tools.
• Ensure accurate, reconciled reporting, strong data quality and model governance.
• Align planning assumptions on liquidity, funding and working capital with Corporate Finance.
• Lead and coach the FP&A function, build commercial and digital capabilities and support succession and Emiratization.

Required profile

• Chartered Accountant, CPA, CFA, ACCA, MBA in Finance or equivalent professional qualification.
• 10-15 years of relevant finance experience, including leadership of FP&A or commercial finance in a large, multi-business organisation.
• Demonstrated experience in budgeting, forecasting, executive reporting, scenario modelling and cross-functional partnering.
• Working knowledge of IFRS and its implications for planning and performance.
• Hands-on ownership of an enterprise planning or consolidation platform (SAP BPC preferred; Anaplan or Oracle EPM also acceptable, with SAP as source system).
• Exposure to driver-based or AI-assisted forecasting and tools such as Power BI, Microsoft Fabric or Databricks.
• Experience in automotive, distribution, retail or another asset- and working-capital-intensive sector is advantageous.

Required skills

• Advanced financial modelling, scenario planning and sensitivity analysis.
• Integrated financial planning, driver-based forecasting and performance analytics.
• Enterprise planning, ERP and BI platforms, with advanced Excel.
• KPI frameworks, benchmarking, data governance and financial controls.