Business Controller 679 views

Are you interested in growing your career with Ireland’s only 4-star airline? We are looking for a Business Controller to join our growing Finance Department.

The successful candidate will be responsible for the overall management of this critical finance transactional function and will be a key member of the Aer Lingus Finance team based in Dublin.

The Business Controller will have experience in best in class vendor management and will have responsibility for a number of critical internal finance departmental functions as well as being responsible for several key internal and external relationships.
In addition to a comprehensive benefits package, we offer you the opportunity to grow your career with one of Ireland’s most iconic brands. Take a look below!

Your role

Financial Leadership

• Building a close working relationship with functional management with the objective of becoming a trusted and critical finance business partner.
• Ensuring consistent and timely inputs into the Reporting and Accounting team and events in the functional areas which may have a management or financial reporting dimension.
• Working with functional management and internal audit to identify measures to address areas where financial and other controls may be improved or which would lead to a strengthening of the overall control environment.
• Tracking delivery of cost reduction tasks and challenge the functional area to deliver reduced CASK.
• Providing support and contributing to all investment cases in the respective functional area.
• Understanding and explaining performance variances (both positive and negative).
• Coordinating monthly review process, budgeting and forecasting for the functional area.
• Ensuring monthly reportsbudgets and forecasts are prepared and delivered on time and provide required level of insight.
• Designing new monthly reports and/or update existing monthly reports to be used by functional management.
• Recommending appropriate metrics for performance measurement in the functional area as well as target values for these metrics both on an annual and five-year planning basis.
• Supporting setting of targets for functional area.
• Working with functional management to address queries raised by the IAG financial reporting and investor relations teams.
• Recommending appropriate metrics (financial and non-financial) for performance measurement in the functional areas as well as target values for these metrics on an annual and five-year planning basis.

Performance management

• Developing a deep understanding of the functional areas’ business model and the links between the functional areas’ business drivers and financial performance.
• Working with functional management on identifying cost reduction and efficiency initiatives and quantifying their current year and projected five-year financial effect (including IAG synergies).
• Taking responsibility for monitoring progress on major cost reduction and efficiency initiatives and provide concise and timely updates on such initiatives to executive level if required.
• Working with functional management to identify new or alternative models of performing existing operations.
• Studying approaches applied by other airlines or industries to address commercial, operational and strategic challenges in the functional areas.

Strategic planning

• Maintaining standing financial models for the functional areas and ensure that these models are updated as new initiatives and forward-looking commercial and operational information becomes available.
• Facilitating the integration of five-year projections for the functional areas into the overall Aer Lingus corporate finance year plan.
• Ensuring that the likely future financial impact of business cases and investment proposals is correctly reflected in business cases and the five-year plan.
• Taking responsibility for periodic in-year financial forecasting for the functional areas.

Capital discipline

• Working closely with functional management to identify potential commercial / operational proposals that might be suitable to take forward in the form of business cases/investment proposals.
• Constructively challenge and review business cases from a financial perspective.
• Ensuring that business cases are completed on a timely basis, in line with Aer Lingus / IAG templates with sufficient time allowed for senior management and executive approval.
• Tracking multi-year realization of financial benefits as set out in business cases and investment proposals identifying any issues with non-delivery on a timely basis.
• Ensuring compliance with the Aer Lingus / IAG approval authorization matrix so that proposals are prepared with the appropriate level of approval in mind from the outset.
• Ensuring that the benefits and risks of the business case/investment proposal are correctly explained.

To be considered for the role of Business Controller candidates must meet the following criteria:

Your qualifications & key criteria

• Previous experience in senior financial role at a publicly listed company or comparatively large private company.
• Accustomed to operating in a complex, highly competitive and margin focused business environment.
• Ability to grasp the intricacies of airline business model/business drivers/processes by area.
• Accustomed to balancing the need to focus on short-term results while delivering on a long-term vision that requires sustained transformation.
• A qualified accountant or a solid grounding in accounting and financial principles.
• Demonstrated leadership ability and interpersonal skills.
• Experience with managing a large team of finance professionals
• Key competencies and skills required:
• Ability to lead large improvement initiatives and projects (issue identification, structuring, organization, follow up etc.).
• Keen analytical ability allowing meaningful review of facts and numbers and ability to couple this to solutions and actions.
• Working in partnership with non-financial management in addition to other functions.
• Demonstrate strategic and tactical capability to have an impact on the top and bottom line of the relevant business area, balancing short-term results with a sustained push towards turnaround of medium to long-term business performance.
• Demonstrate opportunism, entrepreneurial spirit and clear-eyed financial and commercial judgment in providing business decision support for the redefinition of the future strategy of the business units.
• Working in partnership with non-financial management in addition to other functions (IT, HR, Legal) to deliver the future direction of the business.
• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office suite of software applications combined with general proficiency in IT systems.
• Proven ability to systematically analyze and apply internal management financial and non-financial data to generate new ideas, improve business performance and track results.
• Focused attitude to work, with the ability to constantly meet deadlines while ensuring excellent attention to detail & high levels of accuracy.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, to include proven report writing & presentation skills.
• First class organizational skills and a willingness to apply direct effort to delve into detail.
• Highly commercial and acts as a business enabler for the relevant business area.
• Confident self-starter who is assertive and focused.
• Outstanding relationship builder with sound emotional intelligence and ability to work closely with non-financial management.
• Unquestionable ethics and integrity.
• “Can-do” approach and thirst for driving continuous improvement.
• Drive and determination to deliver outstanding results.
• Fluent in English, both written and spoken.
• Eligible to live and work in the EU.
• Hold a current unrestricted worldwide passport.t
• Provide 3 verifiable references.
• Able to pass a strict airport security vetting procedure which includes a 5-year background check* or be in possession of a current airside pass for the airport this position is based in.

*If you are a non-Irish Citizen, you will need to be in possession of a current police disclosure certificate from your home country. If you have lived outside the Republic of Ireland for more than 6 months you will also be required to hold a current police disclosure certificate from that country/countries.

What we offer

• Competitive salary.
• Generous paid annual leave.
• Annual performance related bonus.
• Heavily discounted staff travel privileges with Aer Lingus and some select partner airlines.
• Prime location in Dublin Airport.
• Annual salary review.
• Employer pension contribution to a Defined Contribution Pension Scheme.
• Life assurance cover.
• Income protection cover.
• Paid sick leave.
• Paid maternity leave.
• Paid paternity leave.
• Employee assistance program.
• Cycle-to-Work scheme and Tax Saver Scheme.
• Subsidized staff canteen.
• Subsidized dry cleaners and various airport discounts.
• Learning & Development support through a catalog of courses.
• Opportunity to work in a team environment and to grow your career in Ireland’s only 4-star airline.
• Annual Make a Difference Day and team social events.