Senior Payment Analyst, Payment Economics

This position will prepare, review and manage all budgets corresponding to the company’s payment acceptance function, including thorough analysis of interchange and payment fee costs, gift card breakage and escheatment, volume forecasting, and actuals performance. In addition, this position will collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to identify areas of opportunity to increase sales and reduce costs from Inspire’s payment activities.

This position sits within our Atlanta based Global Support Center with an expectation to be onsite 4 days per week.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Manage payments P&L’s on a day-to-day basis including forecasting, budgeting, and variance analysis.
• Analyzes payments P&L performance across the organization assessing interchange, chargebacks, transaction and network fees, and vendor costs – summarizing financial performance to budget, areas of opportunity, and action plans for remediation of errors.
• Partner with various Inspire Brands departments, including Accounting, IT, Commercial Services, and the Brand level teams to identify opportunities to reduce costs, provide operational efficiencies, and to increase sales through budget management.
• Prepare period, quarterly, and ad hoc financial reports, forecasts and analysis.
• Provide detailed financial analysis of cost of payments acceptance across company restaurants and digital channels.
• Prepare monthly, quarterly, annually, and ad-hoc management reporting and executive summaries of budget, actuals, and performance.
• Prepares and maintains budget and forecast of gift card breakage and escheatment for all company brands and partners with other internal functional teams to prepare accruals and variance analysis.
• Define financial payment metrics across the company to advocate, educate and align key stakeholders.
• Partner with external suppliers to remediate errors and identify opportunities to drive profitability to our brands.
• Continually evaluate the effectiveness of operational procedures and controls to maximize department productivity and minimize errors
• Ensures timely payment of payment vendor invoices and proper allocation to business units.
• Collaborate with other functional teams in order to prepare, monitor and analyze payments budgets and correct any discrepancies.
• Summarizes financial impacts of new interchange and fees, working with internal and external partners to fully understand facts on when, how and if company would be impacted.
• Acts as a payment's liaison with the company’s business units in analyzing payments financial KPI’s and handling ad hoc inquiries and related matters.
• Assists with special projects as assigned including evaluating payment partners, the ROI of new initiatives, and opportunities to add additional value to the company through payment programs.

EDUCATION & EDUCATION QUALIFICATIONS

• Required: 4-Year degree in Finance, Accounting or Economics or related field.
• Preferred: MBA or other advanced degree.
• 3+ years progressive experience in strategic finance, operational finance, consulting, or payment related fields.
• Hands on experience with ERP Systems (Oracle, preferred).

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS or ABILITIES

• Aptitude and desire for learning new systems.
• Intermediate to advanced knowledge of Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint and Word.
• Intermediate knowledge of finance and budget management
• Strong understanding of financial statements and foundational accounting principles.
• Excellent analytical acumen including financial modeling and variance analysis.
• Familiarity of consumer payment methods such as ACH, credit/debit cards, digital wallets and payment industry terminology such as chargebacks, interchange and breakage.
• Familiarity with gift card programs and an understanding of unclaimed property.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated learning agility, critical-thinking, troubleshooting and analytical skills.
• Demonstrated ability to automate, re-engineer processes, and challenge the status quo.
• Exceptional organizational and collaboration skills with ability to prioritize and pivot quickly.
• Demonstrated ability to work in teams and collaborate across departments.
• Responsive, action-oriented, deadline-driven and heightened sense of urgency.
• Preferred: Experience with Business Intelligence analysis and presentation tools, including Tableau and Microsoft Power Business Intelligence.
• Preferred: Knowledge of database tools including SQL and Snowflake.
• Preferred: Experience with AI tools and a willingness to find ways to increase automation and assist with tasks.

DIRECT REPORTS

• None.