Director, Financial Planning & Analysis

Position Summary

The Director, IT Finance owns financial planning and analysis for Hearst Technology Services — the forecast, the annual budget cycle, the monthly close, the management reporting package, and the analysis that supports investment decisions across the technology division.

This is a leadership role for an experienced FP&A professional. The Director manages the Manager, FP&A and the analyst team beneath that role, and partners directly with technology department heads and with the Sourcing, Technology Business Management, and corporate accounting teams — translating technology cost into decisions about investment and run-rate reduction. Success is measured by forecast accuracy, a clean and on-time close, and the quality of the insight delivered to senior management.

Key Responsibilities

Planning, Forecasting & Budgeting

• Own the monthly forecast for operating expense, project expense, and capital, consolidating inputs from technology department heads into a single defensible view.

• Lead the annual budget cycle for assigned technology towers: build the calendar, set assumptions, challenge submissions, and deliver a board-ready plan.

• Drive the capital planning process — validate business cases, build financial models, quantify ROI and payback, and make funding recommendations to senior management.

• Model the financial impact of organizational, vendor, and architecture changes, including multi-year run-rate savings and one-time transition costs.

Reporting & Analysis

• Deliver monthly P&L, G&A, and budgetary status reporting to IT senior management with variance analysis against budget and forecast, root-cause explanation, and recommended remediation.

• Build and maintain the recurring management reporting package — reducing manual preparation through automation and standardization rather than headcount.

• Surface budgetary inconsistencies, control gaps, or improprieties to senior management promptly and with supporting analysis.

• Develop the analytics that answer forward-looking questions from leadership, not only what was spent but what is likely to be spent and what should change.

Business Partnership & Operations

• Serve as the finance partner to assigned technology department heads — understand their roadmap, align forecast to delivery, and flag risk before it materializes in the actuals.

• Work with Technology Sourcing & Vendor Management on the financial analysis supporting contract negotiations, renewals, and consolidation decisions.

• Support the Technology Business Management team on intercompany assessments — reconcile differences against the general ledger and supply the financial inputs the cost model depends on.

• Anticipate risk, adjust plans, and keep leadership informed early — no surprises at month end.

Month-End Close & Financial Operations

• Own the monthly close for the technology division — accruals, journal entries, and reclasses — working with the corporate accountant to close the books accurately and on schedule.

• Manage the IT invoice process: review and approve invoices, confirm general ledger coding and cost center assignment, and resolve exceptions before they reach the close.

• Oversee purchase requisitions and purchase orders — validate budget availability and coding at request, and keep open commitments and aged POs current.

• Maintain the close calendar and hold the division to it; drive down the number of post-close adjustments period over period.

Leadership

• Manage the Manager, FP&A — set priorities, review output, and develop the role toward broader financial leadership; oversee the analyst team through that position.

• Set standards for analytical rigor, documentation, and turnaround across the FP&A function.

• Improve how the team works: standardize recurring deliverables, eliminate low-value manual effort, and raise the baseline quality of financial output.

• Represent IT Finance in cross-functional initiatives and senior management forums.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a closely related business discipline.

• CPA, CFA, or CMA.

• Seven or more years of progressive FP&A experience, with demonstrated depth in budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, and management reporting.

• Experience owning a full planning cycle end to end — assumptions, consolidation, review, and presentation to senior management.

• Strong financial statement analysis, projection, and financial modeling skills.

• Experience managing people, including managing a manager or team lead.

• Hands-on experience owning or supporting a monthly close, including accruals and reconciliation with an accounting team.

• Working knowledge of business operations, cost structures, and cost drivers, with a fundamental understanding of accounting principles.

• Proven success as a business partner in a client-service environment spanning multiple business units and stakeholder levels.

• Excel proficiency.

• Excellent listening and communication skills, with the ability to deliver clear, well-organized presentations and written correspondence to executive audiences.

• Strong personal time management and the ability to run several projects simultaneously against fixed close and planning deadlines.

Preferred

• Technology Business Management experience, or familiarity with a technology chargeback, showback, or cost allocation model.

• Working knowledge of Oracle ERP.

• Practical experience applying AI tools such as Claude or ChatGPT to financial analysis, reporting, and workflow automation.

• Familiarity with cloud cost management or FinOps practices.

• IT finance or shared-services finance experience.

• Strong interest in working within technology.

What Success Looks Like in Year One

• Forecast variance is narrow, explainable, and trusted by both HTS leadership and business unit finance.

• The monthly reporting package is faster to produce and more useful to the people who receive it.

• Capital and project funding decisions are supported by models leadership trusts without re-checking.

• Technology department heads treat this role as their first call on any decision with a financial consequence.

In accordance with applicable law, Hearst is required to include a reasonable estimate of the compensation for this role if hired in New York City.  The reasonable estimate, if hired in New York City, is $190,000-$220,000.  Please note this information is specific to those hired in New York City.  If this role is open to candidates outside of New York City, the salary range would be aligned to that specific location.  A final decision on the successful candidate’s starting salary will be based on a number of permissible, non-discriminatory factors, including but not limited to skills and experience, training, certifications, and education.  Hearst provides a competitive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance, 401(k), paid holidays and paid time off, employee assistance programs, and more.