Chicago, IL
Full time
R105140
Ankura is a team of excellence founded on innovation and growth.
Job Description
The FP&A Operations Business Partner will be the senior business and financial operations leader for D&E. This hands-on role will partner with D&E leadership and Ankura Business Services functions to translate strategy into measurable financial and operating performance, strengthen planning and forecasting, improve management insight, and establish consistent operating rhythms across a complex global business.
This position is intentionally centered on FP&A, performance management, and business operations. The successful candidate will bring the financial fluency to challenge assumptions and interpret business results, together with the operating judgment to turn analysis into decisions, accountability, and sustained execution.
Key Responsibilities
Financial Planning, Forecasting & Performance Management
Own and continuously improve the D&E annual business planning, budgeting, quarterly forecasting, and long-range planning processes in partnership with Business Group leadership and central Finance.
Develop integrated financial and operating models that connect revenue, pipeline, backlog, pricing, utilization, headcount, compensation, operating expense, and cash performance.
Lead monthly and quarterly business performance reviews, including actual versus budget and forecast analysis, trend identification, risk and opportunity assessment, and clear explanations of material variances.
Produce concise, decision-oriented reporting packages and presentations for D&E and firm leadership, with a consistent view of performance across practices and regions.
Monitor the economic health of the business through relevant measures such as revenue, margin, EBITDA, utilization, realization and leakage, engagement profitability, accounts receivable, DSO, expenses, and operating costs.
Build scenarios and sensitivity analyses to support growth investments, workforce choices, pricing decisions, restructuring or sunsetting activities, and other strategic trade-offs.
Business Operations & Operating Rhythm
Establish a clear management cadence for forecasting, financial reviews, workforce planning, commercial reviews, and follow-through on agreed actions.
Translate Business Group priorities into practical operating plans, milestones, owners, and measurable outcomes; surface dependencies and execution risks early.
Standardize core operating processes and management information across D&E while allowing for appropriate regional and practice-level differences.
Partner with Accounting and Finance on close, revenue review, accruals, accounts payable and receivable, reconciliations, and alignment of actual results with forecast assumptions.
Drive continuous improvement in reporting, data quality, controls, workflow design, and technology-enabled analysis.
Commercial, Pricing & Growth Enablement
Connect market, client, pipeline, backlog, and sales activity to forward-looking revenue and capacity plans.
Partner with leaders on pricing strategy, margin modeling, commercial terms, new business reviews, and approval discipline, with attention to profitability and risk.
Evaluate performance by client, matter, offering, practice, and region to identify where D&E should invest, improve, scale, or change course.
Support business cases for new offerings, geographic expansion, alliances, acquisitions, and other organic or inorganic growth opportunities, including financial modeling and post-decision tracking.
Promote pipeline hygiene and improve visibility into conversion, win rates, revenue timing, and delivery implications.
Workforce & Resource Economics
Integrate headcount, hiring, attrition, capability, location, and leverage assumptions into financial plans and forecasts.
Provide fact-based analysis for requisition, compensation, promotion, contractor, offshoring, and other workforce decisions in partnership with People and Finance.
Monitor utilization, productivity, staffing mix, bench capacity, and resource deployment; work with leaders to improve alignment between demand and available capability.
Create visibility into the financial impact of talent decisions and support proactive actions to protect delivery quality, employee experience, and margin.
Leadership, Partnership & Governance
Serve as a trusted, objective advisor to D&E leaders, bringing constructive challenge, financial discipline, and an enterprise perspective to decisions.
Coordinate effectively across Finance, Accounting, People, Technology, Marketing, Legal, and other Ankura Business Services teams without duplicating functional ownership.
Lead, develop, or influence a high-performing business operations capability, clarifying roles, service expectations, and ways of working across the global group.
Handle sensitive financial, client, and people information with sound judgment, discretion, and appropriate governance.
Communicate complex financial and operational issues in plain language and drive timely decisions and accountability.
Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business, or a related field required; MBA, relevant master's degree, or CPA preferred.
10+ years of progressive experience in FP&A, business finance, business unit operations, or a related leadership role; professional services experience strongly preferred.
Demonstrated experience owning planning, budgeting, forecasting, management reporting, financial modeling, and executive-level performance reviews for a complex, multi-service, or global organization.
Strong understanding of professional services economics, including revenue, backlog, pipeline, utilization, leverage, pricing, realization, margin, project profitability, working capital, and headcount planning.
Advanced Excel and PowerPoint capability; experience with Workday or comparable enterprise planning, financial, and reporting platforms is preferred.
Experience building dashboards, improving data and reporting processes, and using technology to solve complex business problems.
Proven ability to lead through influence, work across functions and geographies, and constructively challenge senior stakeholders.
Experience managing and developing teams directly or indirectly is preferred.
LI-Hybrid
Ankura is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against based on disability. Equal Employment Opportunity Posters, if you have a disability and believe you need a reasonable accommodation to search for a job opening, submit an online application, or participate in an interview/assessment, please email accommodations@ankura.com or call toll-free +1.312-583-2122. This email and phone number are created exclusively to assist disabled job seekers whose disability prevents them from being able to apply online. Only messages left for this purpose will be returned. Messages left for other purposes, such as following up on an application or technical issues unrelated to a disability, will not receive a response.
Ankura Consulting Group, LLC is an independent global expert services and advisory firm that delivers services and end-to-end solutions to help clients at critical inflection points related to conflict, crisis, performance, risk, strategy, and transformation. The Ankura team consists of more than 2000 professionals serving 3,000+ clients across 55 countries who are leaders in their respective fields and areas of expertise. Collaborative Lateral Thinking That Deliversᵀᴹ, hard-earned experience, expertise, and multidisciplinary capabilities drive results and Ankura is unrivalled in its ability to assist clients to Protect, Create, and Recover Valueᵀᴹ. For more information, please visit, ankura.com.
