[Hiring] Director, Business Planning & Financial Analysis @Advance Media

Role Description

We are seeking a Director, Business Planning & Financial Analysis to serve as Automotive’s lead analyst and strategist. This highly visible senior individual contributor will partner across Sales, Operations, Product, and Finance to improve decision-making, forecasting, execution, and profitable growth. The role owns sales and revenue performance analytics, commercial forecasting inputs, customer and OEM economics, business intelligence, operating metrics, and strategic planning support.

You will translate data into actionable insights and assess how contracts, OEM programs, product mix, delivery models, third-party costs, and operational decisions affect revenue, COGS, margin, and profitability. You will also develop forward-looking forecasts and scenario analyses to strengthen commercial decisions and business planning.

What You’ll Do

• Serve as Automotive's lead commercial analyst and strategist, providing analysis and recommendations that support profitable growth, operating performance, and strategic decisions.
• Lead business cases, investment evaluations, scenario modeling, market and customer opportunity analysis, resource-allocation decisions, and long-range planning.
• Develop revenue operations reporting and dashboards that track pacing, pipeline, customer activity, product performance, KPIs, and other operating metrics.
• Develop commercial forecast inputs with Automotive leaders and partner with Finance to improve forecast quality and explain business drivers.
• Assess and forecast COGS by customer, OEM program, product, and segment, including third-party, fulfillment, delivery, vendor, and other variable cost drivers; identify trends, risks, and margin pressure.
• Evaluate the revenue, COGS, gross margin, scalability, and risk of contracts, OEM arrangements, pricing proposals, products, and other commercial initiatives before commitments are made.
• Analyze actual versus expected revenue, COGS, margin, customer and product profitability, concentration, retention economics, and downside risk; recommend actions to improve results.
• Partner with Sales leadership on quotas, territories, coverage, capacity, seller productivity, attainment, performance benchmarks, and sales compensation design and evaluation.
• Identify process, data-quality, and reporting improvements; define requirements and partner with Operations, Product, Technology, and Finance on implementation.
• Align Automotive leadership and cross-functional partners around shared assumptions, accountability, and executive-ready recommendations explaining results, outlook, and proposed actions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Economics, Analytics, Finance, Management, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• At least seven years of progressive experience in revenue or sales operations, commercial strategy, business operations, strategic planning, consulting, analytics, or a related discipline; automotive experience strongly preferred.
• Experience advising executive leaders through strategic analysis, scenario modeling, business cases, forecasts, and performance reporting.
• Strong understanding of revenue drivers, COGS, gross margin, customer and contract economics, product profitability, and commercial performance metrics.
• Experience forecasting variable and third-party delivery costs and translating operational assumptions into margin outcomes.
• Experience with sales compensation, quota setting, territory modeling, capacity planning, or sales performance analysis.
• Ability to communicate complex analysis as clear, practical recommendations and influence cross-functional outcomes without direct authority.
• Excellent communication, presentation, organization, and relationship-management skills.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel and AI proficiency, with experience using business intelligence and data visualization tools; automotive advertising, digital media, SaaS, OEM program, or related industry experience preferred.

Requirements

• This role operates in a general office environment and may be performed remotely.
• Business hours align to East Coast management.
• It requires extensive computer use and analytical work.
• Occasional travel may be required.