CE FP&A CoE Insights Manager at British Council

The Role

• Leads the CE FP&A Centre of Excellence, ensuring high-quality financial data, reporting, and process optimisation across regional grant programmes.
• Oversees analysts, drives data integrity, standardisation, and Anaplan grant model governance, while delivering automated insights and dashboards to support effective financial decision-making.

Accountabilities
Data Quality & Reconciliation Oversight:

• Acts as the CE financial data and reporting SME, ensuring robust data quality standards, ownership of the Anaplan grant model, and accurate ODA/non-ODA classifications for internal and external reporting requirements.
• Leads oversight of cost and overhead allocations across CE, ensuring transparency, compliance with agreed allocation methodologies, and accurate treatment across firewall and ODA/non-ODA dimensions.
• Ensures data integrity through reconciliations between SAP, Anaplan, reporting templates, contracts, and regional programme records, maintaining reliable datasets for planning, forecasting, and reporting.
• Identifies variances, trends, and anomalies, maintains audit-ready documentation, and collaborates closely with BDS Business Partners to align data inputs with consistent, accurate business-facing outputs.

Process Standardisation & Efficiency:

• Leads standardisation of financial processes, reporting, and automation initiatives to improve efficiency, consistency, and internal controls.

Internal Financial Support for Sector Heads of Finance and Head of Contract Finance:

• Provides accurate, reconciled financial information and variance-based performance insights to support sector and contract finance leadership decisions.

Support to Regional Grant Programmes Finance:

• Provides reconciled, standardised financial data and supports cross-regional data quality improvements.

Line Management & Team Leadership:

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team, setting clear objectives, managing performance, and building capability to deliver high-quality financial planning, reporting, and analytical insights.
• Foster a collaborative and inclusive team culture while effectively prioritising and allocating workloads to ensure successful delivery across multiple programme demands and stakeholder requirements.

Governance, Controls & Internal Assurance:

• Supports BDS compliance, audits, and assurance activities while strengthening data governance, documentation standards, master data structures, and reporting frameworks to improve financial control, consistency, and insights across sectors, regions, and consolidated CE results.

Role specific knowledge and experience
Essential:

• Significant experience in financial data analysis, FP&A, management accounting or similar.
• Experience in leading data quality and reconciliation processes.
• Experience with Anaplan or similar EPM platforms.
• Experience working with multiple stakeholders in a matrix or multi‑country organisational context.
• Demonstrated ability to work with complex financial datasets across multiple programmes or business units.
• Strong capability in financial modelling, forecasting and analytics.

Desirable: 

• Professional accounting qualification (CIMA, ACCA, ACA or equivalent).
• Track record of delivering accurate financial reporting and analysis to tight deadlines.
• Experience with SAP or similar ERP platforms.
• Experience delivering financial training or capacity‑building.

Role specific skills:

• Advanced data quality and reconciliation skills – able to identify inconsistencies and guide corrective action.
• Analysis and variance report preparation – able to interpret data patterns and provide succinct preliminary insights.
• Team leadership – able to coach, develop and manage a small team.
• EPM systems proficiency – strong working knowledge of Anaplan, and experience working with SAP and associated reporting tools.
• Accuracy and attention to detail – ensuring high‑integrity financial data across multiple programmes.
• Communication skills – able to explain financial data clearly to finance and non‑finance audiences.

Language Requirements:

• The British Council systems and global processes operate in English. Written and verbal proficiency in English is required.

Important Information:

• Proof of Identity requirements/right to work in country: Candidates should ensure they have the pre-existing legal right to live and work in the country where the role is based. Mobility / relocation / visa sponsoring support will not be provided.