Business Operations Associate - London, United Kingdom - Alvarez & Marsal

Description

Job Description

Business Operations Associate/ Senior Business Operations Associate - London - Hybrid

Company Overview:

Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) is a leading independent global professional services firm, specializing in providing turnaround management, performance improvement and corporate advisory services. With more than 8500 professionals based in 80 locations across North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America, our firm excels in problem solving and value creation. Drawing on a strong operational heritage and hands-on-approach, our professionals work closely with organizations and stakeholders to help tackle complex business issues and maximize value.

A&M has had a European base for over 20 years and today have offices in 25 cities across Europe. Acting as a truly global firm with local expertise A&M has over 800 professionals on the ground in Europe today and we are continuing to rapidly grow.

Purpose of the role:

Today, with significant ambition to build on the successes in the European market, A&M Europe is looking to hire a n Associate / Senior Associate – Business Operations to ensure client facing staff and Senior Management get the support needed to help them win in the market.

The role will support the European Restructuring SBU and will be based in London. The successful candidate will need to work closely with established functions such as Business Development, Finance, HR, Talent Acquisition and Legal function. The role is execution centric and will report to the (SBU) Operational Controller and SBU Leadership.

Specifically, the candidate will be partnering with the SBU Heads to define, refine and implement the growth strategy for the practice.

The candidate will be leading or coordinating with the appropriate departments. The key reporting and support processes would be:

• Financial control to track financial progress and group level and engagement level pricing, pipeline, billing and cashflow compliance and reporting exceptions;
• Consolidated Financial reporting at a group and country level and analysis and ad hoc reviews to support leadership meetings and decision making;
• Financial planning and helping to optimise return on engagements and overall return of investment;
• The candidate will work closely with well established functions to consolidate into management meetings and decision agendas, elements of:

o Talent acquisition – Tracking engagement demand and near-term pipeline against current recruitment priorities,

o Practice development – Tracking annual goals against actual activities and spend,

o People development – Tracking L&D adoption, compliance and course development;

o Legal & Risk compliance - Engagement delivery practice to ensure work is delivered to the highest quality standards and engagement profitability is maintained while engagement and firm risk is minimised;

Key Responsibilities:

1) Financial Analyses & Reporting, including Management Information Packs

• Tracking the financial / cashflow progress and near-term expectations on group, MD and engagement level.
• Creating monthly financial reports, gathering explanations for variances and delivering consolidated reports on an accurate and timely basis;
• Working directly with engagement leaders to drive an efficient WIP & AR book to ensure cash collections are within acceptable norms/in accordance with engagement rules;
• Job contribution management : Be accountable for a focus on profitability by ensuring all engagements review job profitability, monitor project profitability reports and clarify variances/ flag issues in a timely manner;
• Management Reporting: Implement strong financial reporting and controls and deliver clear communication to all stakeholders regarding progress and the implementation and monitoring of any corrective steps. This would include driving KPIs and reporting alignment to the focus on Restructuring and individual MD results. Work with the Business Unit Heads and MDs to interpret and take required actions on monthly personal and unit financial report;
• Provide financial support for key annual processes such as business planning and budget reviews;
• Be responsible for increased usage of financial systems such as Agresso and PowerBI dashboards;
• Review monthly P&L's and overheads for accuracy and follow-up and corrections which might need to be made;
• Ad-hoc reporting and in-depth reviews (e.g. project profitability reviews).

2) Strategic planning, budgeting and forecasting and business oversight

• Practice, SBU and MD Business Plans: Ensure business plans are created, validated and monitored. Throughout the year will monitor progress against both the overall plan and individual MD plans, providing insight/assistance to leadership on progress, required corrective actions & responsible for the monitoring of progress on agreed corrective actions;
• Driving the Corporate Agenda: Be accountable for the annual corporate calendar and ensure the annual budgeting agenda, the ongoing financial and talent agendas and the year-end close reporting and bonus agendas are optimised in terms of minimising the time required by MDs while achieving their individual objectives.

3) Senior Meeting Administration

• Be responsible for the co-ordination of leadership meeting support material and applying due care to ensure it is accurate correct;
• Support the organization and meeting material creation for team meetings and off-sites.

Required Skills and Experience:

• Educated to Degree level likely, but not essential with the right experience;
• Must have experience in financial reporting and consolidating multiple financial sources into single views. A strong financial competency overall is essential;
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint. PowerBI) & MS Outlook;
• Fluency in written and spoken English;
• Prior experience in a similar operations role, ideally but not necessarily a professional Services organisation;
• Capacity to thrive in a fast-paced, challenging, and changing environment;
• Passionate about perfect execution and detail-oriented;
• Objective, fact-based approach to problem solving;
• Strong organisational and communications skills;
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities;
• Self-starter; "Let's Get it Done" attitude - willing to pitch in where needed.

Our People:

Attracted by our meritocratic culture and the opportunity to build a business with like-minded individuals, our people have joined A&M from the Big 4, top tier strategy houses or leading financial services institutions. A&M is a fact-based business, based on pragmatism, as well as tangible and measurable success. It is an environment that presents a real opportunity for ambitious recruits to grow and thrive.

Those high performing leaders who successfully develop business in the firm have the potential for excellent income as well as a share of the value of the practice they create. At A&M you will be given real responsibility as there are few layers of management. You will thrive on autonomy and you will be adept at anticipating what your audience needs.

Our people come from a variety of backgrounds and have built their credentials through careers that combine experience in industry management roles and professional services. A&M has a proven track record of managing complex, high profile situations and delivery through world class expertise and successful execution. The culture of the business offers variety of skill, language, heritage and professional background and therefore is unique in terms of style and approach. This is a business where your colleagues are your best allies and ideally, your best friends. A business where good friendships thrive, and trust is as true internally as with the client. Furthermore, the values of the business which include integrity and fun as well as just reward for great work comes to life when you become part of the team.