Director of Financial Planning and Analysis

At BCA Research, we’ve spent more than 75 years helping the world’s most sophisticated investors answer one critical question: what happens next? Our reputation is built on independence, intellectual rigor, and the ability to challenge consensus thinking, principles that shape our conviction every day.

We’re known in the industry as a leading macro brand, home to some of the sharpest strategists in investment research. Our insights are widely featured across major media, industry forums, and global conferences, shaping how investors interpret the world around them.

What We Do

Markets don’t move in straight lines. Economies turn, geopolitical risks emerge, and opportunities appear where others aren’t looking. That’s where we come in.

Our clients rely on us to:

• Stay ahead of economic cycles
• Understand geopolitical shifts and market risks
• Identify turning points before they become consensus
• Cut through noise with independent, differentiated insights

What makes BCA interesting

• Serving client in more than 70 countries.
• Working at BCA means joining a community of curious, ambitious thinkers who thrive on asking big questions about the global economy.
• Headquartered in Montreal, with additional offices in New York and London.
• A research staff of 60+ committed to non-consensus daily debate.

Role overview

The Director of Financial Planning & Analysis supports the CFO in delivering financial planning forecasting, and business performance reporting. This is a high-impact individual contributor and team lead role focused on analytical excellence, management reporting, and cross‑functional partnership.

The Director will support the CFO in financial planning and forecasting, contribute to the Value Creation Plan (VCP), and serve as a reliable analytical partner to business leaders. This is a deliverables‑oriented environment, and the ideal candidate is energized by pace, complexity, and impact.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Finance & FP&A

• Lead the AOP, long‑range financial model, and rolling forecasts; build and maintain ARR forecasts segmented by product line, geography (Americas / EMEA / APAC), client tier, and sales archetype.
• Own Bear / Base / Bull scenario modelling with named assumptions, sensitivity analysis, and explicit decision triggers; run weekly near‑term and monthly medium‑term forecast cadences.
• Build clean EBITDA bridges separating FX, one‑time items, cost reclassifications, and controllable operating performance; communicate operating leverage mechanics to non‑finance executives.
• Support the CFO maintaining the Value Creation Plan (VCP), providing underlying analysis scenario modelling, and bridge from current exit‑case ARR and EBITDA.
• Deep fluency in subscription‑economics KPIs: ARR, NRR, GRR, CAC, LTV, Rule of 40, magic number, and logo retention; ability to decompose ARR movement causally and explain variance to the board.

Reporting & Business Partnership

• Develop and maintain management reporting packages to support CFO‑led board presentations, QBRs, and VCP reviews; ensure outputs are insight‑led and clearly structured.
• Serve as a trusted Finance Business Partner to the CEO, CRO, and COO on strategic transformation. efforts; partner with the Financial Controller to ensure alignment between management reporting and FP&A deliverables.
• Analyze sales, revenue, and profit trends, subscription KPIs, and the financial year outlook to provide strategic recommendations to brand leads.

PE Transaction Readiness & M&A

• Support the CFO on M&A and transaction processes, including financial analysis, data preparation, and assistance with due diligence workstreams as required.
• Understand how financial presentation shapes exit multiple, what to normalise, what to adjust, what to footnote, and what to defend.

Finance Governance, Operations & Technology

• Support the maintenance of financial governance processes, including reporting timetables and expense policy compliance; flags risks and escalates to the CFO as appropriate.
• Lead the strategic review and implementation of compensation plans (commission/bonus) across sales archetypes; own datacubes and weekly commercial sales reporting.
• Proactively challenge Finance workflows to generate timely, decision‑grade reporting; leverage AI and modern FP&A tooling to elevate output quality and speed. This is not a spreadsheet‑operator role.
• Co‑own month‑end close discipline with the Financial Controller for FP&A‑owned deliverables; support (not lead) statutory reporting, audit, and accounting policy.

Leadership & Team Development

• Manage, mentor, and develop a team of 2–3 FP&A professionals, fostering analytical excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Contribute to the ongoing development of the FP&A team’s capabilities and ways of working: right roles, right people, right tooling.

Qualifications

Required

• 8‑10 years of progressive FP&A, strategic finance, or combined finance leadership experience; at least 2‑3 years in a senior or lead capacity in a SaaS, subscription, or information‑services business.
• CPA, ACA, CIMA, or CFA designation required.
• Deep fluency in subscription/SaaS financial models and KPIs: ARR, NRR, churn decomposition, LTV/CAC, Rule of 40.
• Material experience in a PE‑backed operating environment across at least one full ownership cycle (2+2s, QBRs, VCP reviews, value‑creation dashboards).
• Strong financial presentation and communication skills; able to prepare clear, structured materials for senior leadership review.
• Proven experience designing and implementing short, medium, and long‑term financial planning with risk assessment and mitigation strategies.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint; experience with FP&A platforms (Anaplan, Adaptive Insights, Pigment) and BI tools (Tableau, Power BI).

Preferred

• MBA from a recognised institution
• Exposure to M&A, due diligence, or PE transaction processes is an asset
• Investment‑banking or Big 4 transaction services foundation
• Familiarity with ERP systems (NetSuite, SAP, Oracle)

What This Role Is Not

To protect candidate clarity and interview time, the following are deliberately out of scope:

• This is not a Controller role. Primary ownership of statutory accounting, tax, consolidated and local audit, credit collections, cash application, and accounting policy sits with the Financial Controller. The Director, FP&A&C supports statutory reporting and audit as a secondary responsible party but does not lead them.
• This is not a Corporate Development role. M&A origination and transaction legal execution sit with the CFO and the Delinian sponsor team. The Director, FP&A supports the CFO on transaction financial workstreams, data preparation, analysis, and diligence assistance, sits with this role.
• This is not a back‑office reporting role. Candidates who see FP&A as month‑end close and variance commentary will be mis‑matched to the mandate.

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