Sr. Business Strategy & Financial Planning Analyst

Senior Business Strategy & Financial Planning Analyst

Please note that we do not offer visa sponsorship for this position.

Company Summary

Come join one of America’s fastest growing insurance companies with a stable history of 175 years.  At National Life Group (“NLG”), we offer a flexible work environment with opportunity for growth.  As a mission-driven business, our promises are as important as the products we sell.  We encourage our associates to live our values: Do Good. Be Good. Make Good.

Our mission extends beyond the insurance and annuities policies that we sell.  Our cause is also to make the world a better place through grants from our charitable foundation, paid time for our employees to volunteer, environmentally sustainable and healthy work sites, and events that promote the work of nonprofits in our own backyard.

We invite you to explore what we have to offer and to join our cause.

Role Summary

The Business Strategy & Financial Planning Analyst will play a key role in driving financial planning, reporting, and analysis for the Operations organization. This individual will work closely with multiple stakeholders within Operations leadership as well as counterparts in National Life’s Finance organization.

This individual will be responsible for building, maintaining, and enhancing financial models that provide critical insights to guide decision-making. This role involves collaborating closely with Operations leadership to understand business needs and ensure financial models are aligned with strategic objectives.

This is a role with high visibility and requires partnerships and communication with executive-level audiences across the company.

This position reports to the Associate Director, Strategic Planning & Partnerships within the Business Architecture function.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Financial Planning and Analysis

• Responsible for detailed expense planning, reporting, and analysis for the Operations organization.
• Work with Operations leaders and the Finance department to establish a budget plan based on historical data, current trends, and business strategy.
• Build, maintain, and analyze expense and forecast models, including headcount tracking and forecasts, to illustrate impacts of strategic opportunities and decisions.
• Develop ad hoc financial models to support strategic initiatives.
• Be the point person for all ad hoc analysis related to Operations expenses during the year, as a liaison between the Operations and Finance departments.

Monitoring and Reporting

• Have regular check-ins with Operations leaders to track expenses against the budget plan. Monitor performance indicators, highlighting trends and analyzing causes of unexpected variances.
• Communicate with department leaders to provide insight into the impact of business trends on current and future expenses.
• Implement and leverage business intelligence tools and dashboard reports.

Strategic Analysis and Decision Support

• Provide analytical support to our Operations organization helping drive strategic decision making. Includes analysis of business opportunities, effectiveness of programs, and cost/benefit analysis.
• Engage in scenario analysis to show upstream and downstream Enterprise impacts of strategic decisions.
• Analyze and illustrate opportunities and tradeoffs between resources, risk, and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
• Draw out connections between what is happening in our business and what is showing up in our expenses.

Leadership and Communication

• Educate others at all levels across the organization by breaking down complex storylines, variables, or trends.
• Regularly interact with VP, and C-level executives on long-term strategic recommendations, complex analysis, and challenging situations.
• Focus on continuous process improvement with a customer-centric focus.

Minimum Qualifications

·         Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or other quantitative discipline

·         5+ years of experience in Finance, Accounting or a related field

·         Experience helping organizations manage large ($100M+) budgets

·         A healthy curiosity and passion to continually learn and improve business acumen

·         Proficiency in financial modeling and data analysis

·         Ability to build and deliver executive level recommendations based on fact-based analysis

·         Ability to take initiative and think creatively to solve problems, often with limited clarity or