Job Purpose The Senior Business Analyst – Africa BP&A plays a key role in driving integrated financial planning and performance management for Pernod Ricard Africa. Based in South Africa, the role supports the BP&A Director by translating strategy into financial plans and forecasts across multiple African markets. It provides a unified view of regional performance through analysis and consolidation, enabling data‑driven decision‑making in a complex environment. The position combines planning, forecasting, performance analysis, and business partnering to support profitable growth, ensure alignment with Group objectives, and deliver valuable insights to senior leadership. Key Duties and Responsibilities 1. Strategic Planning & Budgeting Support and coordinate the end‑to‑end strategic planning and annual budgeting process for PR Africa, in close partnership with the BP&A Director. Consolidate multi‑year strategic plans, annual budgets, and Risks & Opportunities (R&O) for all African markets, ensuring alignment with Africa & Middle East (AME) regional priorities and Group guidance. Build plans on robust, well‑documented assumptions (volume, price/mix, A&P, OPEX, CAPEX, FX, working capital). Conduct scenario analyses and sensitivity modelling to test key assumptions and support strategic decision‑making. Work with commercial leads and other stakeholders to translate strategic goals into clear financial plans for each market, challenging and validating submissions to drive ambition while ensuring plans remain realistic and aligned to Group/AME guidelines. Facilitate review sessions and secure sign‑offs for budgets and strategic plans at Africa CFO/ExCo level. 2. Rolling Forecasting & Performance Management Lead the preparation, consolidation, and analysis of rolling forecasts (e.g., 18+ month outlooks) across all African markets on a periodic (monthly/quarterly) basis. Ensure a disciplined RF cycle is followed region‑wide and update outlooks continuously to reflect current trends. Analyse financial performance versus plan, prior year, and latest forecasts for the region, identifying variance drivers, trends, risks and opportunities. Prepare high‑quality P&L analyses and executive commentary for the Africa CFO, regional CODI/ExCo, and Group FP&A. Highlight under‑performance or gaps and recommend corrective measures. Work with affiliate finance teams to track mitigation plans and restitution actions and follow up to ensure timely execution and accountability for performance improvement. Provide timely financial updates and business forecasts to the Africa CFO and leadership, enabling agile responses to new information. 3. Regional Financial Consolidation & Reporting Oversee the consolidation of financial results, forecasts and plans across all African markets (and support Middle East where required). Validate and reconcile submissions from various country units, ensuring accuracy, consistency and compliance with Group reporting standards and timelines. Deliver monthly and quarterly management reports for Africa, including P&Ls, KPIs, dashboards and ad‑hoc analyses for regional reviews. Own preparation and submission of Africa’s financial reports into Group consolidation systems (Polaris, HFM, Essbase) within deadlines. 4. Investment Analysis & Governance Support the BP&A Director and Africa CFO in evaluating major investments, business cases and resource allocation decisions, ensuring consistency with strategic plans and robust ROI analysis. Track post‑investment performance to inform future decision‑making and capital allocation across markets. 5. Business Partnering & Decision Support Act as senior finance business partner to Africa’s leadership teams in Commercial, Brand Marketing, Supply Chain/Operations and country management. Provide deep financial analysis, insight‑led scenario modelling and decision support for pricing, revenue growth, portfolio prioritisation, new market entries and cost optimisation initiatives. Translate complex financial data into clear recommendations and what‑if scenarios. Ensure all business decisions are grounded in value‑creation metrics and long‑term financial goals. 6. Financial Governance & Process Improvement Implement and enforce robust BP&A processes and governance across the region, aligned with Pernod Ricard Group policies and best ways of working. Standardise methodologies, templates and tools for budgeting, forecasting and reporting across varying market maturities. 7. Tools, Systems & Data Management Act as the Africa region’s power user and champion for BP&A systems and tools such as Polaris, HFM/Essbase, Anaplan and PowerBI. Drive effective use of tools, ensure high data integrity through rigorous validation, master data management and reconciliation across ERP and BI platforms. Train and support country finance teams in using BP&A tools and templates correctly. 8. Leadership & Team Development Mentor and coach junior BP&A team members to build analytical capabilities and strong BP&A skills across the region. Exhibit strong leadership behaviours that encourage cross‑functional collaboration, proactive communication, and mutual accountability for results. Act as a deputy to the BP&A Director when required, ensuring continuity of leadership and effective representation of the BP&A function in regional forums. Qualifications and Experience Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business or related field (required). A postgraduate qualification (e.g., MBA) or professional certification such as CIMA, CA(SA), CPA is highly advantageous. 5‑8 years of relevant experience in FP&A, management reporting or related finance roles; regional/multinational exposure and coordination of budgeting/forecast cycles preferred. Proven delivery of end‑to‑end budgeting, forecasting and reporting processes; demonstrated ability to derive insights and present analysis to senior management and cross‑functional teams. Technical Skills Advanced Excel; experience with ERPs and BI tools (SAP, JDE, Essbase, PowerBI, QlikView). Familiarity with planning/consolidation platforms (Polaris, Anaplan) and strong aptitude to learn new tools. #J-18808-Ljbffr