Senior Manager - Financial Management. CDU7

About the Role / Project scope

The Senior Manager – Financial Management will play a critical role within the Central Development Unit (CDU), Financial & Cost Controls Department, responsible for end‑to‑end financial management oversight across development projects.

The role will lead budget preparation, monitoring, forecasting, and financial control, ensuring development budgets are effectively planned, utilized, and governed in line with approved business cases and strategic objectives. The position will act as a key interface between Development and Finance, ensuring financial information, assumptions, and reporting are aligned, accurate, and decision‑ready.

The role will be accountable for implementing robust budget checks for procurement activities, strengthening financial discipline across commitment, spend, and forecast cycles. In addition, the Senior Manager will ensure that reported work performed is fully reconciled with SAP financials, providing confidence in cost reporting, progress measurement, and management dashboards.

This role will support senior management by delivering clear, reconciled, and reliable financial insights, enabling informed decision‑making while maintaining strong financial governance and control across the development lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities

·        Lead the preparation, consolidation, and periodic update of project and development budgets, ensuring alignment with approved business cases, stage‑gate approvals, and governance requirements.

·        Monitor and control budget utilisation across development projects, identifying risks, variances, and emerging cost pressures, and proactively recommending corrective actions.

·        Own periodic forecasting (quarterly / monthly outlooks), coordinating inputs from Development, Cost Controls, and Finance to ensure forecasts are realistic, evidence‑based, and decision‑ready.

·        Implement and enforce budget checks and financial validations for procurement activities, including commitment control, purchase requisitions, contract awards, and variations, ensuring spend remains within approved limits.

·        Act as a primary financial interface between Development and Finance, ensuring alignment on budgets, forecasts, accruals, capitalisation principles, and financial interpretations.

·        Ensure work performed reporting from development and cost control systems is fully reconciled with SAP financials, addressing timing differences, accruals, and classification issues to maintain a single, trusted version of financial truth.

·        Review and challenge cost reporting, progress measurement, and financial assumptions, ensuring that reported performance accurately reflects underlying commercial and financial reality.

·        Provide clear financial insights and commentary to senior management, supporting informed decision‑making on project performance, risks, and forward outlook.

·        Lead and contribute to ad‑hoc financial analysis as required, including deep dives on variances, scenario analysis, what‑if assessments, budget optimisation exercises, and management requests.

·        Support continuous improvement of financial management processes, controls, and reporting frameworks, strengthening governance, transparency, and audit readiness across the development lifecycle.

·        Collaborate closely with Cost Controls, Procurement, FP&A, and Project Teams to ensure consistent application of financial policies, controls, and reporting standards.

Requirements

Preferred Background and experience

The ideal candidate will have a strong background with a real estate developer, master developer, or large capital development organization, with hands‑on experience in Development Finance, Project Finance, or Corporate / Commercial Finance. The role requires practical exposure to managing development budgets, forecasts, and financial controls across complex, multi‑project environments, ideally spanning planning through execution phases of the development lifecycle.

The candidate should demonstrate a strong ability to work at the interface of Development and Finance, translating development activities, cost drivers, and progress into robust financial reporting and controls. Experience aligning management reporting with ERP financial systems, supporting governance and capital approval processes, and operating within large, matrixed organizations is highly valued, with exposure to major development or giga‑project environments considered an advantage.

Skills and Attributes

Required

·        Strong expertise in budget preparation, financial control, forecasting, and variance analysis, preferably within large‑scale development or capital programs.

·        Solid understanding of project cost management and financial governance, including budget controls, commitments, accruals, and financial assurance.

·        Proven ability to reconcile management cost reports and work performed with ERP financial systems (e.g., SAP), ensuring data integrity and consistency.

·        Demonstrated experience acting as a bridge between Development / Projects and Corporate Finance, translating commercial realities into financial outcomes.

·        High analytical capability with the ability to interpret complex financial data, identify risks and trends, and convert insights into clear recommendations.

·        Experience supporting procurement‑related financial controls, including budget checks, commitment reviews, and spend validation.

·        Ability to deliver clear, concise financial reporting and commentary for senior management and executive stakeholders.

·        Strong stakeholder management skills, with confidence to challenge assumptions constructively and influence decision‑making.

·        High attention to detail, with a control‑minded and audit‑conscious approach to financial management.

·        Advanced proficiency in Excel and financial analysis tools, with the ability to work across multiple data sources.

Desired / Advantageous

·        Experience working within large, complex, multi‑project development portfolios or giga‑project environments.

·        Familiarity with SAP (FI/CO, MM, PS) and project cost control systems used for development and construction environments.

·        Exposure to stage‑gate governance models, business case controls, and capital approval frameworks.

·        Experience supporting management dashboards, performance reporting, and executive‑level financial insights.

·        Ability to perform ad‑hoc financial analysis, scenario modelling, and deep‑dive investigations under tight timelines.

·        Understanding of capitalisation, fixed asset treatment, and cost classification in a development/project context.

·        Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain financial matters to non‑finance stakeholders.

·        Proactive, self‑driven mindset with the ability to operate effectively in a fast‑paced, evolving environment.