Director, Business Planning & Financial Analysis

Job Description

Strengthening and empowering all of the communities we serve.

Director, Business Planning & Financial Analysis

Remote-based position

The Role

We are seeking a Director, Business Planning & Financial Analysis to serve as Automotive’s lead analyst and strategist. This highly visible senior individual contributor will partner across Sales, Operations, Product, and Finance to improve decision-making, forecasting, execution, and profitable growth. The role owns sales and revenue performance analytics, commercial forecasting inputs, customer and OEM economics, business intelligence, operating metrics, and strategic planning support.

You will translate data into actionable insights and assess how contracts, OEM programs, product mix, delivery models, third-party costs, and operational decisions affect revenue, COGS, margin, and profitability. You will also develop forward-looking forecasts and scenario analyses to strengthen commercial decisions and business planning.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Serve as Automotive's lead commercial analyst and strategist, providing analysis and recommendations that support profitable growth, operating performance, and strategic decisions.

• Lead business cases, investment evaluations, scenario modeling, market and customer opportunity analysis, resource-allocation decisions, and long-range planning.

• Develop revenue operations reporting and dashboards that track pacing, pipeline, customer activity, product performance, KPIs, and other operating metrics.

• Develop commercial forecast inputs with Automotive leaders and partner with Finance, which owns the budget and forecast processes, to improve forecast quality and explain business drivers.

• Assess and forecast COGS by customer, OEM program, product, and segment, including third-party, fulfillment, delivery, vendor, and other variable cost drivers; identify trends, risks, and margin pressure.

• Evaluate the revenue, COGS, gross margin, scalability, and risk of contracts, OEM arrangements, pricing proposals, products, and other commercial initiatives before commitments are made.

• Analyze actual versus expected revenue, COGS, margin, customer and product profitability, concentration, retention economics, and downside risk; recommend actions to improve results.

• Partner with Sales leadership on quotas, territories, coverage, capacity, seller productivity, attainment, performance benchmarks, and sales compensation design and evaluation.

• Identify process, data-quality, and reporting improvements; define requirements and partner with Operations, Product, Technology, and Finance on implementation.

• Align Automotive leadership and cross-functional partners around shared assumptions, accountability, and executive-ready recommendations explaining results, outlook, and proposed actions.

What you Bring

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Economics, Analytics, Finance, Management, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.

• At least seven years of progressive experience in revenue or sales operations, commercial strategy, business operations, strategic planning, consulting, analytics, or a related discipline; automotive experience strongly preferred.

• Experience advising executive leaders through strategic analysis, scenario modeling, business cases, forecasts, and performance reporting.

• Strong understanding of revenue drivers, COGS, gross margin, customer and contract economics, product profitability, and commercial performance metrics.

• Experience forecasting variable and third-party delivery costs and translating operational assumptions into margin outcomes.

• Experience with sales compensation, quota setting, territory modeling, capacity planning, or sales performance analysis.

• Ability to communicate complex analysis as clear, practical recommendations and influence cross-functional outcomes without direct authority.

• Excellent communication, presentation, organization, and relationship-management skills.

• Advanced Microsoft Excel and AI proficiency, with experience using business intelligence and data visualization tools; automotive advertising, digital media, SaaS, OEM program, or related industry experience preferred.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

This role operates in a general office environment and may be performed remotely. Business hours align to East Coast management. It requires extensive computer use and analytical work. Occasional travel may be required.

Additional Information

Advance Local Media offers competitive pay and a comprehensive benefits package with affordable options for your healthcare including medical, dental and vision plans, mental health support options, flexible spending accounts, fertility assistance, a competitive 401(k) plan to help plan for your future, generous paid time off, paid parental and caregiver leave and an employee assistance program to support your work/life balance, optional legal assistance, life insurance options, as well as flexible holidays to honor cultural diversity.

Advance Local Media is one of the largest media groups in the United States, which operates the leading news and information companies in more than 20 cities, reaching 52+ million people monthly with our quality, real-time journalism and community engagement. Our company is built upon the values of Integrity, Customer-first, Inclusiveness, Collaboration and Forward-looking. For more information about Advance Local, please visit www.advancelocal.com .

Advance Local Media includes MLive Media Group, Advance Ohio, Alabama Media Group, NJ Advance Media, Advance Media NY, MassLive Media, Oregonian Media Group, Staten Island Media Group, PA Media Group, ZeroSum, Headline Group, Adpearance, Advance Aviation, Advance Healthcare, Advance Education, Advance Originals, Advance Recruitment, Advance Travel & Tourism, BookingsCloud, Catalyst IQ, Cloud Theory, Fox Dealer, Hoot Interactive, Search Optics, Subtext.

Advance Local Media is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, encouraging applications from people of all backgrounds. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, genetic information, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, or any other category protected under federal, state or local law.

If you need a reasonable accommodation because of a disability for any part of the employment process, please contact Human Resources and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information.

Advance Local Media does not provide sponsorship for work visas or employment authorization in the United States. Only candidates who are legally authorized to work in the U.S. will be considered for this position.