Business Planning & Analysis Associate (Fixed-Term Contract)

About the role

Novartis is hiring a Business Planning & Analysis (BPA) Associate in Casablanca on a 15-month fixed-term contract. The role supports business performance management through financial planning, forecasting, reporting and analysis, providing management with insights and decision support through sales and business performance reporting, financial analyses, forecasting processes and strategic planning. It works closely with cross-functional stakeholders to ensure accurate commercial and financial data and compliance with finance controls.

Key responsibilities

• Sales and performance reporting: prepare monthly sales and management reports, run sales versus forecast and budget analyses, analyse customer and SKU performance, and explain variances.
• Forecasting: support Latest Outlook, rolling forecasts, budgets and strategic planning submissions, consolidate stakeholder inputs and validate assumptions.
• Business partnering: coordinate inputs from Sales, Marketing, Market Access, Supply Chain and FRA teams, and flag inconsistencies.
• Financial analysis: prepare business cases and profitability analyses, support investment evaluations and run ad-hoc financial simulations.
• Data quality: reconcile commercial and financial data, challenge unusual movements and ensure data integrity before submission.
• Risk and opportunity management: identify gaps versus expectations, highlight risks and opportunities and escalate issues with quantified impact.
• Reporting and process management: maintain recurring BPA reports, support automation and simplify manual reporting.
• SAP and Excel analysis: extract and reconcile financial information, maintain Excel analytical models and support SAP reporting.
• Controls and compliance: ensure analyses meet finance controls, adhere to reporting deadlines and support governance.
• Management support: prepare analyses and commentary for management discussions and regional business reviews.

Required profile

• 3-5 years of experience in FP&A or BPA teams covering forecasting, corporate finance and financial analysis.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent 5-year university degree, preferably in Finance or a related field.
• Background in finance with good knowledge of finance controlling and accounting processes.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, and ability to communicate with senior management and regional offices.
• Experience in cross-functional collaboration.

Required skills

• SAP and Excel analysis
• Forecasting and financial modelling
• Key driver analysis (KDA)
• Planning analysis and data reporting