Business Planning & Analysis Associate (Fixed-Term)

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 check reasonableness of assumptions.
• Business partnering: coordinate inputs from Sales, Marketing, Market Access, Supply Chain and FRA teams, and flag inconsistencies in business and financial data.
• 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 accuracy before submission.
• Risk and opportunity management: identify gaps versus sales and forecast expectations, highlight risks and opportunities, and escalate issues with quantified impact.
• Reporting and process management: maintain recurring BPA reports and tools, and support process improvements and automation.
• SAP and Excel analysis: extract and reconcile financial information, maintain Excel analytical models, and support SAP-related reporting.
• Controls and compliance: ensure analyses comply with finance controls, meet reporting deadlines, and support governance requirements.
• Management support: prepare analyses and commentary for management discussions and local and regional business reviews.

Required profile

• 3-5 years of relevant experience in FP&A / BPA teams covering business performance measurement, 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 high-context information to senior management and regional offices.
• Experience collaborating in a cross-functional team.

Required skills

• Excel and SAP analysis
• Key driver analysis (KDA)
• Planning and analysis
• Financial management and forecasting