European Financial Controller – Degree Programmes Business Unit

The company

ESCP Business School is the world-renowned business school, founded in 1819, that trains the responsible leaders of tomorrow. Located in the heart of Paris, it offers innovative and multicultural teaching, supported by a network of six European campuses. Recognized for the excellence of its management programs, it fosters engagement, international awareness, and personalized support for talent throughout their studies.

Post description

Within the Group Finance Department, the Financial Controller acts as the financial point of reference for the Degree Programmes Business Unit (Bachelor, Master in Management, MSc, MBA).

In a multi-campus and international environment, he/she acts as a business partner to the Academic Management team, supporting the economic steering of programmes and actively contributing to strategic decisions, with the aim of optimising performance and ensuring the sustainability of the academic model.

Main Responsibilities

Financial Management & Reporting

• Prepare, consolidate and monitor the budgets of the Degree Programmes Business Unit across all campuses.
• Produce monthly reporting and forecasts covering revenues, teaching costs, margins and KPIs.
• Analyse variances and formulate operational recommendations.
• Define and monitor key performance indicators, such as cost per student, profitability by programme and contribution by campus.
• Oversee the day-to-day budget execution of the scope, including expenditure authorisations, management of budget overruns and related matters.

Academic Business Partnering

• Support Programme Directors and Academic Management in budget preparation and forecasting.
• Provide high-value-added financial analyses to inform decision-making, including cohort sizing, pricing and allocation of teaching resources.
• Participate in governance and steering bodies, such as programme committees and performance reviews.

Forecasting & Modelling

• Build forecast models incorporating student recruitment dynamics and multi-campus occupancy/fill rates.
• Prepare business plans for programme launches, portfolio developments and academic projects.
• Analyse the profitability and return on investment of academic initiatives.

Multi-campus Coordination & Governance

• Ensure financial coordination between campuses within the Degree Programmes scope.
• Guarantee compliance with deadlines, formats and quality standards for financial reporting across all campuses of the Academic Business Unit.
• Harmonise practices and contribute to data reliability, including student volumes, revenues and teaching costs.
• Ensure compliance with management rules and consistency with Group guidelines.

Tools & Continuous Improvement

• Develop and improve management tools, such as dashboards, BI and models.
• Contribute to cross-functional projects, including ERP, academic planning tools and data initiatives.
• Support the increasing maturity of multi-campus financial management.

Profile required

Education & Experience

• Higher education degree in finance/management, from a business school or university.
• 5 to 8 years’ experience in management control.
• Experience in an international and matrix environment would be an advantage.
• Experience in business partnering is essential.

Technical Skills

• Excellent command of professional English, with ease in using technical financial and accounting terminology, including IFRS standards, provisions, adjustments and related matters, is essential.
• Strong command of management control, including budgeting, forecasting and analysis.
• Excellent financial modelling skills.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel and BI tools, such as Power BI, Tableau, etc.
• Knowledge of an ERP system, such as SAP or Oracle, would be appreciated.

Behavioural Skills

• Initiative.
• Ability to interact with and influence non-financial stakeholders.
• Analytical mindset, rigour and ability to prioritise.
• Business partner mindset, with a constructive challenge approach and solution-oriented attitude.
• Autonomy, proactivity and ability to coordinate in a multi-campus environment.
• Ability to structure and present complex information to different audiences.

Success Indicators

• Reliability and relevance of forecasts.
• Compliance with deadlines and quality of multi-campus reporting.
• Impact of analyses on academic decisions.
• Improvement in the economic performance of programmes.
• Satisfaction of academic and financial stakeholders.

Required languages

• English - Level advanced

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