Are you a finance professional who excels at partnering with the business, influencing strategic decisions, and driving commercial performance?

We are looking for a
Finance Business Partner, Senior Advisor
at Smith+Nephew Japan. Apply now and join us

Life Unlimited.
At Smith+Nephew we design and manufacture technology that takes the limits off living.

Smith+Nephew is a world leader in advanced wound management, orthopaedics and sports medicine technologies and solutions.

Role Overview
The Finance Business Partner is responsible for partnering with the Business Unit Director in Japan and supporting the overall North Asia (Japan & Korea) Finance Business Partner to drive profitable growth. This role is primarily focused on Japan, but may optionally take on partial, cross-border responsibilities (e.g., supporting the same BU in Korea) as a developmental path.

By developing and maintaining strong cross-functional relationships, the Finance Business Partner will provide commercial and financial insight to challenge the business, drive performance and ensure rigor in decision making.

By combining finance expertise with business acumen, the Finance Business Partner constructively challenges the business and provides valuable insight to ensure optimal decision-making outcomes. This includes evaluating investment opportunities, identifying efficiency and cost improvements as well as identifying and mitigating commercial risk. Furthermore, the Finance Business Partner is expected to proactively identify, propose and pursue opportunities for innovation and growth.

Key Responsibilities:

• Drive business performance by partnering with the Business Unit Directors in Japan to set performance targets, monitor performance against KPIs, assess commercial risk and intervene to exploit opportunity or re-set course where necessary to ensure the assigned Japan business unit meets and exceeds its objectives (25%).
• Challenge the business and its functional stakeholders to ensure rigor in decision making. This will involve providing commercial and financial insight in many areas of the business including, but not limited to, sales force effectiveness, customer and portfolio profitability, asset efficiency, pricing strategy and commercial risk management. (25%).
• Deliver ON strategic and commercial planning processes of the assigned Japan business unit. This will include administering the process of strategic review planning, budgeting and forecasting and will require an excellent understanding of business drivers required to achieve business objectives. (15%)
• Perform requested analysis on market and environmental trends, the competitive landscape and competitor strategy and provide insight to the business on how this might impact on strategy and performance. (5%).
• Support the delivery of change initiatives in the organization. Support the business and its functional stakeholders in the implementation and monitoring of business initiatives. (10%).
• Act as a key partner to the Controllership team during internal/external audits and significant tax-related inquiries (e.g., Transfer Pricing), supporting responses and co-designing remediation plans. (5%)
• Act as a mentor and coach to P3 FBP team members, providing guidance on complex analysis and supporting their professional development as a senior member of the team. (5%) * Provide finance expertise to support the evaluation of investment opportunities and M&A initiatives as required. (5%)
• Partner with the business or its functional stakeholders to manage external relationships with suppliers and customers, ensuring optimal commercial outcomes for the business (5%).

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Qualifications
Education:

Degree in Finance, Commerce or Accounting preferred but relevant business-related qualifications would be considered.

Licenses/ Certifications:

Post-graduate degree in business management/administration or equivalent is advantageous CA/CIMA or equivalent

Experience:

• 8-12+ years post-qualification experience with at least 5+ years in a senior commercial finance role.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional projects is required.
• Proven experience in an international or cross-border environment is highly desirable.
• Experience in coaching or mentoring junior team members (e.g., analysts or P3-level) on complex tasks is desirable.
• Relevant industry experience advantageous, ideally in Medical Devices or Pharmaceuticals.
• Highly talented individual with the ability and willingness to progress to more senior Finance roles.

Competences:

• Ability to work across multiple initiatives simultaneously and process complex data to generate relevant insight.
• Ability to continuously learn and acquire knowledge.
• Ability to use financial insight and business acumen to solve problems.
• Confidence to intervene and challenge the business when appropriate.
• Ability to build strong relationships across the business and its functions.
• Ability to drive business performance based on KPI and driver analysis.
• Ability to perform complex analysis, modelling and valuations.
• Ability to control a thorough planning, forecasting and budgeting process.
• Expert-level financial modeling skills in MS Excel are required.
• Advanced proficiency with Power BI, including data modeling, process design, and project leadership for efficiency improvements, is required.
• Proficiency with core financial systems (e.g., TM1, SAP, MS Dynamics AX) for complex data analysis is required.
• Ability to initiate and drive change.
• Mobility preferred, domestic and international.

Travel Requirements: 10–25%

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