Director, Financial Planning & Analysis

The posting, as Hearst wrote it

About This Role

The Director, IT Finance owns financial planning and analysis for Hearst Technology Services — the forecast, the annual budget cycle, the monthly close, the management reporting package, and the analysis that supports investment decisions across the technology division.

This is a leadership role for an experienced FP&A professional. The Director manages the Manager, FP&A and the analyst team beneath that role, and partners directly with technology department heads and with the Sourcing, Technology Business Management, and corporate accounting teams — translating technology cost into decisions about investment and run-rate reduction. Success is measured by forecast accuracy, a clean and on-time close, and the quality of the insight delivered to senior management.

What You'll Do

Planning, Forecasting & Budgeting

• Own the monthly forecast for operating expense, project expense, and capital, consolidating inputs from technology department heads into a single defensible view.
• Lead the annual budget cycle for assigned technology towers: build the calendar, set assumptions, challenge submissions, and deliver a board-ready plan.
• Drive the capital planning process — validate business cases, build financial models, quantify ROI and payback, and make funding recommendations to senior management.
• Model the financial impact of organizational, vendor, and architecture changes, including multi-year run-rate savings and one-time transition costs.

Reporting & Analysis

• Deliver monthly P&L, G&A, and budgetary status reporting to IT senior management with variance analysis against budget and forecast, root-cause explanation, and recommended remediation.
• Build and maintain the recurring management reporting package — reducing manual preparation through automation and standardization rather than headcount.
• Surface budgetary inconsistencies, control gaps, or improprieties to senior management promptly and with supporting analysis.
• Develop the analytics that answer forward-looking questions from leadership, not only what was spent but what is likely to be spent and what should change.

Business Partnership & Operations

• Serve as the finance partner to assigned technology department heads — understand their roadmap, align forecast to delivery, and flag risk before it materializes in the actuals.
• Work with Technology Sourcing & Vendor Management on the financial analysis supporting contract negotiations, renewals, and consolidation decisions.
• Support the Technology Business Management team on intercompany assessments — reconcile differences against the general ledger and supply the financial inputs the cost model depends on.
• Anticipate risk, adjust plans, and keep leadership informed early — no surprises at month end.

Month-End Close & Financial Operations

• Own the monthly close for the technology division — accruals, journal entries, and reclasses — working with the corporate accountant to close the books acc

[…]
nciples.

• Proven success as a business partner in a client-service environment spanning multiple business units and stakeholder levels.
• Excel proficiency.
• Excellent listening and communication skills, with the ability to deliver clear, well-organized presentations and written correspondence to executive audiences.
• Strong personal time management and the ability to run several projects simultaneously against fixed close and planning deadlines.

Preferred Qualifications

• Technology Business Management experience, or familiarity with a technology chargeback, showback, or cost allocation model.
• Working knowledge of Oracle ERP.
• Practical experience applying AI tools such as Claude or ChatGPT to financial analysis, reporting, and workflow automation.
• Familiarity with cloud cost management or FinOps practices.
• IT finance or shared-services finance experience.
• Strong interest in working within technology.

What Success Looks Like in Year One

• Forecast variance is narrow, explainable, and trusted by both HTS leadership and business unit finance.
• The monthly reporting package is faster to produce and more useful to the people who receive it.
• Capital and project funding decisions are supported by models leadership trusts without re-checking.
• Technology department heads treat this role as their first call on any decision with a financial consequence.

Benefits

Hearst provides a competitive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance, 401(k), paid holidays and paid time off, employee assistance programs, and more.
Compensation

The base salary range below is the Company's good-faith estimate for this position in the posted work location at the time of posting. Final starting salary will be based on permissible, non-discriminatory factors, including but not limited to skills, experience, training, certifications, education, location and market considerations.

Base Salary Range

$190,000 — $220,000 USD