Sony Pictures Television operates dozens of wholly-owned or joint-venture production companies around the world. SPE’s Motion Picture Group production organizations include Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems, TriStar Pictures, 3000 Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Stage 6 Films, Sony Pictures International Productions, and Sony Pictures Classics. 

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) is one of the television industry’s leading content providers, producing, distributing, and carrying programming worldwide in every genre and for every platform. In addition to managing one of the industry’s largest libraries of award-winning feature films, television shows and formats, SPT is home to a thriving global content business, operating a robust portfolio of wholly-owned and joint-venture production companies across the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, as well as linear and digital channels around the world. SPT is a Sony Pictures Entertainment Company.

Manager, Domestic Distribution Finance

Reporting into Executive Director of Finance, the Manager, Domestic Distribution Finance is accountable for all aspects of FP&A responsibilities to support the team managing all planning processes of the US Distribution business.  The individual will collaborate with commercial partners to understand business performance and direction and effectively articulate commercial drivers and context to management and finance stakeholders throughout the organization.  The ideal candidate will have a strong track record of process improvement, comfort working with multiple financial and planning systems, excellent analytical, collaboration, presentation, and communication skills. 

The followings are the core responsibilities related to businesses with over $1 billion in revenue but are not limited to: 

• Support the finance team that is responsible for P&L, cash flow, and balance sheet planning processes related to US Distribution sales of SPE Content.  This includes coordination, review, and analysis of actual, planning (mid-range plan, quarterly forecast, and budget), investment / commitment approvals, ad hoc and KPI management reporting, utilizing a critical-thinking lens as well as managing the variance explanations with a root-cause analysis

• In the near term, partner with FP&A colleagues across the company (distribution, production, corporate) to significantly reduce the duration of our quarterly forecast cycles, creating opportunities for increased collaboration with commercial partners and value-add analyses.

• Support monthly close of US TVD P&L and cash flow, providing SPE management with financial results review shortly after monthly, quarterly and year end close, including an analysis of budget/forecast to actual results, trend analysis or other important commercial context & insights 

• Work in partnership with Sales Planning and Content Strategy, review title ultimates quarterly and provide recommendations to management

• Work closely with sales and sales planning teams to understand market environment and deal expectations to effectively communicate commercial drivers to finance management and stakeholders outside of distribution

• Assist with financial analyses in support of significant new deals, including impact to production divisions

• Collaborate with operation to understand and help defining financial targets and goals, further supporting the management in executing financial goals

• Develop and implement processes to leverage existing global tools and streamline workflows, transforming legacy manual processes into integrated digital/automated processes & partnering with global finance distribution colleagues to share best practices.

• Evaluate long-term company financial metric model, sensitivity analysis & scenario cases for strategic planning

• Assess and evaluate financial performance with regard to operational strategic goals, identification of opportunities and mitigate risks and collaborate with management to set KPIs

• Perform and manage insightful analyses, reports, and presentations on relevant operating and financial metrics in an easy-to-understand format to executives to influence decision-making

• Collaborate, build, and maintain strong relationships with various groups internal / external groups

• Efficiently work with cross-functional teams to identify financial value drivers & maintain the highest level of data quality

• Complete special projects for operations and finance as necessary.

REQUIREMENTS & PREFERENCES

• 5+ years Corporate FP&A in media entertainment and / or management consulting / banking experience

• Prior experience in sales distribution finance and/or digital space is preferred

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business, Economics, or other relevant field that demonstrated quantitative orientation

• Expert in financial modeling and analysis, including annual budgeting and long-term strategic planning as Corporate FP&A

• High proficiency in MS Excel and PowerPoint with data analytics & ability to translate information / data into insight-driven story telling management report / presentation

• Ability to analyze and work with high volume of data from multiple sources

• SAP/BPC and/or Essbase/PBCS knowledge preferred. Power BI or Tableau experience a plus

CORE SKILLS / KEY COMPETENCIES

• Experience in transforming legacy manual processes into integrated digital/automated processes, as well as identifying and organizing data to achieve a better outcome for analyses

• Able to quickly grasp new concepts, problem solve and communicate with finance and non-finance partners through tactical execution

• Ability to operate effectively in a deadline driven environment, managing competing priorities and independently managing projects through completion

• Proactive, self-starter and independent thinker, with strong ability to collaborate across team environment

• Team player, upbeat, and focused, with a strong passion to learn and succeed

• Excellent oral and written communication skills with multiple levels of the organization

• Thrive in a fast-paced dynamic environment, possess a high level of intellectual curiosity, focus on generating results and exhibit the highest personal and professional standards of integrity and ethics

• Self-motivated, a “get it done” attitude and approach & strong sense of urgency when needed and efficiency in time-management

• A strong comfort level with analyzing large datasets and drawing meaningful conclusions/results that add value to the business

• Think outside the box & challenge status quo when required by highlighting new trends, improving existing processes or are open to sourcing those ideas from others

• Ability to work with all departments of company - multi-cultural workforce

• Critical thinking & demonstrated experience in problem solving, making decisions influenced by data and business insights utilizing financial modeling

• Great judgement and decisiveness when dealing with deadline-driven, finance-related issues and concerns

• Strong interpersonal communication skills

• Excellent organization skills, acute attention to detail, ability to handle multiple tasks in a fast-paced and time sensitive environment

• Strong follow-through on all projects; ability to bring projects to timely completion with proven track record of meeting deadlines, and taking initiative to make confident and well-informed decisions

• Solid accounting / GAAP knowledge – ASC 606 and IFRS a plus