Senior Business Analyst - Business Office

About the role

The Design Business Office Analyst plays a critical role in managing, analyzing, and optimizing the Global Design organization's financial operations. This position is responsible for evaluating financial data, monitoring budget performance across multiple operational pillars, and providing strategic recommendations to leadership to drive efficiency. The ideal candidate will possess strong analytical and collaborative skills, a deep understanding of corporate financial compliance, and the ability to manage current-year execution while forecasting resource and department needs up to five years into the future.

Responsibilities

What you'll do...

• Budget Development, Forecasting & Compliance:
  • Multi-Pillar Budget Management: Collaborate with global department heads to develop, manage, and monitor departmental budgets across five key pillars: Personnel, Purchased Services, Material, Other Indirect, and Capital Projects.
  • Financial Accuracy: Maintain strict forecasting accuracy of +/- 5% compared to actual finance results.
  • Policy Compliance: Apply a deep understanding of the Ford Finance Manual to appropriately define, categorize, and bin spending based on the item, cost, and intended use.
  • Strategic Planning: Focus on current calendar year execution while proactively tracking, modeling, and anticipating department needs 5 years out.
• Financial Operations & Procurement Lifecycle:
  • End-to-End Project Tracking: Monitor and track departmental projects from initial need identification through procurement, delivery, and final payment.
  • Capital & Purchase Authorizations: Author all Capital Projects on behalf of the department and stakeholders; draft and submit material and purchased services orders as needed.
  • Transaction & Expense Management: Review and process FAB card orders, and ensure all incoming invoices and receipts are sufficiently detailed and processed within a timely manner.
  • Audit & Reconciliation: Conduct monthly audits of existing purchase orders and initiate corrective actions to resolve discrepancies or update contract terms.
• Collaboration, Reporting & Continuous Improvement:
  • Executive Reporting: Prepare, update, and present clear financial status reports, forecast models, and presentations for senior design leadership.
  • Finance Liaison: Partner closely with the Corporate Finance team to maintain clear visibility of planned versus target spending, ensuring funding is optimized and utilized within the appropriate fiscal windows.
  • Process Innovation: Identify trends, locate cost-saving opportunities, and implement robust processes to ensure data integrity and timely reporting.
  • Emerging Technology Integration: Stay current on emerging digital tools and applications (e.g., AI Co-Pilot, advanced Excel/PowerBI, financial automation tools) to drive operational efficiencies within the business office.

Qualifications

You'll have...

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Finance, Business Administration, or a closely related field.
• Experience: 5+ years of experience in business operations, financial analysis, corporate procurement, or budget management. Prior experience working within Ford Motor Company and a strong familiarity with the Ford Finance Manual, corporate purchasing systems, corporate compliance structures and Product Planning.
• Analytical Skills: Strong financial acumen with proven experience tracking complex budgets, analyzing variances, and managing forecasting cycles. Familiarity with tracking capital expenditure (CapEx) and operational expenditure (OpEx) cycles.
• Systems & Tools: High proficiency in Microsoft Excel (advanced modeling, pivot tables, formulas) and standard corporate financial/purchasing software. Demonstrated experience using data visualization tools (such as PowerBI, QlikView) and leveraging generative AI/digital assistants (such as Co-Pilot) to improve workflow efficiency.
• Communication: Outstanding written, verbal, and visual communication skills, with the ability to translate complex financial data into actionable insights for non-finance stakeholders. Proven track record of collaborating effectively with multi-disciplinary, global teams.

Pay

This position is a salary grade 7 and ranges from $86,600-$144,900. This position is a salary grade 8 and ranges from $99,100-$166,200. Final determination of salary grade will be based on candidate's skills and experience, and base salary will be set within the applicable range according to job scope, responsibility and competitive market value.

Benefits

• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service
• A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year's Day
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time

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