Analyst, Business Operations
Who are we?
At Pearson, we’re committed to a world that’s always learning and to our talented team who makes it all possible. From bringing lectures vividly to life to turning textbooks into laptop lessons, we are always re-examining the way people learn best, whether it’s one child in our own backyard or an education community across the globe. We also create incredible assessment clinical and professional tests to help people to growth in their personal and professional lives. We are bold thinkers and standout innovators who motivate each other to explore new frontiers in an environment that supports and inspires us to always be better. By pushing the boundaries of technology — and each other to surpass these boundaries — we create seeds of learning that become the catalyst for the world’s innovations, personal and global, large, and small.
What you’ll do
In this highly visible, multi-faceted role, you will deliver in-depth insights, identify key business drivers and risks, and explore opportunities for cost improvement and containment to optimize Pearson's overall cost of Global Payroll operations across 60 countries and over 30 vendors.
The Global Payroll Association has recognized Pearson’s Global Payroll team as short-listed nominees across various categories. Our team members have been featured on industry podcasts such as PayTalk and The Payroll Podcast.
Who you will work with
This role reports directly to the Vice President of Payroll. You will work closely with the Regional Payroll Leaders, FP&A, in-country Finance teams, Procurement, and Global Source-to-Pay. Additionally, you will regularly interact with various internal and external stakeholders, including HR, Pearson Financial Services, and external service providers.
Responsibilities
• Champion the Global Payroll cost-per-pay optimization initiative
• Develop divisional expense forecasting methods and tools
• Determine cost calculations and create/update templates for business planning activities
• Manage vendor purchase order creation and maintenance; in partnership with the Regional Payroll Leaders, ensure vendor invoices are appropriately recorded and paid timely
• Ownership of internal cyclical budget reviews and represent the division at budget-related meetings
• Construct models for the analysis of business cases
• Create and monitor budget-related KPIs and tie them to Global Payroll and Enterprise OKRs
• Assist the Regional Payroll Leaders with quarterly and yearly forecasting
• Assist with ad hoc requests that require financial modeling, scenario analysis, and simulations
Required skills/experience:
• 3-5 years of related experience in FP&A, Accounting, Business Analysis, or similar roles
• Experience with cost reduction strategies and expense management
• Basic understanding of financial principles and accounting procedures
• Experience building and updating financial models and transforming raw data into insights
• Comfortable acting as a “constructive challenger” when representing Global Payroll with cross-divisional teams
• Collaborative, emotionally intelligent, and curious
• Must be fluent in English
Preferred experience
• Experience with Oracle EBS
• Experience with iProcurement or other spend management tools
• Experience with Tableau, Power BI, or other data visualization tools