Finance Director, D&D

The mission of the role is to transform the Aristocrat Design and Development Finance team to become genuine business partners to the Gaming Design and Development teams. Recent efficiency moves have streamlined internal reporting and instituted a nimble, key driver-based approach to planning and forecasting. An opportunity exists to activate genuine business partnerships further by aligning key team members even closer to their cross-functional business partners and commercial teams. The candidate will have a strong change orientation, strong leadership skills, and be able to guide the use of data.

The company’s biggest asset is our Design and Development talent. This role will be a strategic partner to the group's key leaders, ensure core financial processes for D&D are established, and provide reporting, analysis, forecasting, and budgeting support to D&D and Global marketing across all departments.

The role is both strategic and operational where the key outcomes are to continue to make the budgeting and planning process key driver-based, balancing the continuous flow of risks and opportunities. Maintain a multi-year financial forecast that interlocks the commercial priorities with a 3-year product development roadmap. Manage the portfolio to deliver expense-to-revenue targets. Partner with key stakeholders in the estimation of D&D expense for Gaming business cases and ensure alternative assumptions are identified. Work cross functionally to determine when key assumptions have changed, and further leadership dialogue is needed. Generate accurate and timely insights and trends on D&D spend and the related value generated. Use data visualization tools to create dashboards to optimize understanding for non-financial creative leaders. Participate in a community of practice for D&D finance across the company, collaborating with Group Finance, Aristocrat Interactive, Pixel United, and Corporate Strategy as appropriate. . Ensure data governance is well maintained. Ensure proper accounting rules are followed for capitalization of intangible assets, that capex is well controlled and balance sheet reconciliations are conducted monthly.

The outlook of the role is primarily internal, with the Chief Product Officer, Gaming, and his leadership team as the primary business partners. The role will guide senior leaders in the Design and Development community to prioritize their resources, identify choices, and optimize their spending. Will collaborate with Commercial Finance, the Reporting Center of Excellence, Corporate Finance, and other Finance functional resources to deploy financial systems and processes within Aristocrat to meet business unit performance targets. The role communicates with and utilizes the resources and support available within Aristocrat in Tax, Treasury, Accounting Services, D&D Project Management, and the broader Gaming D&D Senior Management Team.

What You'll Do

• Responsible for Global Gaming Design and Development Spend across multiple time horizons:  three-year roadmap, annual plan, LEs, and monthly actuals.
• Monitor spending by strategic investments, named functions, and by key leaders.  Maintain performance dashboards and ROI models that monitor these investments.  Foster the need for continuous improvement. 
• Continue to drive collaboration with Commercial / Commercial Finance to increase execution excellence. 
• Collaborate with Global HR to ensure our headcount and people costs are well understood.
• Responsible for all Global Gaming D&D analysis to Senior Management and Group Finance.  Includes any additional half-year and Year End reporting.  The provision of insightful and timely information to Senior D&D Management is a critical responsibility of this role.
• Partner with Gaming D&D stakeholders on planned and forecasted spend
• Collaborate to ensure Game Title data integrity, guiding the data analyst in India to achieve.
• Prepare and distribute the Studio Bang-for-Buck reporting package on a quarterly.
• Oversee the calculation process for studio incentives and track studio profitability.
• Manage the reconciliation of balance sheet liabilities for incentive programs.
• Responsible for internal controls over Gaming D&D Finance.  Includes liaising and coordinating with Group Risk & Audit on any internal audit assignments as well as measurement & monitoring of audit recommendations to ensure commitments are actioned.
• Ensure investment decisions are strategically sound throughout their investment life-cycle:
  • Business case D&D investments including identification of alternatives
  • Work closely with:
    • Product management (hardware, software, Class III, Class II) to assess requirements and timing of investment spending.
    • Content studios to understand standard game costs, develop studio performance dashboards, and provide game title trends and insights.
    • Commercial Finance teams to ensure the entire P&L picture (i.e. revenue and costs) is collated, monitored, and tracked on all projects. 
    • Project governance team and relevant project and program managers on the above to ensure accurate and timely tracking of costs and schedules
• Led an extended team of three.  Two direct reports:  Financial Manager FP&A with a Financial Analyst direct report and a Finance Data Analyst in India.  There is also a collaboration relationship with the India Finance Director, who has two Financial Managers directly supporting D&D, the Gaming RCOE, and Commercial Finance supporting the GIC.
• Any other ad hoc projects as they arise.

What We're Looking For

• At least 10 years experience in Financial / Accounting roles.
• Strong people leadership experience.
• Experience in managing multiple stakeholders, across multiple (including global) locations.  Must have worked in large, multi-layered organizations.
• Excellent business acumen, with the ability to lead discussions with executives to obtain key decisions.
• Excellent change management skills, with the ability to work effectively in a fast-moving, dynamic matrixed environment
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.  Detail/deadline-orientated with effective organizational, analytical, and documentation skills.
• Effective problem-solving, process improvement, and analytical skills. 
• Prior experience in leading change with a focus on business partnership
• Prior experience with consolidation software and an understanding of data analytics and visualization tool capabilities.

Why Aristocrat?

Aristocrat is a world leader in gaming content and technology, and a top-tier publisher of free-to-play mobile games. We deliver great performance for our B2B customers and bring joy to the lives of the millions of people who love to play our casino and mobile games. And while we focus on fun, we never forget our responsibilities. We strive to lead the way in responsible gameplay, and to lift the bar in company governance, employee wellbeing and sustainability. We’re a diverse business united by shared values and an inspiring mission to bring joy to life through the power of play.

We aim to create an environment where individual differences are valued, and all employees have the opportunity to realize their potential. We welcome and encourage applications from all people regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, cultural background, disability status or LGBTQ+ identity. We offer a range of flexible working options through all.flex, our flexible hybrid work model and invite you to have a conversation with us about flexible working. EEO M/F/D/V

• World Leader in Gaming Entertainment

• Robust benefits package

• Global career opportunities

Our Values

• All about the Player

• Talent Unleashed

• Collective Brilliance

• Good Business Good Citizen

The US based roles may require registration with the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) and/or other gaming jurisdictions in which we operate.

Travel Expectations

Up to 25%

Pay Range

$164,933 - $306,304 per year

Our goal is to pay a market competitive salary focusing near the median of our pay ranges. However, final offers for all positions will be based on several factors such as experience level, education, skills, work location, and internal pay equity.