Planning Systems Director

About us

One team. Global challenges. Infinite opportunities. At Viasat, we’re on a mission to deliver connections with the capacity to change the world. For more than 35 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the globe communicate. We’re looking for people who think big, act fearlessly, and create an inclusive environment that drives positive impact to join our team.

The Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) team specializes in facilitating the production of financial data and insights, budgeting analysis, forecasting analysis, variance analysis, variance commentary, reporting and reviews, and presentation and project preparation.

The planning system is a key enabler to the success of FP&A and Finance at Viasat.

The Planning Systems team is embedded within Finance, reporting to the VP-Finance Corporate FP&A. This team specializes in enabling business success through transforming the planning requirements of finance into robust and reliable technical solutions while also educating teams in planning workflows & processes, latest developments & tools, and reporting metrics. It also owns the planning system application and configuration including metadata, rules and calculations, models, logic & scripts, etc.

Global IT retains ownership of the platform, security standards, integrations, environments, disaster recovery, and technical operations, however all changes are approved via the Planning Systems team.

The primary purpose of this position is to lead the Planning Systems team - through initial transformation, ultimately embedding standard work procedures across the team and in support of wider Finance requirements. This role is accountable for delivering a trusted, governed, readily available, and auditable Planning System that supports fit for purpose forecasting, close, consolidation enablement, and reporting / scenario analysis.

This role will also focus on expanding the use of digital tools and workflows (such as AI) and transforming Viasat into a data enabled organisation. You will partner with Finance and key leaders to execute Finance strategic plans and objectives.

You will lead and mentor a team of professionals within the function, shaping strategic direction and successful execution. You will also support efficiency, quality, and performance improvements across Corporate FP&A and wider finance, delivering a culture of Continuous Improvement which is founded on the principles of a Lean Business System. You will support the existing FP&A Lean Roadmap.

• Own the strategic roadmap for planning systems and support wider data strategy, AI rollout, and future ERP initiatives across Accounting and Finance.
• Develop and lead an effective team of professionals in support of your objectives. Oversee, train and mentor staff including those within wider Finance.
• Own standard work initiatives including preparing and maintaining up to date documentation of technical specifications, configurations & rules, processes, and solutions.
• Develop and own effective process governance, including a fit for purpose intake and prioritization process (e.g. through a Jira ticket management system).
• Partner with Finance and Global IT to define and implement future state requirements, including integration, dimensions, standards, data governance, etc.
• Define and manage KPIs / SLAs (e.g. availability, data refresh timeliness, feed success rates, reconciliation breaks, close-cycle readiness, defect escape rates, user satisfaction).
• Lead modernization initiatives that reduce complexity and risk (e.g. simplify scripts and calculations, improve performance, automate controls, rationalize custom logic, etc).
• Support Global IT with the overall…