Director, Financial Planning - Hot Topic : Job Details

Hot Topic HQ - City of Industry, California - Full-time

At Hot Topic, we're all about music, pop culture, and embracing your true self. To keep delivering the best experience for our fans, we need strong financial analysis to ensure we stay on track. Our executive team relies on the FP&A department to provide the insights and data that drive business performance.

As the Director of FP&A, you'll lead financial planning, forecasting, and analysis, helping shape our strategy while ensuring financial discipline. You'll oversee a team of Financial Analysts and collaborate across the organization to provide data-driven recommendations that influence key business decisions.

This role requires a highly analytical, detail-oriented professional who enjoys solving complex business problems, building financial models, and partnering cross-functionally to optimize financial performance. You will develop scalable processes, reporting tools, and strategic analyses to support business leaders in making informed decisions.

• Business Partnering and Strategic Support
• Act as a strategic business partner to senior leadership, providing critical financial insights and recommendations to drive growth and profitability.
• Build strong relationships and frequently interact with finance business partners to develop a clear understanding of business issues.
• Participate in Monthly Business Reviews and present financial performance updates to the Senior Leadership Team.
• Financial Strategy & Performance Analysis
• Develop and maintain sophisticated financial models, forecasting tools, and reporting dashboards to monitor key business metrics and trends.
• Analyze business performance, identifying risks, opportunities, and levers to optimize financial outcomes.
• Provide deep-dive financial analyses to support strategic planning, resource allocation, and investment decisions.
• Lead post-mortem analyses on capital investments to assess profitability and effectiveness.
• Assess process improvement opportunities that enhance the efficiency of the financial planning cycle while also increasing the informative value of the content provided to Sr. Management.
• Develop financial presentations for Sr. Management and Board of Directors meetings.
• Budgeting, Forecasting & Financial Close
• Design the Planning cycle process and subsequent coordination and communication.
• Provide leadership to the team in the development and maintenance of financial models supporting Balance Sheet/Cash Flow forecasting, Long Range Planning, and the consolidation of channel/divisional forecasts.
• Drive the monthly and quarterly forecasting process, ensuring alignment with business objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Conduct monthly P&L variance analysis, identifying key drivers and recommending corrective actions.
• Develop and maintain KPI dashboards that provide real-time visibility into financial performance.
• Work with the Accounting team to ensure accurate and timely financial close, reconciling actuals against forecasts and budgets.

• 8+ years of experience in financial planning and analysis, corporate finance, or a related function with a proven track record in financial leadership positions.
• MBA, CPA, or CFA preferred but not required.
• Proven leadership abilities with experience in managing and developing high-performing teams.
• Strong experience in financial modeling, forecasting, budgeting, and data-driven decision-making.
• Advanced Excel and financial modeling skills, with the ability to build and maintain complex financial models.
• Experience with financial systems, ERP tools, and data visualization platforms.
• Ability to meet deadlines, prioritize work efficiently, and maintain composure in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills, with a high level of attention to detail.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to translate complex financial data into actionable insights.
• A collaborative mindset and the ability to work cross-functionally across teams and departments.