Lead Specialist, FP&A, Finance
Join South Pole as Lead FP&A Specialist in Florence to build scalable forecasts, automate dashboards, and drive actionable insights for Advisory and Certificates.
South Pole is an energetic, global company offering comprehensive sustainability solutions and services. With offices spanning all continents across the globe, we strive to create a sustainable society and economy that positively impacts our climate, ecosystems and developing communities. With our solutions, we inspire and enable our customers to create value from sustainability-related activities.
Our Corporate Functions team is the “enablement engine” of South Pole. Behind the scenes, we provide the business with world-class solutions and best practices that sustain business growth and success. We cover key areas such as Finance, HR, Office Management, Legal, IT, Operations, etc. If you are a smart, ambitious and dynamic professional with a strong passion to make a real difference in the fight against climate change, the below position may be right for you!
Job summary:
The Lead Specialist, FP&A will support the Senior Manager FP&A in the financial planning, performance analysis and business partnering activities for the Advisory and Certificates business lines.
The purpose of the role is diverse, it is aimed to support recurring FP&A activities, and to make them scalable, automated and easier to transfer across the team. The person will help improve how forecasts are prepared, how pipeline and margin performance are monitored, how business reviews are structured, and how financial insights are translated into clear actions.
The role is based in Florence and is designed for someone who can quickly build business understanding, learn from the Senior Manager FP&A and progressively take ownership of recurring analyses, dashboards and reporting processes.
There is a small team in Florence and we believe in face to face collaboration.This role is expected to go to the office at least once per week.
Main tasks & responsibilities:
FP&A support for Advisory and Certificates
- Support the Senior Manager FP&A in budget, forecast and business review processes for Advisory and Certificates.
- Analyse revenue, gross margin, costs, EBITDA, pipeline conversion, pricing, delivery timing and project profitability.
- Help explain monthly performance by identifying the real business drivers behind variances, not only reporting movements versus budget.
- Support business stakeholders with financial analysis on pipeline, pricing, margin, resource allocation and project economics.
Automation and process improvement
- Improve recurring FP&A processes by reducing manual work, simplifying templates and increasing consistency of outputs.
- Build and maintain scalable models and dashboards for forecast updates, pipeline tracking, margin analysis, performance reviews and KPI monitoring.
- Work with Power BI, Google Sheets / Excel and other reporting tools to improve data quality, automation and usability of FP&A outputs.
- Reconcile and connect financial, commercial and operational data to ensure that reports are based on reliable and consistent information.
Business understanding and ownership
South Pole is a global climate solutions provider and carbon project developer. We support public and private sector organizations in achieving their climate and sustainability goals through two core business lines:
Certificates:
We originate and advise high-quality carbon reduction and removal projects around the world from nature based solutions to cookstove projects. These projects generate environmental assets such as carbon credits and renewable energy certificates, which support organizations in their decarbonization journeys.
Climate Advisory Services:
Our advisory business provides end-to-end sustainability solutions, including climate risk analysis, net zero roadmaps, ESG advisory, supply chain engagement, and policy guidance. We work closely with clients to develop and implement science-based strategies that contribute to climate resilience and low-carbon transformation.
This role is aimed to:
- Develop a strong understanding of Advisory and Certificates business models, including revenue streams, margin drivers, project economics and carbon credit market dynamics.
- Work closely with Commercial, Operations, Accounting and Finance Systems to improve forecast inputs, reporting flows and business insight.
- Progressively take ownership of recurring FP&A analyses, dashboards and reporting processes currently managed by the Senior Manager FP&A.
Requirements:
● 4+ years of experience in FP&A, financial analysis, business partnering, controlling, reporting automation or similar roles.
● Strong Excel / Google Sheets skills, including structured models, advanced formulas and reporting templates.
● Good Power BI skills, including dashboard creation, Power Query and data modelling.
● Strong understanding of P&L, revenue, gross margin, operating costs, EBITDA, working capital and cash flow.
● Ability to turn financial data into clear insights, business recommendations and management reporting.
● Strong analytical mindset, attention to detail and proactive approach to process improvement.
● Fluent English, written and spoken.
● Experience in advisory, consulting, project-based businesses or professional services.
● Knowledge of carbon credit markets, certificates, trading, sustainability or climate-related businesses.
● Experience with Tagetik, BigQuery, SQL, APIs or other reporting / automation tools.
● Experience in an international or multi-entity group.
What we offer:
At South Pole, we care about our employees as much as we care about the planet. South Pole is not just an employer, we are a Team. South Pole does not just offer people a job, we offer you a career. By joining our team, you will find strong purpose and deep meaning in everything you do. You will have the chance to make a real difference for our clients and for the planet, working alongside a passionate team of like-minded colleagues, while building your knowledge/skills and developing your career in a fun, dynamic, international and fast-growing organisation.
We’re a planet of 7.5 billion unique and different people. We all have a contribution to make and South Pole is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, marital status or disability. Our recruitment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit and business need.
- Department
- Corporate Services
- Locations
- Florence
Florence
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Work-life balance
From flexible working hours to flexible workplace (home office), with above-average vacation allowances, we strive to make the work and family life puzzle an easy one for our employees.
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Flexible Vacation Benefits
Options to buy up to 5 extra days of time off.
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Life Insurance
Available to all employees across the world.
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Care for your Wellbeing
Access to mental, physical and financial wellbeing support through our Employee Assistance Program (TELUS Health).
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Parental leave
Should any of our employees need to take time off the Iceberg as a result of a new addition to their household, we are happy to be able to offer competitive Paid Parental leave to support them during this time.
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Compassionate Leave
Sometimes life is unpredictable, and when unfortunate events occur, we want to give you peace of mind so you feel fully supported during this time.
What makes us unique
At South Pole, we are first and foremost a purpose-driven Company. People join us because they believe in our mission and want to be part of a community that fights together for our shared values and beliefs. But that is not the only reason why working at South Pole is such a rewarding experience.
- We know that our vision to help create a greener world is both bold and challenging. To achieve it, we settle for nothing less than the absolute best. We form a Community that is stronger than the sum of its parts.
- Entrepreneurial at heart. It’s not just our founders who are entrepreneurs. We actively promote an innovative mindset at all levels of the organisation, where each and every employee is encouraged to challenge the status quo and empowered to make decisions.
- Growing employees in a growing company. With a team of smart, passionate and engaged colleagues, as well as increasing demand from our clients, opportunities to learn, develop our skills and grow our careers are endless.
- All for one, and one for all! Above all other things, what truly drives our dedication and commitment to our purpose is our colleagues. We learn from each other and grow together. Because that is who Penguins are.
About South Pole
Our story began in Zurich, with 5 friends* in 2002. They had a belief and a vision to shape and change the future of the world through climate empowerment, education and projects with their non-profit organisation; MyClimate. These ‘social entrepreneurs’ went on to pioneer climate change with the introduction of South Pole in 2006*. More than 20 years on, with the support of some of the most passionate and talented entrepreneurs around them, who are empowered to all play their part and with their founding belief in aligning purpose with passion, people and profit, they have created South Pole, an organisation that has gone onto positively impact the lives of over 20 million people across the world through its projects, saving over 20,000 km2 of forests from deforestation.
*Patrick Bürgi, Thomas Camerata, Renat Heuberger, Ingo Puhl, and Christoph Sutter
*2006 Joined by Marco Hirsbrunner and Christoph Grobel