Assistant Manager - Finance and Procurement Operations Business Partner

The Assistant Manager – Finance and Procurement Operations Business Partner supports the Marketing function in managing its financial planning, procurement activities, vendor relationships, and operational requirements. The role acts as the main coordination point between Marketing and Finance, Procurement, Legal, and external suppliers to ensure budgets, purchase requests, contracts, purchase orders, and payments are managed efficiently and in accordance with organizational policies.

Financial Planning and Budget Management

• Support the preparation and management of the Marketing department’s annual budget and financial plans.
• Work with Marketing teams to forecast spending requirements across campaigns, events, media, sponsorships, agencies, and other activities.
• Monitor actual spending, commitments, and available budgets against approved plans.
• Prepare regular budget reports, forecasts, variance analyses, and financial updates for Marketing leadership.
• Identify potential budget risks, overspending, underspending, and funding gaps, and recommend appropriate actions.
• Support budget transfers, reallocations, accruals, and year-end financial closing activities.
• Ensure accurate allocation of costs across Marketing functions, projects, campaigns, and cost centres.

Procurement Operations

• Coordinate procurement requirements for marketing campaigns, events, media services, creative agencies, production services, research, and other marketing activities.
• Support the preparation and submission of purchase requisitions, requests for proposals, tender documents, and purchase orders.
• Work with Marketing stakeholders to develop clear scopes of work, technical requirements, deliverables, and commercial evaluation criteria.
• Track procurement activities from initial request through sourcing, evaluation, contracting, purchase order issuance, and payment.
• Ensure procurement requests are supported by the required approvals and documentation.
• Maintain visibility of procurement timelines and follow up on delayed or outstanding actions.

Vendor and Contract Management

• Coordinate the onboarding and registration of new Marketing vendors and agencies.
• Maintain accurate records of vendor contracts, purchase orders, deliverables, payment schedules, and contract expiry dates.
• Monitor vendor performance against agreed service levels, deliverables, timelines, and budgets.
• Support contract renewals, amendments, extensions, and closure activities.
• Coordinate with Procurement and Legal to address contractual, commercial, or supplier-related matters.
• Support the resolution of vendor disputes, delayed deliverables, invoice discrepancies, and payment issues.

Invoice and Payment Management

• Review invoices and supporting documents to confirm alignment with contracts, purchase orders, and completed deliverables.
• Coordinate with Marketing teams to obtain confirmation of services and approvals before processing payments.
• Track invoices and payments and follow up with Finance, Procurement, and vendors on outstanding items.
• Maintain accurate records of financial commitments, invoices, accruals, and payment status.
• Support the timely resolution of blocked, rejected, or incorrectly submitted invoices.

Business Partnering and Stakeholder Management

• Act as the main operational link between Marketing and Finance, Procurement, Legal, and other corporate functions.
• Advise Marketing stakeholders on relevant financial, procurement, and contracting processes.
• Support Marketing teams in planning procurement lead times and selecting the appropriate sourcing approach.
• Facilitate regular budget and procurement review meetings with Marketing stakeholders.
• Provide clear updates to management on budget status, procurement progress, risks, and required decisions.
• Build effective relationships with internal teams, agencies, suppliers, and service providers.

Governance, Compliance and Reporting

• Ensure all Marketing financial and procurement activities comply with organizational policies, delegated authorities, and approval requirements.
• Maintain complete and accurate documentation to support governance reviews and internal or external audits.
• Develop and maintain trackers, dashboards, reports, and operational records for budgets, contracts, purchase orders, and payments.
• Identify process gaps and recommend improvements to increase efficiency, visibility, and compliance.
• Support the development of standardized templates, guidelines, and working procedures for Marketing operations.
• Monitor key operational indicators, including procurement turnaround time, budget utilization, payment status, and vendor performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, Procurement, Supply Chain Management, or a related field.
• Professional certification in Finance, Procurement, Supply Chain, or Project Management is an advantage.
• Minimum of 4–6 years of relevant experience in finance operations, procurement, commercial operations, business partnering, or budget management.
• Previous experience supporting a Marketing, Communications, Events, Media, or Sponsorships function is preferred.
• Experience managing budgets, purchase requisitions, purchase orders, contracts, invoices, and vendor relationships.