Manager, Budget & Finance

Job Purpose

The staff will oversee financial planning, budgeting, and governance processes supporting SMRT Institute’s operations across internal budgets and revenue-generating activities. This includes managing SMRT budget and Group Training Budget, providing financial oversight for business development (BD) projects, and ensuring proper financial controls, reporting, and compliance. The staff is responsible for strengthening financial governance, enabling data-driven decision-making, and supporting accurate tracking of expenditure, revenue, and budget utilisation across all Institute functions.

Responsibilities

1.   Budget Planning & Management – Facilitate annual budget exercise for SMRT Institute and Group Training Budget, including but not limited to:
   
   a.    Liaise with stakeholders to consolidate budget submissions and assumptions
   b.    Track and monitor budget utilisation across departments and programmes
   c.    Provide regular updates, variance analysis, and projections to management
   d.    Support strategic financial planning across internal budgets and revenue-generating activities
   
   
2.   Financial Monitoring & Reporting – Ensure accurate tracking and reporting of financial performance:
   
   a.    Monitor expenditure against approved budgets and highlight key variances
   b.    Prepare financial reports, dashboards, and analysis for management review
   c.    Support month-end and year-end financial reconciliation processes
   d.    Maintain proper documentation for audit and governance purposes
   
   
3. Business Development (BD) Financial Support – Provide operational financial support for BD projects, including but not limited to:
   
   a.    Revenue and budget planning for projects and initiatives
   b.    Revenue billing and tracking of income streams
   c.    Expenditure billing and cost tracking
   d.    Financial reconciliation and reporting for BD activities
   
   
4. Group Training Budget Management – Support governance and administration of Group Training Budget:
   
   a.    Track utilisation and allocation across business units
   b.    Liaise with stakeholders on budget usage and reporting requirements
   c.    Ensure alignment with organisational financial policies and frameworks
   
   
5. Course Billing & Financial Operations – Support financial processes related to training operations:
   
   a.    Oversee billing processes for training programmes and courses
   b.    Ensure accuracy of invoices, payments, and financial records
   c.    Work with Finance and Procurement teams on financial processing (e.g. PR, PO, invoicing)
   
   
6. Compliance – Ensure proper documentation and upkeep of financial policies, processes, trackers, and records
   
   
7. Process Reviews – Review and administer SOPs and financial processes as appropriate to enhance work productivity. Support implementation of process improvement initiatives
   
   
8. Management Reporting – Assist in management reports and provide regular updates and analysis on financial performance and key initiatives
   
   
9. Cross-functional Support – Provide support to other Learning Operations functions on administrative and operational matters, where required
   
   

Note that the list is not comprehensive and related duties and responsibilities may be assigned from time to time.

Qualifications & Work Experience

1.    Minimum Bachelor’s Degree, in any discipline from a recognized university
2.    Proficient in MS Office (especially Microsoft Excel)
3.    Familiarity with using SAP, ARIBA, and Power BI preferred
4.    At least 3 years of related experience, preferably in a training environment

Skills

Technical skills include:

1. Good analytical, decision-making and problem-solving skills.
2. Possess a high level of personal effectiveness, attention to detail and impeccable follow-through
3. Strong planning, analytical and organisational skills combined with excellent time management
4. Capable of handling multiple tasks, working well under pressure and short timelines
5. Result-oriented and exceptional problem-solving skills to address existing challenges to achieve sustainable and impactful results 

Generic skills include:

1. A team player who is a fast learner, has an open mind-set, collaborative, highly independent, committed, and adaptable to a fast-paced environment that requires multi-tasking.
2. Meticulous, detail-oriented, numerate and able to work in a fast-paced environment
3. Good communication, interpersonal and organizational skills
4. Able to work autonomously as well as in a team environment