Business Analyst - Office of the Group Managing Director (Germiston Onsite)

SUMMARY:
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POSITION INFO:
ENVIRONMENT: SERVE as the right-hand to the Group Managing Direct of a leading provider of Industrial Consumables based in Germiston seeking a Business Analyst whose role will include analysis, reporting and project follow-through. This will also be extended to branch and category performance, margin and mix analysis, lead-time and process diagnostics, preparation of group flash commentary and BCP-facing packs, chasing exco commitments to closure. You will also be expected to run the MD’s operating rhythm, preparing him for BCP, board and customer engagements, ensuring nothing agreed in a meeting quietly dies and diary, travel, inbox triage, gatekeeping. The ideal candidate must possess a completed three or four-year Degree in a numerate discipline — BCom, BSc, Engineering, Actuarial, Statistics, Economics with 3-5 years post-graduation in an analytical, commercial, consulting or finance role. You must also be able to decompose a margin movement into price, volume and mix without being prompted; writes for an executive - one page, conclusion first, no adjectives doing the work of evidence and have Advanced Excel as a working tool including Pivot table, lookups, and enough Power Query or SQL to handle a system extract without asking IT.   DUTIES: Executive Reporting - ·        Prepare and quality-assure the monthly group flash commentary and BCP facing packs to a fixed structure and page limit. ·        Own the calendar and the data-gathering behind them.   Performance Analysis - ·        Branch, category and rep-level analysis of sales, gross margin, mix and expenses. ·        Explain variances in one page, not twenty slides.   Process Diagnostics - ·        Root-cause work on operational lead times and order flow — quote-to invoice, open order ageing, factory throughput — with quantified recommendations.   Project follow-through - ·        Track every commitment made in exco and MD-level meetings to a dated close-out. ·        Escalate slippage early.   Commercial Support - ·        Build the analysis behind pricing, campaign, tender and customer profitability decisions.   Governance and preparation - ·        Ensure the MD walks into every engagement with the right pack, the right numbers and the right two questions.   Executive Administration - ·        Diary, travel, inbox triage and gatekeeping, at a standard that never becomes the MD’s problem.   REQUIREMENTS: Non-negotiables – ·        Numerate to a professional standard. Can decompose a margin movement into price, volume and mix without being prompted. ·        Writes for an executive. One page, conclusion first, no adjectives doing the work of evidence. ·        Advanced Excel as a working tool, not a line on a CV. Pivot table, lookups, and enough Power Query or SQL to handle a system extract without asking IT. ·        Self-starting. Can take a three-line brief, come back with a one-paragraph interpretation and a checkpoint date, and then deliver. ·        Discreet. Will sit inside every sensitive conversation in the business, including remuneration, restructuring and disputes. ·        Willing to be on a branch floor and in a factory, not only in a spreadsheet.   Essential to have: ·        A completed three or four-year Degree in a numerate discipline — BCom, BSc, Engineering, Actuarial, Statistics, Economics. ·        3-5 Years post-graduation in an analytical, commercial, consulting or finance role. ·        Business-level English, written and spoken, to executive standard. ·        Valid driver’s licence and own transport. Willing to travel domestically.   Preferred to have - ·        Honours, CA(SA), CIMA, Industrial Engineering, or a part-time MBA or Postgraduate Diploma in progress. ·        Exposure to a multi-branch, multi-site or distribution business. ·        Power BI or Tableau, SQL, Power Query, ERP reporting experience. ·        Prior experience working directly to an executive or partner. ·        Valid passport and willingness to travel to Eswatini and Zambia. ·        A second South African language.