Manager, Business Operations

JOB DESCRIPTION

We are seeking a Business Operations Manager to run the day-to-day financial operations of Keppel's Networks business. Reporting to the Financial & Investment Lead, you will own and oversee budgets, cash flow management, payments, purchase orders, billing and management reporting across active operating systems.

You will be the connective tissue between the technical, commercial, business development, procurement and corporate finance teams - ensuring that what is committed is tracked, what is invoiced is verified, what is paid is authorised, and what is reported is accurate and on time. This is a hands-on role for someone who combines strong financial discipline with the practicality to make processes work in a fast-moving project environment.

Key Areas of Ownership

1. Budgets and forecasting

• Own the annual budgeting process and rolling forecasts for across Networks, consolidating inputs from technical, project, commercial and operations teams.

• Track budget vs. actuals at project and business-unit level, investigating variances and agreeing corrective actions with budget owners.

• Support scenario planning and reforecasting when project schedules, scope or supplier terms change.

2. Cash flow and treasury operations

• Ensure short- and medium-term cash flow forecasting across Networks entities, Projects and at operating entities, ensuring liquidity for all obligations and corporate commitments.
• Coordinate funding requests, intercompany transfers with central finance and treasury functions.
• Support drawdown requests and covenant/reporting obligations under project facility agreements, working with the commercial project management team to ensure lender requirements are met on time.
• Monitor FX exposure on multi-currency supplier contracts and customer receipts, flagging hedging needs to treasury where appropriate.

3. Payments, POs and procurement operations

• Govern the purchase order process end to end: PO raising, approvals in line with delegation of authority, goods/services receipting and closure.
• Working with procurement and support functions, oversee and review the payments cycle - invoice verification against contracts, milestones and POs, payment approvals, and execution through banking platforms - ensuring suppliers are paid accurately and on time.
• Working with Technical Teams, track vendor payments against contractual obligations and ensuring governance and controls, working closely with the technical teams and various workstream leads where necessary.
• Manage customer billing operations for IRU, and O&M agreements: invoicing schedules, receipts tracking and collections follow-up.

4. SOP governance and process oversight

• Govern the development, documentation and upkeep of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) across the full Procure-to-Pay (P2P) cycle - supplier onboarding and due diligence, PO raising and approvals, goods/services receipting, invoice verification, payment authorisation and execution, and supplier master data management.
• Govern equivalent SOPs for the customer billing (Order-to-Cash) cycle - contract-to-billing setup for IRU and O&M agreements, invoicing, receipting, credit control and collections escalation.
• Ensure SOPs are aligned with Keppel group policies, delegation of authority and audit requirements; conduct periodic compliance reviews, track exceptions and remediate gaps.
• Train and support budget owners, project teams and new joiners on P2P and billing processes, supporting the procurement team for process, policy creation and controls.
• Review and update SOPs as the business scales

5. Reporting and controls

• Produce monthly management reporting: P&L, cash flow, budget vs. actuals, committed spend, AR/AP ageing and project cost dashboards for the FC/Investment Lead and leadership.
• Maintain and improve financial controls, approval workflows and documentation, ensuring compliance with Keppel group policies and audit requirements.
• Support statutory audit, tax filings and entity-level compliance across all Network entities, working with finance, tax, R&C, and corporate secretarial colleagues.

6. Business operations support

• Administer contract and document management for financial records: executed contracts, variation orders, bank guarantees and insurance certificates.
• Drive process improvement and systems adoption, automating recurring tasks where possible.
• Provide ad hoc analysis to the various Leads where required - cost reviews, supplier spend analysis, and support for new project setup, etc.

Required Skills:

• 5+ years' experience in business operations, financial operations, FP&A or project accounting

• Strong working knowledge of budgeting, cash- ideally in infrastructure, telecoms, construction, marine/offshore or another capital-intensive project environment. flow forecasting, PO/payment cycles and month-end reporting.

• Experience operating financial controls and delegation-of-authority frameworks, with a track record of accuracy and timeliness; demonstrated ability to write, implement and govern SOPs across P2P and/or billing processes.

• Confident with ERP and procurement systems (e.g. SAP, Oracle, or equivalent) and advanced Excel; comfortable building and maintaining reporting dashboards.

• Highly organised, detail-oriented and able to manage multiple entities, currencies and deadlines simultaneously.

• Strong communication skills - able to chase, challenge and support budget owners, suppliers and senior stakeholders constructively.

Join our vibrant and inclusive workforce to shape a better future for all!

JOB REQUIREMENTS

Preferred Skills:

• Exposure to project-financed structures: drawdowns, lender reporting, covenant compliance and multi-SPV environments.

• Familiarity with subsea cable or telecoms commercial structures (supplier milestone contracts, IRU billing, O&M cost allocation).

• Accounting qualification or part-qualification (ACCA, CPA, CIMA or equivalent), or a degree in finance, accounting or business.

• Experience supporting audits and working across legal, tax and corporate secretarial functions in multiple jurisdictions.

BUSINESS SEGMENT

PLATFORM