Operations Analyst - Houston, TX

Summary and Primary Responsibilities

The Operations Analyst will be responsible for day-to-day support of operations managers needs in regards to Accounting and Financial Analysis, Through the use of the various data systems Watco utilizes you will generate reports and analysis that will help operations safely improve every day. During the month you will work on weekly forecasts and perform variance analysis and act as a financial partner for your profit centers. At month end you will assist operations managers in analyzing their revenue and expenses, while providing accounting support with journal entries and reconciliation.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

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  First point of contact for operational support including:
  • establishing a solid comprehension of divisional operations and communicate operation’s needs
  • cultivate a partnership and work with divisional leadership and other Watco resources to develop solutions
• Possess a thorough understanding of operations at each terminal within the division
• Interpret monthly financial results and be able to understand drivers for both revenue and expense as it applies to operations. Ensure performance to both divisional and business segment annual goals and objectives.
• Weekly forecasts including:
  • template preparation and maintenance,
  • labor analysis,
  • review and consolidate individual results, divisional report preparation and distribution,
  • ongoing financial training for managers,
  • provide forecast updates in the absence of a terminal manager and occasionally lead operation call in the absence of leadership
  • provide high level divisional commentary to communicate variance drivers for leadership reporting purposes
• Month End Accounting support
  • Review financial statement at month end for accuracy
  • Prepare detailed account analysis and journal entries for month end accruals
  • Prepare month end commentary for review
• Budgets including:
  • set and lead divisional budget development schedule (capital, revenue, expense) to complete within consolidated business segment timeframe
  • template preparation, maintenance and revisions for all terminals within the division
  • uploading capital projects into the cap-x system
  • revenue, labor and expense analysis to insure budget accuracy
  • working one on one with managers to develop financial knowledge as it applies to their budgets
  • lead divisional review calls and provide feedback or suggestions to support or revise budgets
  • prepare and validate revenue and expense upload for accounting
  • prepare expense narratives to support budgets
  • participate in consolidated business segment review as needed
• Cap-x support and administration including:
• interpreting capital requirements to determine spend category (maintenance, productivity, growth) and obtain or prepare financial analysis to support projects when necessary
• load projects into cap-x system including justification and timelines
• ongoing forecast modifications within the cap-x system for timing and spend during the life of the project
• review actual spend to forecast and provide feedback to leadership as necessary
• participate in monthly reporting for business segment and have a thorough understanding of divisions capital impact on the business segment as a whole
• drive timely spend within the division as necessary in order to meet Watco expectations
• Proformas/financial model assistance including:
  • work with commercial and operations team members in building, reviewing and testing assumptions used in new business models,
  • have a good understanding of NPV, free cash flow and capital guidelines
  • ongoing profitability analysis post startup through the first year
• Adhoc costing projects including:
  • understanding key drivers to revenue streams and/or Customers
  • the ability to identify direct and indirect activities or expenses and apply logic for overhead allocations
  • summarize and interpret results to end users for decision making purposes
  • provide suggestions to improve financial performance
• Divisional integration lead for new operations including:
  • identifying and understanding functional area tasks as applicable to the integration
  • hosting regularly scheduled pre and post transition conference calls to review task status and/or open items to support new operations and team members
  • maintain integration action item checklist and follow up of timely completion by functional area experts to assure readiness for transition
• Prioritize and adjust work assignments to ensure timely and accurate completion of all responsibilities
• Be responsive to other Watco operating units and their needs
• Work closely with operation analyst team to develop and standardize work methodologies amongst the divisions where possible, promote skill development and knowledge transfer, share and drive process improvements that provide efficiencies
• Complete other duties as assigned

LANGUAGE SKILLS

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  Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and through analytics in response to questions or requests from customers, team members, and leadership