Marketing Budget Analyst (3347-1)
Industry: National multi-channel sporting goods retail
Employment Type: Freelance
The Marketing Budget Analyst serves as the central point of contact and subject matter expert for marketing budget planning, allocation, tracking, and reconciliation across all channels. In a complex omni-channel retail environment, this role ensures that marketing investments are accurately forecasted, properly coded, and aligned with business objectives across retail stores, eCommerce, and brand marketing initiatives.
The ideal candidate combines strong analytical and financial skills with a clear understanding of marketing operations. This person will confidently lead cross-functional discussions, resolve discrepancies, and provide insights that help optimize spend and support strategic decisions.
Key Responsibilities
Budget Analysis & Management
- Manage day-to-day marketing budgets across channels including digital, print, in-store, sponsorships, and promotional campaigns.
- Analyze planned vs. actual marketing spend by channel, campaign, vendor, and business unit; highlight variances and provide actionable recommendations.
- Support annual and quarterly planning cycles with detailed budget builds, scenario modeling, and efficiency-focused spend recommendations.
- Validate and process budget requests, reclasses, transfers, and adjustments in accordance with financial policies and approved plans.
- Partner with marketing leadership to prioritize investments and reallocate funds based on performance trends and strategic opportunities.
- Maintain and enhance tracking tools, dashboards, and reports to provide clear, timely visibility into budget status.
Forecasting, Reporting & Performance Support
- Develop and maintain weekly and monthly budget forecasts by channel, campaign, and initiative.
- Collaborate with performance marketing and analytics teams to connect spend data with KPIs such as traffic, conversion, sales, ROAS, and customer acquisition.
- Prepare recurring and ad hoc budget reports summarizing risks, opportunities, and key insights for marketing and finance stakeholders.
- Translate complex financial and marketing information into clear narratives and recommendations for non-technical audiences.
- Support post-campaign reconciliations and wrap-up analyses to inform future budgeting, channel mix, and investment decisions.
Issue Resolution & Process Improvement
- Monitor and investigate discrepancies in invoices, purchase orders, accruals, and media spend across internal systems and partner reports.
- Conduct root cause analyses on budget and invoicing issues; drive timely resolution with marketing, finance, procurement, and external partners.
- Document and standardize budget management processes, coding structures, and approval workflows.
- Identify recurring issues and recommend process, system, or policy enhancements to improve accuracy and efficiency.
- Act as the primary resource for marketing teams on budget-related questions, training, and best practices.
Operations & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Align closely with channel leads (eCommerce, retail stores, brand, CRM, social, search, affiliate, etc.) to ensure budgets, POs, and invoices reflect live and planned initiatives.
- Partner with finance to support monthly close, including accruals, reclasses, reconciliations, and variance explanations.
- Provide enhanced tracking and rapid variance analysis during key retail periods such as seasonal campaigns and major promotional events.
- Collaborate with technology and analytics teams to refine integrations between marketing platforms, financial systems, and reporting tools.
- Help educate stakeholders on budget tools, data definitions, and financial policies to ensure consistent execution.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Marketing, Business, Economics, or a related field; or equivalent practical experience.
- 1–3 years of experience in marketing finance, FP&A, marketing operations, business analysis, or a related analytical role.
- Strong quantitative and analytical skills; advanced proficiency in Excel or Google Sheets (e.g., pivot tables, lookups, basic modeling).
- Experience with business intelligence or data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, Looker) preferred.
- Familiarity with digital and traditional marketing channels and how spend ties to performance metrics.
- Experience working with financial systems and/or marketing budget management tools is a plus.
- Exceptional attention to detail and accuracy; able to manage multiple budgets and competing deadlines.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to present complex data in a clear, concise manner.
- Proactive, solutions-oriented mindset and comfort working in a fast-paced, high-volume omni-channel retail environment.
