Finance Business Partner (Creative)

At Keywords Studios, we are using our passion for games, technology and media to create a global services platform for video games and beyond. Our aim is to become the “go to” provider of technical services.

We enable leading content creators and publishers to leverage our expertise and capacity across the lifecycle of interactive content. In so doing we empower our clients to remain lean and agile, and to focus on creating the most engaging experiences.

Keywords is trusted and relied upon by many of the world’s leading video game companies to work alongside them during concept, development and live operations by leveraging the breadth and depth of our industry leading service lines every step of the way.

Keywords Studios comprises 4 Divisions, Create, Globalise, Engage, Media & Entertainment. Within the Engage Division, there are two Service Lines, Marketing Services and Player Engagement, and within Marketing Services, there are 3x Pillars, Social, Creative & PR. The Creative Pillar comprises Marketing Studios based in LA, London, Montreal and Brighton. This role’s primary focus will be supporting the Creative Studios in LA & Montreal, whilst partnering with the “Finance Lead” who supports London & Brighton.

The Finance Business Partner (Creative) serves as the analytical engine of the finance department, focusing on the "why" and the "what's next" rather than just the "what happened." In a marketing services or production environment, this role ensures that creative ambitions are backed by rigorous financial logic and scalable models. As part of the Engage Divisional Finance team, reporting to the VP Finance Business Partnering (Social & Creative), this role focuses on supporting our Creative Marketing Pillar, acting as an advisor to the Pillars executive team, using data-driven insights to influence Pillar strategy. This role sits at the intersection of Finance, Operations, and Business Development, providing the financial architecture needed to scale the studio profitably. The role will work alongside other Senior Finance team leaders championing the Finance Excellence vision to be trusted business partners that champion growth, create value and manage risk.

The Finance Business Partner (Creative) will deliver the following key activities

Advanced Financial Modeling & Forecasting

Dynamic Modeling: Build and maintain sophisticated models to project the long-term health of the studio.

Scenario Planning: Create "What-If" analyses to evaluate the impact of losing a major anchor client, expanding into a new geographic market, or shifting from project-based fees to a retainer model.

Operational Partnership & Advisory

Departmental "Co-Pilot": Work directly with Creative, Production, and Account Directors to translate their operational KPIs (e.g., billable utilization, pitch win rates) into financial outcomes.

Resource Optimization: Analyze the "Build vs. Buy" trade-offs for production—deciding when to hire full-time staff versus leveraging high-cost freelance talent based on pipeline velocity.

Financial Gatekeeper & Liaison: Serve as the primary point of contact between Creative/Operational teams whilst partnering closely with the Finance Manager to ensure seamless financial compliance.

Performance Monitoring: Own the monthly and quarterly variance analysis, deeply investigating deviations from budget and working with department heads to implement corrective operational actions.

Profitability & Margin Engineering

Client/Project Audits: Perform deep-dive "Post-Mortem" analyses on major campaigns to identify "scope creep" and margin erosion, recommending pricing adjustments for future contracts.

Overhead Management: Monitor and optimize non-billable spend, ensuring that agency "burn" is aligned with revenue growth

Strategic Capital Allocation

• Investment ROI: Lead the financial due diligence for major capital expenditures, such as upgrading production equipment or investing in tools
• Budgetary Governance: Lead the annual budgeting process, ensuring that every dollar allocated aligns with the company’s long-term strategic plan.

Data Visualization & Reporting

Executive Dashboards: Design and manage automated Google Sheets dashboards that provide the leadership team with real-time visibility into metrics like Revenue per Head and EBITDA margin.

Narrative Reporting: Move beyond the spreadsheet to provide clear, concise monthly narratives that explain the "story behind the numbers" to non-finance stakeholders.

Financial Process Efficiency: Identify and drive opportunities for automating non-value-add financial processes within the business (e.g., procurement, expense tracking, time-sheet approval workflows) to free up operational team capacity.