Talent Formula (www.talentformula.co) is a consulting firm that offers outsourced financial and accounting Human Resources to Chartered Accounting firms worldwide. We currently have a Data Analyst position available with our client, Brightstar Hospitality
. This role offers a unique opportunity to be a team member based in India. About Client
Brightstar Hospitality is an award-winning hotel management company operating a growing portfolio on behalf of a range of owners, supported by a central finance function based at our head office. Our motto is people – quality – profit, and it is no accident that people come first. As the group grows, so does the volume, variety and importance of our data, and we are investing in the systems, structure and expertise needed to turn that data into faster, better-informed commercial decisions.
The Role
This is a newly created role within central finance, with a group-wide remit spanning finance, revenue management, operations, marketing and people. You will own how data moves through Brightstar, from how it is captured, ingested, validated and structured through to how it is analysed and reported, across three dimensions: data management and architecture; analysis and insight; and automation and AI, principally using Claude.
You will also support the Finance Director in the evaluation and implementation of a new FP&A planning and consolidation platform (Datarails and comparable products are currently under evaluation). The role is not owner-facing, but the colleagues who manage owner relationships will rely on your analysis and reporting. This is a hands-on, build-and-own role, suiting someone with three to four years of practical data management and analysis experience who wants the scope, autonomy and senior-level access to design something properly from the ground up.
Key Responsibilities
Data Management, Ingestion and Architecture
- Own the ingestion of data from hotel and central systems (PMS, RMS, POS, payroll, procurement and the finance ledgers) into a structured, reliable central reporting layer, replacing manual collection with automated data flows.
- Design and maintain the data architecture underpinning group reporting, including the multi-hotel profit and loss database covering prior-year actuals, budget, current-year actuals and forecast at general ledger level, with standardised mapping and chart-of-accounts alignment across entities and properties.
- Establish and run data-quality controls covering completeness, reconciliation to source, exception reporting and validation, and maintain clear documentation of data sources, definitions, transformations and lineage.
Reporting, Insight and Commercial Analysis
- Produce and develop the group’s recurring management reporting, KPI dashboards and variance analysis for hotel, central, executive and board audiences, with clear commentary identifying trends, variances, risks and opportunities.
- Build and maintain self-service dashboards, rationalise duplicated reporting, and establish a single version of the truth for each key measure.
- Analyse trading performance across the portfolio, including occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, segmentation, channel mix, length of stay and booking curve, and support rate, demand, competitor and market analysis for revenue meetings.
- Analyse distribution and channel economics including OTA cost of sale, and bring together commercial, operational, payroll and guest-experience data to analyse profitability and productivity at property, department and segment level.
Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting
- Build and maintain the models and driver frameworks used across the group for budgeting and forecasting, designed so that finance, operations and commercial colleagues can work in them directly.
- Develop and maintain the underlying assumption and driver logic for demand, rate, payroll, cost inflation and recharges, with centralised, transparent assumptions, and build scenario and sensitivity analysis to support decision-making.
- Support the annual budget cycle and periodic reforecasting, and support the Finance Director on the new FP&A platform, including data mapping, dimension and hierarchy design, integration, testing and user onboarding.
AI, Automation and Data Governance
- Apply AI tooling, principally Claude, to accelerate and improve recurring analysis, reporting and data preparation, and build repeatable AI workflows such as structured projects, prompt libraries and documented instructions that produce consistent, auditable results.
- Configure and maintain the integrations that give AI tooling controlled access to our data, including the Microsoft 365 and SharePoint environment and the finance ledgers.
- Evaluate new tooling and techniques, run proportionate pilots, and act as the practical enabler for AI adoption, training colleagues and building internal capability rather than concentrating it in one person.
- Co-own the group’s data and AI governance framework with the Finance Director, covering ownership, definitions, access, retention and change control, ensuring personal data is handled in line with UK GDPR, access is segregated appropriately between properties, entities and owners, and card and payment data is excluded from analytical environments in line with PCI DSS.
Collaboration and Business Partnering
- Act as the central point of contact for data and analysis across finance, revenue management, operations, marketing and people, supporting colleagues who manage owner relationships and working with General Managers to improve data capture at source.
- Present findings clearly and confidently to audiences who are not data specialists, including at executive and board level, and challenge constructively when the data does not support the conclusion being drawn.
What We Are Looking For
- Three to four years’ practical experience in a data management, analytics or business intelligence role, with demonstrable ownership of end-to-end delivery.
- Proven experience building and maintaining data ingestion and reporting processes across multiple source systems, including reconciliation and data-quality control.
- Advanced Excel, including formula-driven modelling with centralised assumptions; working knowledge of SQL; and experience with a modern visualisation platform, ideally Power BI.
- Genuine, practical experience applying AI tooling to real analytical or reporting work, with a clear view of where it adds value and where it does not.
- Strong commercial and financial literacy, with confidence in a profit and loss account, margin, variance and driver-based analysis.
- Ability to translate an ambiguous business question into a defined analytical task, and to communicate the answer clearly to a non-technical audience.
- High attention to detail, sound judgement and discretion with confidential and personal data; self-directed and comfortable operating as the sole dedicated data specialist.
Desirable
- Experience in hospitality, hotels or another multi-entity, multi-site environment, and familiarity with hotel commercial metrics and revenue management concepts (ADR, RevPAR, segmentation, channel mix, booking curve).
- Exposure to USALI as a reporting framework, or experience standardising reporting across inconsistently structured entities.
- Experience implementing or working within an FP&A planning and consolidation platform, for example Datarails, Vena, Anaplan, Board or Jedox.
- Experience with Xero or another accounting platform in a multi-entity structure, with PMS or RMS data, and with Python or a comparable scripting language for data preparation.
- Experience of data governance, UK GDPR in practice or AI acceptable-use policy, and a relevant degree or professional qualification in a data, finance or analytical discipline.
What We Offer
- A genuinely broad, newly created role with the scope to design and own the group’s data and reporting architecture from the ground up.
- Direct reporting line to the Finance Director, with regular exposure to the executive team and board, and meaningful involvement in the selection and implementation of a new FP&A platform.
- An employer actively investing in AI capability, with the tooling, licences and mandate to use it properly.
- Hybrid working from our Birmingham office, with training, development and study support. [Funded Level 6 or Level 7 apprenticeship route available, to be confirmed with HR.]
- Staff and friends-and-family discounts across the group, plus wellbeing support, and a competitive salary and benefits package. [Additional benefits to be confirmed.]
- A supportive, people-first culture where curiosity, initiative and constructive challenge are genuinely valued.