Advanced Specialist, Financial Operations at Pearson · Noida

1. Royalty Data Integrity and Calculation Assurance

• Analyse complex royalty data and validate the integrity of the royalty calculations database and connected operational records.

• Ensure royalty calculations, statement outputs, advances and earnings payments reflect approved agreement terms, product structures and payment setups.

• Conduct routine and risk-based quality checks, control reviews and data validation exercises across high-value or complex royalty activity.

• Identify data gaps, anomalous results and processing risks; assess root causes and coordinate corrective action before release or payment.

• Maintain clear, audit-ready evidence of analysis, validation, decisions, approvals and adjustments.

2. Reconciliations, Supplier Accounts and Payments

• Lead the reconciliation of royalty supplier accounts, statements, advances, earnings and related balances, identifying and resolving discrepancies promptly.

• Maintain supplier and payment-related records and ensure accurate, authorised and complete system entries.

• Oversee complex royalty statement and payment processing, ensuring compliance with contractual terms, operating procedures and relevant controls.

• Review unusual, high-value or non-standard payment scenarios and make recommendations within delegated authority.

• Escalate legal interpretation, tax, policy or commercial decisions to the accountable specialist or business owner with a clear statement of facts and impact.

3. Global Payout Projects and Operational Delivery

• Lead or provide senior specialist support for payout-based projects across multiple geographies, from analysis and planning through validation and controlled delivery.

• Define operational requirements, dependencies, risks, control points and acceptance criteria in partnership with the Manager and project stakeholders.

• Monitor milestones, exceptions and actions, communicating progress and decision requirements clearly and early.

• Coordinate cross-functional inputs to ensure project outcomes align with business objectives, contractual requirements and operational readiness.

• Conduct post-implementation review and translate lessons learned into stronger processes, controls and documentation.

4. Advisory Support on Agreements and Product Structures

• Provide expert operational advice on royalty payouts, product structures, agreement terms and payment setups to support accurate processing and informed business decisions.

• Assess the operational impact of proposed or existing structures and highlight dependencies, limitations, risks and downstream consequences.

• Partner with Portfolio, Editorial, Rights, Royalties, Finance, Legal and other owners to clarify requirements and support correct system treatment.

• Distinguish operational application from formal legal or commercial interpretation and route decisions to the appropriate accountable owner when required.

• Promote consistent application of approved standards across markets, products and royalty processes.

5. Stakeholder, Author and OneCRM Escalation Management

• Provide timely, clear and evidence-based responses to complex stakeholder, author and agent inquiries.

• Ensure prompt and high-quality action on OneCRM tickets, prioritising material, aged or recurring escalations and driving them to resolution.

• Analyse escalation trends to identify systemic issues, control weaknesses and opportunities to improve author experience.

• Build trusted relationships across internal and external stakeholder groups and influence resolution of complex operational matters.

• Communicate risks, trade-offs and recommendations in a way that enables timely decisions.

6. Technology Partnership and Sustainable Issue Resolution

• Partner with technical teams and business stakeholders to investigate data inquiries, system defects, interface issues and processing anomalies.

• Translate operational and contractual requirements into clear business scenarios, expected outcomes and validation criteria.

• Support root-cause analysis, solution design, testing and implementation validation to ensure issues are resolved sustainably.

• Challenge temporary workarounds where they introduce control or scalability risk and recommend practical long-term solutions.

• Contribute to automation, reporting-tool development, data governance and process standardisation initiatives.

7. Reporting, Controls and Audit Readiness

• Prepare preliminary reports, summaries and analysis of royalty transactions, reconciliations, exceptions and payout activity for team and management review.

• Work with the Manager to monitor key tasks, service levels, risks, backlogs and project progress, ensuring accurate and transparent reporting.

• Maintain adherence to policies, procedures, approvals, contractual requirements, data privacy obligations and regulatory standards.

• Prepare complete documentation and work papers for author audits, internal reviews, external audits and control testing.

• Identify and communicate emerging risks or unusual circumstances, supported by impact analysis and recommended actions.

8. Technical Leadership and Team Capability

• Provide day-to-day technical guidance, mentoring and constructive quality feedback to junior colleagues and peers.

• Help ensure the quality of tasks, analysis and advice provided by self and others without formal line-management accountability.

• Share specialised knowledge through coaching, process documentation, case reviews and learning sessions.

• Promote strong ownership, customer focus, control discipline and continuous improvement across the team.

• Support the Manager in prioritising complex work and building resilient operational capability.