Ref - ICAEW Head of Commercial Finance / Senior Finance Business Partner – Ref 11005

Head of Commercial Finance / Senior Finance Business Partner

Are you recruiting for a Head of Commercial Finance or Senior Finance Business Partner? ICAEW Chartered Accountant with 12 years of professional experience across Big 4, within large Private Equity and currently within a FTSE 100 business. A hands-on, commercially minded individual who is driven to continually develop commercial and strategic acumen within a challenging environment. Relishes problem solving and progress. Has worked across a diverse range of sectors alongside private, listed and PE- backed businesses and has significant experience working through complex business challenges to identify cost reduction, drive growth and change and achieve operational improvements within challenging and fast-paced environments. Also has exceptional analytical skills, with the ability to digest large amounts of information and present it in a clear, concise, and understandable way to a range of stakeholders. Has advanced Excel skills, with a basic understanding of Power BI and Microsoft Copilot. Personable, reliable and team-oriented, with a proven track record of managing diverse teams in challenging and complex situations, alongside providing performance management, mentoring and coaching to junior colleagues.
  • Divisional FD, partnering the Head of the division through insightful and timely analysis, strategic decision support and robust challenge to shape operations
  • Owner of all formal divisional finance outputs including annual budget, 5-year business plan and periodic forecasting
  • Upon joining the business, identified a flaw in the existing forecasting strategy which was masking significant overspend. Rapidly implemented a new approach which drove increased forecasting accuracy and confidence
  • Key signatory on all new business cases and hiring activity. Provides commercial and financial input to operational teams to ensure risk/reward is optimised and outcomes align with wider company strategy
  • Led the finance workstream creating a new business area, including transfer of 50 existing employees, external hiring activity and implementation of a new subcontractor agreement. Designed a new approach to the employee hiring plan to navigate budget delays at board level – this allowed the operational teams to increase the speed of ramp-up to minimise delivery risk against regulatory commitments.
  • Responsible for identifying and embedding cost reduction and efficiency initiatives and partnering regional business leaders to drive performance of the division
  • Performed a series of cost area ‘deep dives’ to understand processes and risk. This led to identifying and correcting over £1.5m of historic cost errors and amending two areas of income policy to capture additional future revenue.
  • Lead on all commercial month and year-end activity for the division, managing the balance sheet position, understanding underlying performance and mitigating risk through strategic actions and owning a robust controls environment
  • Instigated an accounting review as part of FY26 year-end which resulted in capitalisation of an additional £10m in costs which played a critical part in the business meeting market guidance
  • Part of the leadership team which oversees all training, development and performance management within Finance, and regularly present at Finance team and divisional meetings to 100+ team managers and colleagues

Skills

  • Project management Delivered numerous major projects through highly-skilled project management. Excellent attention to detail, takes ownership of all areas of work and ensures effective communication at all levels to achieve success.
  • Analytical skills Significant experience of working within businesses to prepare forecasts, investment appraisals and detailed costs analysis to support planning and transformation
  • Professional development Alongside Future CFO training, completed courses in Contract Management, People Leadership, Change Management and Working within Teams
  • Commercial acumen & problem-solving Experience in rapidly understanding diverse businesses and business challenges, assessing risk and control environments, whilst being solution-focussed and driving business improvement
  • Pitching/presentations A confident speaker and regularly presents both internally to colleagues during team meetings and ad-hoc events, and externally to shareholders or advisers as part of project presentations
  • Coaching and development Passionate about team growth and development, and providing coaching and support to colleagues. Managed large teams, directly performance managed junior colleagues and taking a leading role in wider team development and training.
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