Head of Commercial Finance UKI (3686)

With over 60 years of history, Pizza Hut has become the world's largest pizza company, with 18,000+ stores across 100 countries. At Pizza Hut, our vision is to be the younger & more everyday leaders in global pizza culture, and our purpose is to connect people together through the joy of pizza. We're proud to be an International Operating Market of nearly 1,300 Pizza Huts across the UK, Ireland, France and Canada. We're passionate about delivering extraordinary experiences to our beloved customers, keeping our team members happy, and collaborating with our franchisees who operate across 500 Delivery and Restaurant Huts in the UK and Ireland.

As part of the YUM! Brands family, which includes KFC, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill, Pizza Hut proudly stands alongside the largest restaurant group worldwide. Together, we strive for culinary excellence and unmatched dining experiences, whether in our restaurants or at home.

Job Purpose

The Head of Commercial Finance, UKI plays a pivotal leadership role within the UK & Ireland (UKI) market team and within the International Operating Markets (IOM) Finance team, directly reporting to the CFO of IOM and directly partnering with the UKI leadership team. This position is integral in driving the commercial strategy of Pizza Hut UKI. This individual will shape the brand strategy, act as a commercial thought partner to the leadership team and cross-functional teams, and drive the financial success of the business model. The successful candidate will need to have a strong sense of accountability, urgency and ownership. They must maintain a continuous growth mindset and be able to apply both a commercial and strategic lens to deliver successful outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Commercial Planning and Forecasting:

1. Lead the long-term strategic vision, ensuring alignment to Pizza Hut’s strategic goals, and define the annual ‘big swings’ for the UKI market to deliver its financial & strategic KPIs. Track progress against the vision and take action to course correct where necessary.
2. In partnership with the UKI GM, lead the development and execution of the IOM strategic annual operating plans.
3. Own the sales forecasts for the 3 Year Market Growth Plan, annual & quarterly plans, collaborating with cross-functional teams to integrate all business initiatives into plan.
4. Provide comprehensive ad hoc financial analysis and insights to support strategic initiatives and the decision-making processes.

Sales Analysis and Unit Economics:

1. Own the analysis of the sales data and market trends to provide actionable insights and recommendations to drive the business forward.
2. Analyse and evaluate unit economics to identify opportunities for cost reduction and revenue enhancement.
3. Lead the Commercial Finance team to provide detailed financial analysis, including business case analysis, to support decision-making processes across the business, identifying key drivers of revenue, cost, and profitability.
4. Lead the Commercial Finance team and partner with the wider Pizza Hut RSC to ensure that all commercial activities are financially viable and contribute positively to the bottom line.
5. Present detailed financial performance reports to the Leadership team and franchisees, providing recommendations and commentary based on highlighted trends, opportunities, and potential risks.

Franchisee Support and Profitability:

1. Work closely with Franchise Partners to enhance franchisee profitability and operational efficiency, utilising tools including the EBITDA and transactions roadmap.
2. Lead the P&L Committee for the UK, playing a key role in thoughtfully navigating franchisee asks.
3. Lead the Commercial Finance team in conducting regular business reviews with franchisees on their latest performance and provide guidance on improving unit economics.
4. Work closely with International Operating Markets (e.g. Canada and France) to ensure unit economics plans are approached consistently across International Operating Markets.

Commercial Support and Business Partnering:

1. Act as a key business partner to the UKI leadership team, including but not limited to Marketing, Development and Operational teams, offering financial guidance, support and strategic thought partnership.
2. Lead financial modeling and scenario analysis to aid in commercial negotiations, pricing strategies, and investment decisions.
3. Play a role as the key commercial leader in critical Franchisee Facing committees (e.g. the Franchise Council, Marketing Board) and internal committees (e.g. Franchise Lifecycle Committee), supporting to drive insight into franchisee profitability issues and resulting actions.

Process Improvement and Innovation:

1. Lead the Commercial Finance team to identify and implement process optimisation opportunities to enhance financial planning and analysis capabilities.
2. Drive continuous improvement initiatives to streamline financial reporting and forecasting processes.

Requirements

1. Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret complex data and generate actionable insights. You will have excellent verbal and written communication and presentation skills to share complex data and actionable insights to the wider business.
2. Excellent leadership and team management skills. You will be able to lead, mentor, and develop a small team of direct reports, fostering a culture of high performance, continuous improvement and support professional growth within the team.
3. Experience of managing multiple stakeholders, with demonstrated ability to work effectively with franchisees and cross-functional teams.
4. Excellent relationship building skills, you will be able to influence at Leadership level and coach others, not necessarily in your team or direct reporting line. You will be able to challenge the norm and provide alternative solutions and creative solutions to problems.
5. Strong adaptability to a fast-moving environment and high sense of urgency and accountability, you will need to build trust quickly so that you can work with credibility and at pace.

Preferred Qualifications

1. A minimum of 8 years’ experience in commercial planning, forecasting, and sales analysis within the food and beverage or retail sectors. Proven Franchise experience either in a Finance function or another relevant role is preferred.
2. Strong commercial acumen and knowledge of Franchise business operations and unit economics.
3. Comfortable building and running complex financial models.
4. Ideally a level of higher education or diploma in a Finance and/or Commerce/Business-related field.
5. An eye toward continuous process improvement, including the ability to innovate and simplify both finance and business processes.
6. Highly computer literate with excellent command of Excel and Powerpoint.

Working Relationships

1. Line manager: Chief Finance Officer IOM
2. Commercial Planning Finance Teams across Pizza Hut IOM, Global and Yum!
3. Wider Finance team across Pizza Hut IOM, Global and Yum!
4. Pizza Hut IOM Senior Leadership and Leadership Teams
5. Pizza Hut Franchise Partners and Above Restaurant Leaders

Work Environment

This role is based out of our Restaurant Support Centre in Central London, a minimum of 2 days per week in the RSC is required. As Pizza Hut is a franchise business, you may be required to attend franchisee offices, and other locations from time to time. There will be events throughout the year that will take place in London including (but not limited to) RSC days, Functional team meetings / 121s and supporting with market visits.