Finance Assistant - Operations in Lancaster

We are seeking a highly motivated and organised Finance Assistant to join our dynamic team at our Lancaster Mill. This full-time role (part-time hours considered) focuses on delivering accurate and timely transactional finance data and activities for the Operations function, supporting the Rural and Agricultural feed industry and ensuring high standards of customer satisfaction.

Carr's Billington Agriculture is a subsidiary of The Billington Group, and we welcome talent from diverse backgrounds to work across our retail, feed, machinery, fuel and central support divisions.

The Operations Finance Assistant is responsible for delivering accurate and timely transactional finance data and activities while supporting weekly operational reporting across the business. This role provides financial control through sales order checking and processing, reporting production and transport performance, and validating key cost drivers such as haulage rates. It also supports the development of operational insight and reporting capability, forming a progression pathway into a Finance Business Partner role.

You will be expected to:

• Oversee the daily and weekly sales invoice and purchase invoice process for feed invoices and raw material purchases to ensure all transactions are posted accurately; processing queries to support accurate reporting.
• Maintain and analyse fleet-related data, producing reports that support operational performance tracking and informed decision making.
• Prepare and deliver data analysis for weekly stock analysis, providing clear visibility of stock movements and balances.
• Review and process third-party haulier invoices, validating costs against agreed rates and resolving discrepancies.
• Carry out weekly haulage cost checks, ensuring accuracy of charges and highlighting inconsistencies.
• Manage the reconciliation and reporting of raw material haulage into sites, ensuring costs are accurately captured and recorded.
• Oversee the validation and processing of internal transfers between mills to ensure correct allocation and inter-mill reporting.
• Act as a key partner between finance and non-finance teams to translate financial data into actionable insights and support the Finance Business Partner function.
• Provide ad-hoc analysis to support business cases when required.
• Adhere to Company and Group policies and procedures, including safety, health and environment considerations.
• Ensure compliance with relevant legislation and approved codes of practice, including UFAS, FIAS and NOPS assurance schemes.

Qualifications

Essential:

• Proven Ruminant Feed Sales experience.
• Experience of offering ruminant nutritional advice.
• Experience of driving growth in sales.
• Ability to analyse data, identify trends and make informed decisions.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to make decisions under pressure.
• Experience of managing a sales ledger through the use of a CRM system.
• FAR qualification.

Desirable:

• Agricultural experience.
• Competent IT skills and experience of the Microsoft Office suite.
• Amtra SQP qualification.

Benefits

As part of The Billington Group we offer a wide range of employee benefits including:

• An attractive salary package.
• Annual salary reviews in September each year.
• A minimum of 25 days annual leave.
• Opportunity to work for a well-established family-owned business with ambitions for growth and innovation.
• Your Health: Health Assured – Access to an Employee Assistance Programme with counselling and wellbeing advice.
• Sick pay – Generous company sick pay entitlement.
• Health Cash Plan – Reimbursement for everyday health care such as optical, dental, physiotherapy and more.
• Your Lifestyle: Staff Discount – Generous staff discount on selected products at our Country Stores.
• Cycle to work scheme – Salary Sacrifice scheme saving tax on a new bicycle and equipment.
• Flexible life assurance and critical illness cover – Option to increase life cover or add critical illness at preferential rates.
• My Savings Hub – Access to an exclusive member’s discount site with 3,500+ brands and cashback.
• Salary finance benefits – Savings schemes, loans and wage advances via payroll, plus financial education tools.
• Your Future: Pension – Enrolment into the Company pension after 3 months of employment.
• Training & Development – Role-specific and ongoing training opportunities identified through annual appraisal.