Commercial Finance Business Partner

A strategic Finance professional who serves as the point of contact for Partners and senior stakeholders, providing expertise in commercial finance, profitability initiatives, and comprehensive performance analysis. This role will serve as primary commercial finance point of contact for the Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Digital Information Officer.

Leadership and Enablement

• Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation and One Firm behaviours.
• Collaborate with fellow Commercial Finance Business Partners to ensure alignment between Service Line objectives and Group Revenue Office priorities.
• Embed the use of Artificial Intelligence across Finance and the wider firm to enhance insight, efficiency, and decision making.

Business Partner Support – Group Revenue Office

• Be primary finance point of contact for Group Revenue Office.
• Work alongside senior management team within Clients & Markets to establish commercial framework, including but not limited to effective KPIs.
• Support Clients & Markets in rebalancing focus from revenue growth to sustainable profitability, margin improvement, and improved working capital.
• Provide commercial challenge on growth initiatives, go-to-market plans, and investment decisions to ensure profitability is embedded from the outset.
• Partner with GRO leadership team to support disciplined management of client portfolio, with particular focus on client tail, low return segments, and non-strategic activity.
• Lead analysis and insight on revenue quality, margin drivers, pricing effectiveness, discounting behaviour.
• Translate financial insight into clear commercial actions for Partners and sales leaders, not retrospective explanation.
• Identify where fee earners are spending time on non-fee generating or operational activity with a view of supporting interventions that shift focus toward client delivery, sales, and high value work.
• Support Marketing in stopping or reshaping low value activity and reallocating spend toward initiatives that demonstrably support profitable growth.
• Use data, insight, and influence to change behaviours, not just report outcomes.
• Work alongside other Commercial Finance Business Partners to ensure that GRO objectives are aligned with Service Line's objectives.

Business Partner Support – Digital & AI Solutions

• Be primary finance point of contact for Digital and AI Solutions.
• Support the development of robust business cases for AI initiatives, clearly articulating expected efficiency gains, capacity released, cost avoidance vs hard savings, implementation risks and dependencies.
• Help establish clear value tracking mechanisms, ensuring benefits are measured and revisited post implementation rather than assumed.
• Challenge low impact or duplicative initiatives, supporting leadership in prioritising resources on the highest value use cases.
• Work alongside other Commercial Finance Business Partners to identify opportunities to drive adoption of AI in working practices.

Reporting

• Work alongside FP&A team to ensure that reporting for assigned divisions is in line with strategic objectives.
• Proactive engagement with stakeholders on ad-hoc analysis/reporting.

Forecasting / Budgeting

• Ensure that Partners are thoroughly briefed on the planning process, empowering them to own their numbers and obtain Head of Division sign off prior to formal submission.
• Work alongside the FP&A team in delivery of the budget and subsequent quarterly forecast.
• Review / challenge business submissions and ensure that plans remain balanced between risks and opportunities.
• Ownership of high quality and insightful Quarterly Business Review material.
• Provide strategic and long-term financial planning support to senior management including capital allocation recommendations.

Systems, Processes & Controls

• As a member of the Global Finance team you are expected to identify and implement efficiency and value improvements, particularly around AI adoption.
• Work with Financial Control to ensure the integrity of the financial data supplied is robust and accurate.

Other / Ad Hoc

• Contribute to the calibration and creation of commercial financial controls policies and coordinate proper policy interpretation and execution in the region.
• Develop and roll out any Commercial training initiatives within assigned divisions.

Qualifications

• Chartered Accountant.
• 10-15 years' experience as a Commercial Finance professional.
• Exceptional interpersonal and influencing skills, able to challenge and collaborate with diverse stakeholders at all levels.
• Clear and concise communicator, adept at conveying financial concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strategic mindset with ability to understand business goals beyond the numbers and interpret broader organizational context.
• Prior experience partnering with sales focused leadership, ideally including exposure to a Chief Revenue Officer or similar commercial role.
• Proven experience as a true business partner to an organisation and aiding in decisions which have directly resulted in increased profitability/margins.
• Demonstrated use of Microsoft Copilot or AI enabled tools to enhance working practices, insight, and efficiency, with a mindset focused on continuous improvement and productivity.
• Proven ability to prioritize competing demands and meet deadlines while maintaining quality.
• Comfortable operating in newly formed or evolving functions, where ways of working, governance, and success measures are still being shaped.
• Professional Services experience.
• Microsoft D365 experience.
• Power BI.
• Tagetik experience.

Benefits

Control Risks offers a competitively positioned compensation and benefits package that is transparent and summarised in the full job offer. We operate a discretionary global bonus scheme that incentivises and rewards individuals based on company and individual performance. Control Risks supports hybrid working arrangements, wherever possible, that emphasise the value of in-person time together – in the office and with our clients – while continuing to support flexible and remote working.