Finance Business Partner in Stroud

About The Role

The Finance Business Partner (FBP) role is critical for providing stakeholders (internal/external to finance) with insight, support, and constructive challenge on all financial matters relevant to performance in their areas of responsibility. You act as the main liaison between finance and the business, in line with strategic and operational finance requirements. This role's area of primary responsibility is Ecotricity Limited business partnering, including the payroll, administrative costs and project support, alongside taking the lead on Ofgem regulatory returns. You will be expected to take the lead in your own area of the business by influencing decision-making; improving the understanding of business performance; analysis and insight on business opportunities and providing options and scenarios for business decisions.

Core Responsibilities

• Strategic finance focus: Lead on resourcing and operational budgets - owning and driving completion of budgeting, forecasting and decision support/scenario analysis. Build and maintain excellent relationships with senior leaders and their teams. Challenge and support by promoting a culture of cost consciousness, value enhancement and accountability. Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and develop reporting formats to link the operational and financial performance of the business unit. These include ownership of the cost to serve, cost to acquire and segmental cost centre processes and calculations. Coordination and preparation of reporting for regulatory purposes including stress tests, price cap derogation and other RFIs. Sharing of key information with the B2B/B2C business partners to give them an overall view of their segments.
• Operational finance focus: Ensure month end figures accurately represent each period's activity and carry out variance analysis from budget/forecast, identifying key issues and trends. Produce budgets and forecasts for specific areas of responsibility using robust models and credible and documented assumptions. To ensure budget holders and managers have an awareness of financial performance requirements, including the need for budgetary control and to provide financial awareness training where necessary. Proactively work with budget holders to resolve any concerns or difficulties with their financial performance. Prepare and present month end packs to the business. Ownership and monitoring of risks & opportunities - using business understanding to ensure key risks and opportunities are known, quantified, managed by the business, and communicated in monthly reporting and forecasts. Oversight and reporting of project spend to ensure budget and business case approvals are correctly observed. Implement effective processes to support the financial administration and control of the business.

General Responsibilities

• Ensure all reporting is on time, robust, compliant, and consistent and that it supports both current activities and future growth requirements. Lead the development of the FP&A processes to drive best practice and embed professionalism. To be a positive team member providing cover as required. Work with team to get a good overview of other's responsibilities. Responsible for managing all regular reporting requirements for internal and external stakeholders (including Ofgem, banks, trading partners, and other interested parties). Actively develop content and format of reporting, identify areas of improvement, and follow through to implementation of system-based output. Proactively identify areas of improvement and work with others to implement and see these through to completion - in both the FP&A and wider financial control environments. To take responsibility for own personal development and update knowledge and skills, with support from Ecotricity, to perform the role at an effective level.

This is a full-time permanent opportunity, which offers the benefits of flexible hybrid working arrangements. Typically, this role will require you to work 2 days per week in our Office, based in Stroud (Gloucestershire) and 3 days per week either from home, or the Office.

About You

• Fully qualified accountant (CIMA, ACA, ACCA etc.)
• Commercial & Business Acumen: Not just crunching numbers but translating them into business insights. Ability to challenge assumptions and influence decision-making with data-driven recommendations.
• Communication & Stakeholder Management: Explaining complex data insights to non-finance stakeholders. Building trust by balancing technical detail with the "so what" for the business.
• Scenario & Sensitivity Analysis: Ability to build flexible models to test business drivers and "what-if" scenarios. Understanding how assumptions flow through P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow.
• Forecasting & Predictive Analytics: Moving beyond static budgets to driver-based and rolling forecasts. Awareness of how AI/ML can improve forecasting accuracy.
• Data Transformation, Visualization & Storytelling: Ability to clean, structure, and reconcile large, messy data sets from multiple systems (ERP, CRM, trading, billing, etc.). Strong Excel/Power Query skills, and it is an advantage to demonstrate proficiency with SQL, Python, R, or similar data tools. Competence in tools like Power BI, Tableau, or Adaptive Insights dashboards. Presenting insights in a clear, visual, and commercially relevant way (not just raw numbers).

About Us

What's in it for you... Healthcare plan, life assurance and generous pension contribution. Volunteering Day. Hybrid Working. Various company discounts (including shops, gyms, days out and events). Holiday of 25 days (plus bank holidays) & ability to buy/sell days. Cycle to work scheme, car pooling and onsite parking available. As a valued member of the team, you will be supporting the Group Environmental Policy and its associated sustainability objectives and targets.

Flexibility statement

The fast moving nature of the company's business means that from time to time you may be asked to perform duties or tasks outside of your original job description on an ad hoc basis. This allows the company to use its people in the best possible way at all times and helps the employees to make their contribution in a changing environment.

Ecotricity is Britain's greenest energy company. When we started back in 1995, we were the first company in the world to provide a new kind of electricity - the green kind. Our mission was, and remains, to change the way energy is made and used in Britain - by replacing fossil fuels with clean, renewable energy. We don't just supply green energy, we use the money from our customers' bills to make it ourselves too - we build windmills, sun parks and green gasmills in Britain. We call this turning 'bills into mills'. Some of our biggest achievements to date include building Britain's first megawatt windmill and the country's first grid-scale sun park, as well as building our first green gasmill, generating 100% green gas from a source that we will never run out of grass. We don't just focus on energy though- we built the Electric Highway, Britain's leading network of electric vehicle charging points; we helped Forest Green Rovers become the greenest football club in the world; and we launched Britain's greenest mobile phone service, Ecotalk, where they use the money from their customers' bills to protect and regenerate Britain's lost rainforests. Ecotricity is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to providing equality for all.