Controls and Governance Manager

As we continue our mission to make people and nature happy through chocolate, we are looking for a Controls and Governance Manager to join our Finance team on a permanent basis. Are you passionate about driving strong governance and building robust internal controls that make a real impact? At Hotel Chocolat, we are looking for a Controls and Governance Manager to play a key role in strengthening our financial control environment. Working closely with the Senior Finance Manager and partnering across the business - from Commercial and Supply Finance to our CFO and external auditors - you will help shape, implement and improve the controls and processes that support our continued growth.

If you are a detail-oriented problem-solver who thrives on collaboration, simplification, and continuous improvement, this is your opportunity to help ensure that our ways of working are not only fit-for-purpose but future-ready.

As well as a competitive salary and company benefits, you will receive a 50% discount on all products, and a delicious 70% discount for you and your guests when you stay at our Rabot Estate hideaway on the paradise island of Saint Lucia. Here at Hotel Chocolat, we have adopted a hybrid working pattern where appropriate. For this role, it means working 3 days a week on site, with the other 2 days spent working remotely, from home or wherever you like! The on-site location for this role is our Head Office 'Mint House' in Royston, Hertfordshire, our home since 1994; just off the A505, ten minutes' walk from Royston Train station and commutable from London Kings Cross.

What You Will Be Doing:

• Business partnering to design an efficient and effective internal control structure for Hotel Chocolat.
• Design appropriate safeguards to ensure the integrity of financial statements and reporting, changing ways of working in the organization where applicable.
• Assessment of design and operating effectiveness in internal controls.
• Business partnering to design efficient and effective solutions to mitigate any deficiencies identified.
• Stakeholder management for varying stakeholders, from those with little to no internal controls knowledge to experts.
• Develop and monitor Controls & Governance KPIs and drive continuous improvement.
• Lead on controls framework delivery and process efficiencies to enable effective period close reporting and reconciliation.
• Facilitation, driving alignment and clarity between internal/external audit and business partners.
• Address financial policy questions related to internal controls and drive compliance.
• Implement controls and governance related training and tools.
• Remediate and report instances of fraud or non-compliance within the unit and drive process for mitigation.
• Broad exposure across the business including Exec, Directors group and Senior Leadership Team.

Who You Are:

• Qualified finance professional (ACA preferred).
• Audit experience.
• Great policy, process, and control orientation and experience with the ability to drive standards.
• Understanding of technical accounting requirements with regards to UK and US GAAP.
• Experience with documenting, evaluating, and testing controls.
• Experience with identifying, tracking and resolving control gaps.
• Business partnership experience and an ability to create control/process solutions.
• High attention to detail.
• Good written and verbal communication skills.
• A great collaborator; resilient.

Desirable:

• Retail and/or Manufacturing experience.
• Experience of using Microsoft D365 and Anaplan.

Who We Are:

We are one of the UK's favourite premium chocolate brands, with a range of products spanning luxury gifts, alcohol and our pioneering drinking chocolate system, the Velvetiser. A cacao pod takes years to grow - it can't be rushed if it's going to be just right for our products. The same can be said for Hotel Chocolat, which originally started as a mint production company before we realised it was luxury chocolate that we were really passionate about. Now, we are market leaders in the industry. What began as an online-only business grew to 135 stores across the UK, and we are still growing. Today, we are multi-category, multi-channel, and multi-territory, and our customers, colleagues, cacao farmers and suppliers all benefit from the success we make together.