Finance Business Partner in Reading

As a Finance Business Partner based in Reading, you will support capital programme delivery directors in meeting their financial commitments, ensuring alignment with internal business plans and governed funding. This full-time role involves constructively challenging teams to drive performance, optimising cost understanding, and providing insight. You will surface risks and opportunities promptly to enable timely course correction.

Sitting within the Asset Operations and Capital Delivery division, you will partner with delivery functions to ensure costs are well managed and performance outcomes are achieved. The Capital Finance Business Partner is responsible for supporting the capital programme delivery directors with delivery of their financial commitments, specifically delivering in line with internal business plans and governed funding.

The business partner will constructively support and challenge the teams to help drive performance, ensuring costs are well understood and optimised, providing insight and ensuring risks and opportunities surfaced in a timely manner to drive course correction. This role supports the capital delivery functions within Thames, sitting within our Asset Operations and Capital Delivery division.

What you’ll be doing as a Finance Business Partner:

• Responsible for partnering the financial performance outcomes of our Capital Programme - supporting the Delivery teams through the implementation of high-quality insight and KPIs, review and challenge.
• To provide the high-quality financial information that the business requires to operate effectively and efficiently.
• Support in specific aspects of the financial reporting cycle with a critical evaluation lens applied.
• The PMO (Programme Management Office) are the key providers of monthly reporting and loading forecast data, however the business partner has a key role to play to interpret, influence and challenge, communicating with the business and formulate clear narrative and activity plans as required.
• Support / prepare specific reporting to supplement core PMO outputs - reporting and outcome of commercial settlements and interpretation to senior management.
• Developing relationships with other teams across the Organisation, with a real focus on cross learning and challenging the teams through continuous improvement.
• Support the development of capital investment papers as required by the business, ensuring needs are clearly articulated and internal governance requirements are met.
• As a key financial liaison, partner with the various departments across Finance and the business to deliver end-to-end process efficiencies and improved financial awareness.
• Monitoring of external reporting requirements and supporting accounting issue resolution (in conjunction with the management accounting team).
• Sign-off, validation and reporting of the business efficiency initiatives in terms of them being valid initiatives and that the predicted benefits being cashable and correctly estimated.

What you should bring to the role:

• Experience with planning systems and reporting technology.
• Experience with business intelligence tools and developing data visualisations.
• Systems experience with SAP and HFM (or similar tool).
• Knowledge of providing financial insight, preparing annual plans, forecasts.
• Strong analytical and forecasting abilities.
• Collaborative work style but also take ownership to complete tasks independently.

Extra qualities that would be a great fit for our team:

• Accounting qualification.
• Experience in large/complex organisations (including matrix ways of working).
• Business partnering, Project / Capital accounting experience (including experience of working with large projects).

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary from £60,000 to £70,000 per annum depending on experience.
• Annual Leave - 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service (plus bank holidays).
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets.
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.

We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Working at Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region, and our planet.

Why choose us?

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else just let us know, we’re here to help and support.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience.