Strategic Finance Partner - Senior Commercial Analyst in Bury

Established in 1981 with a single store in the Northwest of England, the JD Group is a leading omni‑channel retailer of sports fashion, outdoors and gyms with our colleagues working in stores across several retail fascias in many markets around the world. JD Sports Fashion Plc was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1996 and has been a FTSE100 publicly quoted company since 2019 and continues to grow in the UK and internationally. We want to be the leading global omnichannel retailer in the sports and outdoor industry. To be a part of this successful company and help us to achieve this you will have the desire to ingr ain our strategic goals of being a people‑led, innovative and customer‑focused organisation which provides operational excellence whilst identifying new areas of growth as part of our day‑to‑day objectives.

Responsibilities

• Preparation and review of investment and commercial business cases, including Income Statement performance and return on investment measures, for presentation at relevant governance and approval forums.
• Provide performance data and analytics to support strategic commercial decision making.
• Develop and introduce a monthly KPI reporting pack to support senior stakeholders with improved visibility of financial and commercial performance.
• Provide clear, concise reporting to the Finance Business Partner and relevant senior stakeholders.
• Support the annual budgeting process and quarterly forecasting for the relevant cost centre or business areas.
• Support the preparation of Quarterly Business Reviews and Annual Budget decks.
• Financial support to the relevant Senior Commercial Finance stakeholders, providing clear and concise insight into the cost base, including staff costs and overheads.
• Support Procurement on cost saving initiatives, including analysis of new contracts, rebates, and commercial terms to deliver sustainable financial benefits.
• Chair regular meetings with the Reporting team to review month‑end performance, understand spend drivers, identify underlying issues and provide appropriate financial challenge.
• Own and oversee the Purchase Order (PO) process, including management of approval hierarchies, ensuring appropriate financial controls, governance compliance and timely approvals.
• Ad‑hoc Finance tasks and project work as required.

Qualifications

• CIMA/ACCA/ACA Part‑Qualified Accountant.
• Experience of business partnering, including providing constructive challenge and making value‑adding recommendations.
• Proven experience of delivering data‑driven insights to support decision‑making.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate financial information for non‑finance stakeholders.
• Ability to communicate effectively with non‑financial colleagues and collaborate across multiple business functions.
• Strong analytical skills to investigate, understand and explain financial and operational performance.
• Ability to form strong working relationships at all levels of the organisation.
• Self‑motivated, with the ability to work on own initiative.
• Strong time‑management skills, prioritising workloads and meeting competing deadlines.
• Advanced Excel skills essential; experience with Oracle, TM1 & Power BI advantageous but not essential.
• Excellent attention to detail and accuracy.
• Ability to work effectively under pressure and to tight deadlines.
• Positive, flexible, enthusiastic, and driven approach.

Benefits

• Staff discount on JD Group and other brands within the organisation.
• Personal development opportunities to learn and develop at work.