Finance and Commercial Manager in Folkestone

Annual salary: up to £70,000.00. Location: South East, based in Dover supporting branches in Dover and Croydon. Employment Type: Permanent, Full-Time, Hybrid role with 3-4 days based in organisational branches and 1-2 days working from home. Salary: £70,000, plus £4,500 Car Allowance, mileage paid whilst travelling branches and great company benefits.

Due to continued growth and contract expansion, we are seeking an experienced Finance & Commercial Manager to join our team. This is a critical business-partnering role with full responsibility for providing robust commercial and financial support to operational branch leadership. You will ensure senior stakeholders clearly understand the commercial model, take ownership of financial performance, and actively manage contract profitability. Working closely with operational leaders, you will translate financial data into actionable insight, challenge performance, and support the delivery of contract requirements and Group financial targets.

Mears provides and manages approximately 17,000 homes on behalf of local and central Government and is responsible for maintaining over 750,000 social housing properties across the UK.

This is a high-impact role working directly with senior operational and commercial leaders. You will play a key role in driving financial discipline, improving commercial outcomes, and supporting strategic decision-making. You will be expected to demonstrate strong technical financial knowledge, commercial acumen, and the ability to influence non-financial stakeholders through clear, evidence-based insight.

• Act as a trusted commercial and financial business partner to branch leadership, developing a deep understanding of operational processes, contract structures, and key commercial drivers.
• Take ownership of financial performance, actively challenging operational teams on delivery against commercial terms, financial targets, and operational KPIs.
• Produce high-quality commercial and financial management information, including monthly performance reviews supported by clear, insightful commentary.
• Identify, quantify, and communicate risks and opportunities against annual targets, ensuring corrective actions are understood and implemented.
• Lead the production of rolling forecasts and annual budgets, ensuring assumptions are robust, transparent, and aligned to operational delivery plans.
• Support commercial contract activity, including pricing reviews, contract variations, repricing exercises, and tendering opportunities.
• Ensure financial and commercial information is clearly communicated to non-financial stakeholders, enabling informed decision-making at all levels.

• Experienced Finance and Commercial Manager with a proven track record of supporting operational teams in a contract-based environment.
• Confident working with complex financial models and can evidence your ability to interpret and challenge financial and commercial performance.
• Excellent communicator, able to explain complex financial information in a clear, concise, and commercially focused way.
• Proactive, hands-on approach, are comfortable working independently, and take ownership of outcomes.

• Experience in Social Housing and Housing Maintenance.
• Commercial understanding of social housing, in particular working with Schedule of Rates, subcontractors, job pricing, final accounts.

Reporting into the Head of Commercial & Compliance, you will play a key role in the continuous improvement of the business by delivering first-class financial insight, analysis, forecasts, and commercial support that directly drives performance and profitability.

• £4,500 Car Allowance
• Enhanced Pension Scheme
• Enhanced Sick Pay
• Family friendly policy to include enhanced maternity/paternity leave and much more.
• Refer a friend scheme (total award £1000)
• Share saver scheme
• Eye test vouchers
• Employee Assistance Programme (Access to Free counselling service)
• Wellbeing service (Access to trained mental health & wellbeing advisors)
• Mears Annual Family Fun Day for you and your family to places like Blairdrummond Safari Park, M&Ds Themepark, fully paid for including lunch
• Mears Rewards - A performance recognition platform whereby you can be rewarded in high street vouchers

All our roles require candidates to have the entitlement to work within the UK, Mears does not currently offer visa sponsorship. To drive a Mears vehicle, you must be aged over 21 have held your licence over 3 months and have less than 9 points. Candidates should be aware that all our roles are subject to relevant Background, Identity & Security checks before commencement of employment.

If you need any help with your application process, we are here to support you. We will be accessible every step of the way. At Mears Group, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can thrive, we are a Disability Confident employer, valuing individuality and ensuring equal opportunities for all.

We proudly support the Armed Forces Covenant and are honoured to have achieved the Gold Award in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) to coincide with this, we hold an Endorser Award for the Career Transition Partnership, recognising our commitment to veterans transitioning into civilian careers.

In our continued effort to promote social mobility, we invite applicants to voluntarily share their background information during the application stages to help us better understand the diverse experiences of our candidates. This is to ensure we are committed to improving social mobility. We use the Social Mobility Index to assess and enhance opportunities for individuals from diverse backgrounds. These questions are optional and will not impact your ability to apply.