Head of Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) (London)

Sperry Marine is a leading supplier of navigation, communication, information, and automation systems for commercial marine and naval markets. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, we have an extensive international presence across Europe, the Americas and Asia, employing almost 400 people across ten countries. With annual turnover of c.$100m and strong order book growth in recent years, Sperry Marine has ambitious plans for expansion. We are now seeking a dynamic and commercially-minded Head of Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) to lead our financial planning, performance analysis, and forecasting activities. Reporting to the Finance Director, you will be a strategic finance partner to senior leadership, responsible for driving insight-led decision-making across the organisation. This is a high-impact role with visibility across the executive team. You will lead the development and continuous improvement of our FP&A function, ensuring robust financial planning, meaningful performance reporting, and strategic analysis that supports our growth ambitions.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the FP&A function, providing financial leadership across planning, forecasting, budgeting, and performance analysis.
• Act as a strategic advisor to the Finance Director, Managing Director, and wider executive team, delivering financial insight to support key business decisions.
• Drive financial discipline across the business through effective stakeholder engagement and proactive forecasting.
• Own and evolve the global Sperry Marine enterprise-wide forecasting model, ensuring it remains aligned with business strategy and accurately reflects performance across all key financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow).
• Oversee the consolidated monthly forecasting process, collaborating with regional controllers, sales, operations, and product teams to incorporate real-time insights and business assumptions.
• Lead the delivery of monthly financial performance reporting for business unit leaders and senior executives, providing clarity on key variances, risks, and opportunities.
• Partner with value stream owners and cost centre leads to ensure financial accountability and improve forecast accuracy, driving strategic actions where needed.
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement across FP&A processes, identifying opportunities to streamline workflows, enhance data integrity, and reduce cycle times.
• Lead the adoption and integration of new planning tools, data platforms, and technologies to increase forecasting agility, automation, and decision-making quality across the organisation.
• Manage the Annual Operating Plan (AOP) process, including scenario planning and financial modelling to support business planning cycles.
• Lead the translation of strategic plans into annual budgets, working closely with business partners to ensure alignment and ownership across departments.
• Maintain a structured process for cost centre budgeting, forecasting, and monitoring, ensuring visibility and accountability across support functions.

About You

We’re looking for a commercially-minded leader who brings a balance of strategic thinking, operational rigour, and cross-functional collaboration. You are:

• A strategic thinker, able to connect financial insights to the bigger business picture.
• A collaborative leader, skilled at influencing and partnering with senior stakeholders across finance and the wider organisation.
• Analytically strong, comfortable working with complexity and ambiguity to produce actionable insights.
• A change agent, passionate about driving improvements in processes, models, and systems.

Skills and Experience:

• Proven experience in a senior FP&A or finance leadership role, ideally in a capital intensive, multi-disciplinary business.
• Strong financial modelling and analytical skills, with a track record of delivering high-impact insight and performance reporting.
• Deep understanding of management accounting principles, forecasting processes, and financial planning cycles (US GAAP and IFRS 15/ASC 606 experience is advantageous).
• Experience leading budgeting and forecasting processes across multiple departments and geographies.
• Qualified accountant (e.g., ACCA, CIMA, ACA) with significant post-qualification experience.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with confidence in engaging senior leadership and external stakeholders.

What We Offer:

At Sperry Marine, we offer a rewarding leadership role in a growing international business. You’ll be part of a supportive and forward-thinking finance team with the opportunity to shape the way we operate. Benefits include:

• Competitive salary with annual reviews
• Hybrid working and option for a compressed working pattern (e.g., alternate Fridays off)
• Up to 8% employer pension contribution
• 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Health and wellbeing benefits for you and your family
• Ongoing training, development, and career progression

About Us

With over 100 years of history and expertise in navigation, we have established ourselves as a major global provider of navigation solutions, including radars, compass systems, steering systems, speed logs, integrated bridge and control systems. We take pride in our commitment to provide 24/7 support to all of our customers.

People are at the heart of everything we do. Our company grows because of our employees' dedication and commitment to delivering for our customers, something we always remember. In return for working for us you will have access to a benefits package that provides you with flexibility to balance your professional career with your personal life, health & well-being benefits, and investment in your future development. We know everyone brings a unique perspective. We want to harness diverse thinking by bringing bright minds together and valuing the differences that lead to stronger insights and innovation.