Director of Financial Planning and Analysis in City of London

Director of Financial Planning and Analysis

This range is provided by Pear Talent – Finance Recruitment. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

Base pay range

• DIRECTOR OF FP&A:
• Essential: FP&A leadership + Insurance or PE-backed Insur/FS + Transformation
• City of London: hybrid (2 days p/wk WFH)

Pear Talent is representing an award‑winning international Insurance business that is growing exceptionally well both organically and through M&A, looking for a Director of FP&A. Reporting directly to the CFO you’ll lead a team (x7) owning all financial planning and analysis (FP&A) and business performance management, as well as strategic projects (e.g. M&A, technology investment AI etc). You’ll have significant involvement at an Exec/Board level, business partnering with the CFO/CEO to create the strategic financial plan and both drive and challenge business performance against commercial objectives.

You’ll also play a critical role in reshaping the function, specifically improving current processes and systems. This is a unique opportunity to build a best‑in‑class framework, coupled with automation and technology, that supports strategic decision‑making and delivers actionable insights.

Key Accountabilities

• Regular interaction with the Group CEO, CFO and divisional MDs & FDs, leading the implementation of Group plans and strategy at a divisional level to drive performance.
• Lead the analysis of the financial performance, plans and forecasts of the business, as well as cash and capital usage and potential investment proposals.
• Deliver high quality business insight to support and influence strategic decision making, as well as provide ad‑hoc commercial analysis for the Exec. Proactively drive forward the development of new MI and processes to improve the quality, speed and usefulness of metrics and forecasts.
• Lead the business target setting for the annual planning process, ensuring that the divisional strategic plans align into a coherent Group strategic plan and that shorter term financial targets also reflect both the Group’s and division’s strategy.
• Critically review, and where necessary, challenge divisional plans. Ensure strategic issues and relevant analyses are brought to the attention of the Exec as necessary assisting in solutions that add value to the Group.
• Understand the competitor and market environment, the changes happening within them and the impact these would have on internal strategies, plans and targets.
• Regularly meet with divisional FDs & MDs to ensure a comprehensive understanding of their business (structure, products, markets etc), strategy, and both recent and projected financial performance.
• Proactively and critically review and challenge reported performance against agreed plans, preparing insightful briefings for senior management, Group Exec and the Board.
• Support divisional MDs & FDs to anticipate and prepare for challenges they may receive from the Group Exec at performance review meetings, whilst always seeking opportunities to enhance performance.

Required Experience

• Qualified accountant (ACA / ACCA or equivalent) with significant post‑qualified experience gained in Insurance or with a PE‑backed Financial Services company.
• Proven track record of leading FP&A and managing business performance through insight, analysis and significant business partnering with leadership to improve the underlying performance of the business.
• Prior experience leading team/function‑wide transformation programmes to improve processes/systems.
• Excellent interpersonal and stakeholder management skills, with a proven ability to both constructively challenge and influence at all levels, including an Exec level.
• Demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of the markets in which the business operates, their products, strategies and risks, as well as a detailed understanding of the drivers of business performance.

If this isn’t for you but you know someone who’d be interested, then why not confidentially recommend them by clicking here http://peartalent.co.uk/spread-the-word/. We have a fantastic referral scheme up to £1,000*.