At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead financial strategy and support decision-making for senior leaders in a dynamic environment.
- Company: Join a forward-thinking organisation focused on financial excellence and transformation.
- Benefits: Competitive pay, flexible working options, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Fast-paced role with opportunities to innovate and improve financial processes.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by driving financial performance and influencing key business decisions.
- Qualifications: Qualified accountant with strong finance business partnering experience and analytical skills.
The predicted salary is between 60750 - 74250 £ per year.
We are seeking an experienced, commercially minded Senior Finance Business Partner to provide strategic financial leadership partnering closely with senior leaders for an interim 3 months contract.
As a trusted adviser to senior stakeholders, you will provide insight, challenge and financial leadership to support high-quality strategic decisions and maximise business value. You will lead budgeting, forecasting and performance management across the functional cost base, driving greater transparency, accountability and continuous improvement.
This role requires a confident and highly capable finance professional who can operate autonomously, influence stakeholders at all levels and identify opportunities to strengthen financial and business performance. You will challenge existing approaches, introduce more effective ways of working and act as a catalyst for change across Finance and the wider organisation.
Key Responsibilities
Business Partnering
- Act as the primary finance lead for designated Functions, operating with a high degree of autonomy and accountability.
- Build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders and provide commercially focused financial advice.
- Support strategic decision making through insightful financial analysis, commercial understanding and constructive challenge.
- Assess and challenge investment decisions, business cases and expenditure proposals, providing clear, objective recommendations.
- Proactively identify financial risks, opportunities and emerging trends, helping leaders understand their implications and take appropriate action.
- Drive cost transparency and accountability, ensuring expenditure is aligned to strategic priorities, value creation initiatives and measurable outcomes.
Planning, Forecasting Cost Management
- Lead annual budgeting, forecasting and long-term planning processes across the Enabling Functions.
- Embed and maintain zero-based budgeting principles, challenging expenditure requirements and ensuring resources are allocated effectively.
- Deliver timely, accurate and insightful management information and performance reporting.
- Analyse actual performance against budget and forecast, providing clear commentary, root-cause analysis and actionable recommendations.
- Monitor key cost drivers, workforce trends and supplier expenditure.
- Identify, quantify and track opportunities to improve productivity, efficiency and cost optimisation.
Financial Analysis Decision Support
- Develop robust financial models, forecasts, scenarios and sensitivity analyses to support strategic and operational decision making.
- Evaluate strategic initiatives, transformation programmes and investment opportunities from a financial and commercial perspective.
- Lead the financial evaluation of business cases, including return on investment, cost-benefit and value creation analysis.
- Assess the P&L, cash flow and working capital implications of investment decisions, supplier arrangements and operating model changes.
- Support leadership teams in balancing growth, investment, efficiency and cash generation objectives.
- Present financial insights, recommendations and challenges confidently to senior leadership and executive stakeholders.
- Provide high-quality ad-hoc commercial analysis to support strategic priorities and key business decisions.
Process Improvement Finance Transformation
- Identify opportunities to enhance financial planning, reporting, forecasting and control processes.
- Simplify, standardise and automate financial activities to improve efficiency, consistency and insight.
- Lead process improvement initiatives that strengthen financial performance, governance and decision support.
- Promote best-practice approaches to budgeting, forecasting and performance reporting.
- Leverage technology, finance systems and data analytics to enhance reporting capabilities and improve decision-making.
- Establish and monitor meaningful KPIs to strengthen financial visibility, accountability and operational performance.
Candidate Profile
Essential
- Fully qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent).
- Minimum five years post-qualification experience in Finance Business Partnering, FP&A, Commercial Finance or a related discipline.
- Demonstrable ability to operate independently, manage competing priorities and deliver effectively within a fast-paced, complex environment.
- Experience managing significant indirect cost bases, shared services or corporate functions.
- Strong understanding of overhead management, cost allocation methodologies and recharge models.
- Proven experience delivering zero-based budgeting, cost transformation or efficiency programmes.
- Strong commercial understanding of the relationship between P&L performance, cash generation and working capital.
- Advanced financial modelling, forecasting and scenario planning capabilities.
- Excellent analytical, problem-solving and communication skills, combined with strong attention to detail.
Desirable
- Experience working within a private equity-backed or highly performance-focused environment.
- Experience with Oracle and TM1.
Senior FP Finance Business Partner employer: People Group
At People Group, we pride ourselves on being an excellent employer, offering a dynamic work culture that fosters innovation and collaboration. Our commitment to employee growth is evident through tailored development programmes and the opportunity to work on high-profile projects like the £700M HS2 scheme, ensuring that our team members are at the forefront of MEP design in rail and aviation. Located in the UK, we provide a supportive environment where your expertise can thrive, making a meaningful impact in the industry.
