Senior Finance Business Partner

The Senior Finance Business Partner at The Captivate Group acts as the financial lead for two agencies and one overseas division within the group. The role provides commercial and strategic financial insight, owns agency P&L reporting, supports project financial management and ensures accurate revenue recognition, forecasting and statutory reporting.

Key Responsibilities

• Agency Financial Leadership: Act as the finance lead for two agencies and US division. Partner with leadership teams to provide financial insight and challenge.
• P&L Ownership: Own the monthly P&L for assigned agencies. Prepare monthly management accounts and provide variance analysis and valuable commentary. Liaise with US accountants for consolidated results. Review and approve US balance sheet reconciliations. Ensure differences in US to UK reporting are explained and reconciled. Follow the transfer pricing agreement and ensure all transactions are documented and audit‑ready. Review and sign off freelance requests from Operations in line with forecasts, escalating potential overspends to the Finance Director before commitment.
• Revenue Recognition & Gross Profit: Identify, drive and deliver improvements in Gross Profit. Ensure revenue is recognised in line with client agreements, UK and US accounting standards and accounting policies. Review WIP, accrued income and deferred income balances.
• Client Profitability & Utilisation: Develop and systemise reporting with the FD for rollout across the group. Deliver reporting and provide insights on client profitability and staff utilisation. Provide the FD with regular updates on actions taken to improve profitability.
• Revenue & GP Forecasting: Maintain rolling revenue and gross profit forecasts. Update forecasts regularly with input from client teams. Build pipeline forecasting by connecting finance system and CRM.
• Financial Planning: Lead the annual budgeting process for assigned agencies. Provide budgets to the Operations head and monitor budgeted spend. Prepare quarterly financial reforecasts reflecting current performance and pipeline. Present budget and forecasts to the Finance Director, meeting board deadlines set.
• Work in Progress & Project Financial Management: Monitor WIP balances ensuring timely billing. Ensure regular WIP reviews with project teams.
• Client Billing: Ensure invoices are issued promptly in line with project milestones. Ensure no jobs close with unbilled costs. Run regular post‑project review sessions to identify learnings and apply them to future projects. Work with leadership teams to improve margins.
• Debtor Management: Liaise with outsourced finance function on debtor chasing. Monitor aged debt and support collection of overdue balances. Maintain database of client payment terms.
• Statutory Reporting: Support the statutory audit process by providing information to Auditors as required to agreed deadlines.
• Other: Feed into finance system improvements and enhancements. Ensure a high level of system knowledge.

Skills:

• Qualified Accountant.
• Experience working with international divisions (USA, Europe).
• Exposure to working in a large group.
• Strong commercial finance and analytical skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Excellent communication with non‑finance stakeholders.
• Strong Excel and financial modelling capabilities.
• Ability to influence operational decision‑making.

At The Captivate Group, we are committed to providing an inclusive environment where everyone feels seen, heard and celebrated. We welcome applications from everyone. If you are invited to an interview, please let us know if there are any reasonable adjustments we can make to best accommodate your needs.