Associate Director - Finance Business Partner in London

Since 1989, SHI International Corp. has helped organizations change the world through technology. We’ve grown every year since, and today we’re proud to be a $16 billion global provider of IT solutions and services.

Over 17,000 organizations worldwide rely on SHI’s concierge approach to help them solve what’s next. But the heartbeat of SHI is our employees – all 7,000 of them. If you join our team, you’ll enjoy:

• Our commitment to diversity, as the largest minority- and woman-owned enterprise in the U.S.
• Continuous professional growth and leadership opportunities.
• Health, wellness, and financial benefits to offer peace of mind to you and your family.
• World‑class facilities and the technology you need to thrive – in our offices or yours.

The Associate Director - Finance Business Partner is a senior, high visibility role responsible for providing strategic financial leadership to the Internal IT organization and several of the Services business units. This role sits at the intersection of financial discipline, operational insight, and strategic influence—guiding business leaders with robust financial analysis, performance insights, and data driven recommendations that support both near term execution and long term business outcomes.

This role will operate as a trusted advisor to IT and Services leadership, strengthening financial rigor, building transparency into cost structures and performance metrics, and driving strategic initiatives such as cost to serve modelling, multi year forecasting, and transformation program support. The role is expected to evolve to include building and leading a small team over time.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Business Partnering – IT
  • Serve as the primary finance partner to the CIO and IT leadership team.
  • Provide transparency into IT cost structures, run‑rate performance, and financial drivers across service towers, contracts, vendors, and offshoring/onshore delivery models.
  • Build foresight into multi‑year contractual commitments, transformation programs, investment decisions, and total cost of ownership (TCO).
  • Support portfolio prioritization and ROI evaluation for technology programs, infrastructure modernization, offshoring initiatives, and automation opportunities.
  • Distil financial insights into clear, actionable recommendations to support decision‑making and outcomes.
• Business Partnering – Services Organization(s)
  • Partner with leadership of several Services businesses to drive performance management, forecasting, and financial accountability.
  • Provide deep insight into services KPIs including utilization, margins, pipeline, backlog, project profitability, and delivery efficiency.
  • Translate operational performance into forward‑looking financial outcomes and strategic actions.
  • Support pricing strategies, commercial modelling, statement of work (SOW) reviews, and services portfolio optimization.
• Financial Management & Performance Reporting
  • Working with FP&A and Accounting, lead monthly close, management reporting, variance analysis, and forecasting for both IT and Services areas.
  • Establish a disciplined, repeatable financial cadence—ensuring timely visibility of results and clear understanding of key drivers.
  • Proactively identify risks, opportunities, gaps, and required corrective actions.
  • Strengthen financial controls, due diligence, and governance across both IT and Services.
• Strategic Projects & Transformation
  • Lead or support major finance and business transformation initiatives, including:
  • Development of a comprehensive Cost‑to‑Serve model for IT initially and subsequently for services consumption.
  • Resetting or improving legacy financial processes to drive automation, quality, and insight.
  • Supporting IT transformation roadmaps and services modernization programs (e.g., delivery model changes, capability builds, offshore strategy).
  • Partner with cross‑functional teams (e.g. PMO, Procurement, Operations, HR) to enable integrated decision‑making.
• Team Leadership & Capability Building
  • As the role expands, hire, coach, and manage a Team to support growing responsibilities.
  • Build a small, high‑performing FP&A capability for the Services business that seamlessly partners and integrates with existing Finance, FP&A and Accounting Teams ensuring alignment and consistency.
  • Champion a culture of authenticity, financial rigor, transparency, and data‑driven thinking across the business units supported.

Qualifications & Experience

Required

• Significant progressive experience (8 – 10 years) in a Finance Business Partner, FP&A, or Commercial Finance role, ideally at Senior Manager/Associate Director level.
• Strong background supporting IT, professional services, or other people‑based delivery organizations.
• Deep understanding of services financial drivers:
• Utilization & chargeability
• Project profitability & scoping
• Backlog & pipeline forecasting.
• Recurring vs. non‑recurring services revenue
• Experience supporting internal IT organizations or technology cost structures.
• Demonstrated ability to build financial models, multi‑year plans, and scenario analysis.
• Proven track record influencing senior leadership and driving strategic outcomes.
• Exceptional communication, storytelling, and stakeholder‑management skills.
• Strong command of financial processes—forecasting, reporting, budgeting, governance.

Preferred

• Experience leading transformation or building new FP&A capabilities.
• Exposure to offshore/nearshore IT delivery models and global cost allocation frameworks.
• Advanced Excel/Power BI skills and comfort working with large/complex data sets.
• Previous involvement in cost‑to‑serve modelling or IT and service costing.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is:

• Strategic yet hands‑on, able to move between detail and big‑picture thinking.
• Comfortable in evolving, ambiguous, and high‑profile environments.
• Skilled at bringing structure, discipline, and insight where they previously did not exist.
• A natural influencer who can challenge constructively and guide senior leaders.
• Commercially sharp, operationally aware, and financially rigorous.
• Motivated by improving processes, enabling performance, and building long‑term capabilities.

Success Measures (First 12–18 Months)

• Establishment of a stable financial cadence across IT and Services.
• Delivery of a functioning Cost‑to‑Serve model used by leadership for decision‑making.
• Improved transparency around IT costs, services margins, and operational KPIs.
• Strong business partner relationships with CIO, IT LT, and Services leaders.
• Balanced correction of inherited legacy behaviours and implementation of disciplined forecasting & reporting.
• Successful onboarding and development of a junior finance resources as required.

SHI UK is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or any other legally protected status. We encourage applications from all qualified candidates and we are dedicated to providing a fair and accessible recruitment process.