Finance Business Partner - Reading, Berkshire in Shinfield

This is a Financial Business Partnering role within the Operations Finance team and reports to the Head of Finance for Water. The role will be a business partner to the members of the Water Senior Leadership team and is responsible for performance reporting, forecasting and analysis. The key purpose of the role is to drive optimal performance at the best value for money across both Opex and Capex investments.

The role covers operations functions primarily supporting the delivery of our leakage activities, as well as working closely with colleagues across the Water finance team. In terms of cost stacks, the role will work across the whole P&L, including revenue, employee, power, materials, third party, and capex costs and thus needs to become familiar with activity drivers of value.

What you'll be doing as a Finance Business Partner:

• Ensure that you are sharing and understanding key insights across the financial landscape so that there is one clear understanding of financial performance.
• Lead and assist in setting a business plan that achieves all operational and financial objectives.
• Prepare and upload budgets and forecasts for operational expenditure, measuring and understanding performance against these metrics.
• Identify, monitor and support the business to mitigate key risks and opportunities.
• Support any Investment Committee Papers regarding Budget and Actual Cost analysis and approvals, and agreeing, tracking and driving business improvement initiatives.
• Track and monitor business improvement initiatives for your area (for example, efficiencies and transformation initiatives), providing robust assurance of claimed benefits.
• Own the modelling for relevant business area activities and fulfil the role as SME in this space.
• Input as required to any other key business requirements (e.g. regulatory returns, analytical reviews).
• Ensure that key business models are maintained for your business unit that support financial planning and analysis (e.g. supporting activity-based costing, find and fix analysis, event reporting, etc.).
• Support the business in developing new models as appropriate, ensuring these are robust and aid decision-making.

Base Location: Hybrid Reading

Working Pattern or hours: 36 hours

This is a fixed-term contract/ Secondment 13-18 months.

What you should bring to the role:

• Qualified accountant or QBE.
• Business partnering, Management Accounting, Project / Capital accounting experience.
• Not afraid to challenge and influence decision-making, as well as building strong relationships.
• Planning and Organisational skills to work effectively.
• Analytical skills.
• Presentation skills.
• Microsoft products including Excel.
• Information system skills such as HFM.

Additional skills and experiences would be great to have/bring:

• Experience in a large/complex organisation.
• Experience working with Power BI, SAC and SAP.

What's in it for you?

• Competitive salary up to 60,000 - 70,000 per annum, depending on experience.
• Annual Leave - 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the length of service (plus bank holidays).
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets.
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family's health and wellbeing, and your finances.

Find out more about our benefits and perks.

We're the UK's largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive.

Learn more about our purpose and values.

Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you'll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you're looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people's lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we'll be here to support you every step of the way.

We're committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that's extra time, accessible formats, or anything else, just let us know. We're here to help and support.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you'll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience.

Disclaimer: Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.