Strategic Finance Partner - Hybrid | Drive Profitability & Insights in Comberton

Finance Business Partner Kidderminster based/hybrid working

Purpose of Role

Drive commercial performance by acting as a strategic link between finance and operations. Reports to Director of Finance.

Main duties and responsibilities

• Financial Reporting: Prepare accurate and timely financial statements by working day 3, ensuring compliance with regulatory standards.
• Strategic Contribution: Provide insightful financial analysis and recommendations to senior management, supporting strategic decision making to reduce waste and improve profitability on a monthly basis. Lead Credit Control team to achieve KPIs (Cash/Debt/Debtor) against the budget and work with Director of Finance to implement or change processes.
• Ad-Hoc Projects: Support senior management with financial projects, system improvements, and business initiatives by implementing and improving existing processes.
• Audit Management: Coordinate with external auditors to ensure smooth year-end audits.
• Planning & Organising: Organises and reviews workload of others on a regular basis. Thinks through activities, allowing time for completion. Plans well in advance, sets realistic targets, builds in review, monitors progress. Identifies critical milestones, potential risks and considers options within operational plan. Able to organise a number of major projects or activities running concurrently. Ensures others are clear about their roles and objectives.
• Partner with the business: Maintain strong relationships including active communication and visibility with the business. Ensure you are approachable to support them to consider financial consequences to their key decisions.
• Budgets & Forecasting: Assist in the annual budgeting and rolling monthly forecasting, aligning financial plans with business objectives.
• Internal Controls: Implement and maintain robust financial controls to safeguard company assets and ensure compliance. Juggles different demands and switches between them as appropriate. Estimates resources required accurately, identifies availability and uses time, money and people effectively. Develops business plans that take into account other activities across the business and the risks of non-delivery. Constantly monitors, analyses and reports progress - identifies measurable outputs. Sets clear agenda and objectives for meetings and sticks to time.
• Continuous Improvement: Actively promotes a learning culture which supports organisational objectives and service plans. Ensures organisational development and adapts policy/procedures and plans in the light of learning. Balances technical considerations with business requirements. Demonstrates full understanding of own field or specialism, and is aware of competitive products. Maintains relationships and networks with innovative suppliers/market leaders, seeks out new opportunities for use of technology. Active member of relevant professional institute; subscribes to trade papers. Prepares technical specifications.
• Customer Focus: Accurately reports to customers/management groups and sets agreed service standards and measures of delivery. Anticipates and pre-empts requests from customers. Leads and manages others in a customer first approach, acting as a role model in demonstrating customer care principles. Fully accepts legitimacy of customer needs and expectations. Focuses on delighting the customer with the service provided within the confines of profitability and capability. Looks to develop long-term relationships by developing or recommending novel solutions. In partnership with their customers, becomes closely involved in the decision-making process.
• Communication: Communication often involves difficult or sensitive matters with a range of people in order to pursue objectives, and progress plans and projects to satisfactory and timely outcomes. Conveys complex or technical information in a straightforward manner. Undertakes structured interviews/questioning to gain consistent, detailed information. Switches communication style and content according to audience. Uses influencing skills to explain complex issues to persuade a more senior manager or customer to accept a proposal. Displays tact and sensitivity. Negotiates working compromises to the benefit of all parties. Able to persuade others through logical argument. Able to present detailed proposals to clients or give training to a mixed audience.
• Financial and Commercial Awareness: Acts in the best interests of the organisation rather than the department and successfully uses cross-departmental working. Develops and maintains a broad network of contacts. Sets out marketing or business plans; takes tactical action to maintain commercial or competitive presence. Manages budgets effectively, and makes decisions based on good quality cost/benefit analysis. Aware of income and profit implications, and can use financial implications to assist in prioritisation/resource allocation decisions. Improves budget processes by extending input information and ongoing dialogue with financial controller. Accurately forecasts costs and builds in contingencies. Understands implications of plan on other areas of the business.

Qualifications & Experience

• ACCA, CIMA Qualified
• Industry experience in construction preferred
• 3 years + proven in a similar senior finance position.
• Strong leadership and first line management skills, with the ability to inspire and develop others.
• Proven communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate at all levels.

Role Profile

Excellent financial analysis and reporting skills, with the ability to translate data into actionable insights. Proficiency in financial software and advanced Microsoft Excel skills.