Senior Finance Business Partner

This role is designed to act as a co-pilot to the COO of the UK retail business, driving strategy of the operations function and evaluate its performance.

the intent is to provide a fantastic gateway opportunity for a Big4 trained (or equivalent) qualified Accountant with at least 5 years post qualified experience in industry/practice to join a fast paced, highly commercial business that can offer career progression and interaction across the whole spectrum of finance activities.

What you'll be doing:

• Acting as Business partner with the Operations function you will be creating value through sitting on the change board, assessing business cases and holding the business to account on benefit realisation
• Own the overall UK expense story and identify risks/ opportunities that the UK leadership team can act upon
• Work with the UK Chief Finance Officer in delivering a range of Finance projects for UK Senior Management. In particular, supporting on initiatives looking at tactical and strategic cost opportunities
• Responsible for the monthly performance analysis of the overall UK expense base (including headcount management) with personal ownership of the Operations area
• Project manage the submission of overall UK expense reforecasts and budgets

Our must-haves:

• Proven track record as a business partner
• Relevant professional qualification (ACA, CIMA, ACCA), at least 5 years post qualified
• Professional curiosity to ask the "so what" type question
• Structured and ordered mindset with an ability to analyse and draw insights from numerical data to tell the underlying story
• Ability to communicate complex financial problems to a number of different audiences
• Shows initiative, drive and ownership, strong determination to 'get things right' standardised and then automate the production
• Combine soft influencing and persuasion skills with leadership qualities to encourage senior leaders to positively respond to questions, inquires and requests to meet deadlines
• Creative, proactive and innovative - does not accept the status quo
• Able to think and act strategically and to translate thinking into tangible plans

Our nice to haves:

• An understanding of an Operations function and what makes it tick
• Understanding of Project and Fixed Asset accounting
• Advanced excel and PowerPoint skills
• Familiarity with the Oracle platform