Finance & Operations Manager

Operations & Finance Manager
up to £45k
Hybrid working
West End

I am currently recruiting for an exciting new role within a rapidly expanding Strategy Consulting firm in London. My client is looking for an Office Manager who also has extensive experience looking after the day to day finance duties (processing payroll, expenses, paying suppliers etc) This is an incredible opportunity for someone looking to gain more exposure in finance and develop their career further.

This is a multitasking support role across multiple disciplines including finance, HR, marketing, and general administration. However, the core part of the role is finance. Generally employee-facing rather than client-facing, the role reports to the firm's Partners and is essential to the efficient running of the firm. Given the broad and varied nature of its responsibilities and the high level of daily interaction with fee-earning staff, the role can also have significant influence on the firm's culture and working environment.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The role's responsibilities are shown below, with an estimation of the amount of time allocated to each. These timings are estimated 'in the round' and will likely vary significantly week-to-week and time of the year. For example, recruitment responsibilities may peak in the autumn during the firm's participation in the graduate recruitment milkround, while finance responsibilities may peak in March/April, coinciding with the firm's financial year end.

• Finance Support (40%-50%)
• HR Support (10-20%)
• Recruitment Support (10-20%)
• Marketing & Events Support (5-10%)
• Office Management (5-10%)

Finance support duties:

The role provides administrative support to the Finance Partner, to ensure smooth delivery of finance processes, including timesheets, expenses, cash collection. It requires knowledge of our accounting software, currently Xero and timesheet and expenses software (currently Harvest). The role also requires occasionally interaction with their accountants and payroll providers, currently Cottons in Northampton.

• Managing interactions with external payroll provider and ensuring appropriate gross salary & bonuses are provided to them, to calculate net staff compensation.
• Checking staff expense claims
• Payment of staff salaries, bonuses and expense claims
• Checking and payment of supplier invoices
• Inputting management information into monthly financials and quarterly board presentations (e. revenue mix, staff hours, job profitability etc.)
• Preparation of draft invoices for partner review to send to clients
• Monitoring of late invoices, and escalation to partners if necessary
• Monitoring that engagement letters are signed, and escalation to partners if necessary
• Development of draft budget and re-forecast twice a year under partner supervision
• Monthly analysis of variances between budget and actual financial performance

HR Duties:

The role provides administrative support to the HR Partner, to ensure smooth delivery of HR processes. It requires knowledge of their HR software.

• Building performance review templates
• Managing on-time completion of performance reviews
• Approving holiday requests
• Reporting on holiday usage and allowances
• Preparing employee contracts
• Managing employee onboarding and offboarding processes
• Preparation of NDAs and contracts for freelance staff
• Maintenance of Employee Handbook

Recruitment Support duties:

The role provides administrative support to the Consulting team, running the recruitment process at all level of hires, but especially for the graduate recruitment cycle. It will also involve extensive use of their Applicant Tracking Software (ATS), which is currently PeopleHR.

• Managing applications, including acknowledging receipt
• Managing interviews, including scheduling
• Managing candidate correspondence (rejections, interview confirmations, etc)
• Liaising with university careers services for careers fairs, event and society sponsorship, etc

Office Management duties:

The role provides administrative support to the Partners in running an efficient and friendly office:

• Maintenance of the comapny's Health & Safety policy, including Covid-19 policy
• Liaison with landlords on office configuration, furniture, lease renewals etc
• Support with finding new offices as required
• Enforcement of tidy desk policy
• Office procurement, including stationery, plants, fixtures and fittings
• Cards and cakes for staff birthdays
• Bookings for social events, including office Christmas party and summer event
• Documentation and management of Fairgrove processes & policies

The role does not involve:

• Telephone or front-of-house reception

Candidate Specification:

The multifaceted nature of this role requires a broad skillset. Training will be provided for more technical aspects of the job, for example, execution of Finance responsibilities. The successful candidate will likely be able to demonstrate the following:

• Prior experience in a similar, multi-faceted role in a professional services firm, with supporting reference(s)
• A degree or higher education qualification in Finance Administration (and/or HR)
• Strong organisation and time-management
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Familiarity with Microsoft Word and Excel and, to a lesser extent, PowerPoint
• A mania for detail and accuracy
• Ability to prioritise and manage own time with minimal supervision
• Strong interpersonal skills