Role

The Financial Controller will act as a key finance business partner to the commercial and operations teams, with a strong FP&A focus. The role requires someone to start almost immediately therefore to be considered you must be available straight away or on a very short notice period.

This is a hands-on individual contributor role (no direct reports) responsible for delivering high-quality financial planning, analysis and insight; owning core financial controls, reporting and governance; and managing weekly cash flow and payment processes.

You will report to the Chief Financial Officer and work closely with Sales, Supply Chain, Operations and Marketing.

Key Duties

Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)

• Support the annual budget, quarterly re-forecasting and monthly outlook processes for the business.
• Build and maintain detailed P&L models at business, channel and product/category level, including sales, margin, opex and EBITDA.
• Provide robust analyses of like-for-like sales, volume, price/mix, margin, and promotional performance.
• Partner with the commercial team to evaluate promotions, trade spend, pricing changes and range decisions, providing clear recommendations.
• Support S&OP / demand planning processes with financial insight, including sales phasing, inventory levels and working capital impacts.

Cash Flow, Commitments & Payments

• Own the weekly cash flow forecast, ensuring it is accurate, up to date and aligned with short- and medium-term business plans.
• Track and manage cash commitments, including inventory, capex, operating costs and key contracts, flagging risks and opportunities.
• Oversee payment management, ensuring supplier payments are accurate, timely and aligned with cash flow priorities and approval limits.
• Provide regular cash and working capital insight to senior management, including clear commentary on variances and forward risks.

Financial Control & Reporting

• Own the month-end close for the business P&L, ensuring accuracy, completeness and adherence to deadlines.
• Prepare and review monthly management accounts, variance analysis and commentaries for senior stakeholders.
• Ensure robust balance sheet reconciliations, with particular focus on inventory, accruals, rebates, trade spend and cash-related balance in conjunction with the outsourced finance function.
• Maintain and improve financial controls and accounting policies in line with Group standards and external regulations.
• Support statutory reporting, audits and technical accounting queries where required.

Business Partnering & Commercial Support

• Act as a trusted advisor to commercial, operations and marketing teams, translating financial data into practical actions.
• Support and challenge data-driven decision-making across pricing, promotions, range and investment decisions.
• Provide financial input into supplier negotiations, including terms, rebates and promotional funding.
• Support channel and customer performance reviews, identifying underperformance and recommending improvement plans.

Performance Management, Insight & Power BI

• Maintain a suite of KPIs and dashboards - e.g. sales, margin, trade spend, stock turns, cash conversion and working capital.
• Lead all Power BI activity for finance: define data requirements, build and maintain reports/dashboards, and drive self-serve usage across the business.
• Work with the outsourced accounting team and internal stakeholders to ensure data integrity and alignment between source systems, the ERP and BI tools.
• Identify and quantify profit and cash improvement opportunities (cost efficiencies, mix optimisation, process improvements).

Systems, Processes & Projects

• Act as a super-user for relevant finance and reporting systems (ERP, planning tools, BI tools), with specific ownership of Power BI for finance.
• Support or lead finance workstreams on system upgrades, process standardisation and automation projects.
• Document and refine end-to-end finance, cash and payment processes to reduce manual work and control risk.
• Champion continuous improvement, using technology and data to streamline reporting and decision support.

Experience Required

• Qualified accountant (e.g. ACA / ACCA / CIMA or equivalent) or QBE with strong, demonstrable experience.
• 5 years' experience in finance roles, with at least 2-3 years in FP&A and/or commercial finance.
• Experience in FMCG and/or multi-channel retail strongly preferred.
• Demonstrable experience of budgeting, forecasting, management reporting, cash flow management and business partnering.
• Comfortable operating as a hands-on individual contributor with no direct reports, owning outputs end-to-end.
• Advanced Excel / financial modelling skills and strong hands-on experience with Power BI (data modelling and dashboard design).
• Strong understanding of retail and FMCG drivers - volume, price/mix, margin, promo ROI, rebates, stock turns and cash conversion.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills; confident challenging and influencing senior non-finance stakeholders.
• Continuous improvement mindset - keen to simplify, automate and standardise processes.

To be considered you must be immediately available or on a short notice period.