Senior Finance Business Partner Retail Job In Manchester

Job Description

Senior Finance Business Partner – Retail

We’re First Central Insurance & Technology Group (First Central for short), an innovative, market-leading insurance company. We protect the things customers love so they can get on with what matters to them in life. 

Data drives us. It fuels our outstanding distribution, finance, technology and legal services. Our underwriting skills are built on data expertise; it creates the insights we need to give the right cover to the right customers at the right price. But, it’s the people inside and outside our business that power us. They make us stand out, help us succeed. We’re ambitious. We’re growing. We’ve won awards.

Fancy making a difference in a company that’s changing insurance for good? If you’re a fast-paced, ambitious team player who gets great things done - you’ll fit right in here. 

Our Finance team need a commercially aware, agile and strategic thinking Senior Finance Business Partner - Retail , who knows a thing or two about the Financial Services and/or Motor Insurance and has experience of brokerage and underwriting accounting.

You're not afraid to challenge and you'll have Planning, Forecasting, Strategy and Performance Reporting under your belt! If it's within a Commercial and Marketing (C&M) setting - all the better! As you'll partner with the Retail part of the C&M Leadership Team. Being their trusted advisor, you'll help drive value by influencing business decisions and strategy through the provision of key information and robust challenge.

With a broad skill-set, including stakeholder management at multiple levels, commercial acumen, problem solving, presentational skills and change management, you'll understand KPIs used across insurance. If management of expenses, financial modelling and experience of projects are in your toolkit too, then its a match!

Working flexibly, you'll spend most of your time working from home, with a day a week in the office - so ideally you'll live close to Haywards Heath, West Sussex or Salford Quays, Manchester. But of course, it’s your choice - if the buzz of the office is your thing and you like to be in more - that's good with us too.

We’d love to have you on the team if:

• You're a qualified accountant holding ACA, CIMA, ACCA or suitably skilled through your PQE
• You're great at managing stakeholder and have finance business partnering experience at a senior level
• Management of expenses, financial modelling and projects are in your toolkit

Performance Reporting and Challenge

• Responsible for monthly and quarterly expense reporting across FCIM and the C&M pillar
• Input into the month end accounting processes with a focus on Retail Income and cost entries
• Review and commentary production, including achievement versus budget and forecast, highlighting areas of concern
• Monthly benefits realisation tracking and ability to influence stakeholders should performance against forecast suggest that corrective actions need to be taken

Strategic and Commercial Acumen

• Identify and understand business strategy and provide highly relevant insight into business performance
• Actively manage the FCIM expense base to agreed targets, identifying areas where we can make efficiencies or maximise the return on our investments
• Develop a deep understanding and knowledge of broker business performance (KPI’s) drivers and be able to draw conclusions from the suite of KPI’s available
• Add value through support and challenge of the business in all commercial decision making, providing financial analysis support as necessary

Stakeholder Management

• Create excellent relationships with key stakeholders across the business and within the pillar, in particular the FD and MD for FCIM
• Partner with the senior leadership teams to deliver accurate financial information to aid decision making to maximise shareholder value and return
• Work cross functionally with business managers to align targets and challenge business performance

Planning and Forecasting

• Drive the creation of FCIM’s annual Budget and quarterly expense and income reforecasts, ensuring that C&M, Customer Ops and other Pillar costs are accurately reflected
• Ensure that Retail and non retail initiatives are embedded within KPI projections and that the resulting forecast is challenging and robust
• Ensure that internal IT development for initiatives is correctly reflected in budgets and forecasts

Business Initiatives and Tracking

• Drive business improvements and contribute to the success of the business. Act as a catalyst in driving forward initiatives critical to delivering the strategy
• Facilitate the development of cost benefit analysis for income and expense initiatives and assist in developing presentations for ExCo
• Ensure the benefits of initiatives are accurately tracked and presented on a monthly basis and challenged where appropriate
• Ensure the business receives appropriate support from all relevant Finance functions including Financial Operations, Financial Accounting, Tax and Treasury
• Provide business expertise into accounting processes
• Ensure the Retail Finance Team successfully operates the financial controls delegated to it and that the Team continues to operate an appropriately robust control environment
• Be an ambassador for the Finance function

Leadership

• Three direct reports – Financial Analysts and Modellers
• Ability to deputise for the Retail Finance Director

Job Specific Competencies: 

Experience

• Degree educated
• Qualified accountant (ACA, CIMA, ACCA)
• Extensive PQE
• Motor Insurance background preferable
• Broker or underwriter insurance accounting experience preferable
• Significant finance business partnering experience at a senior level
• Strategic thinker and ability to look at the bigger picture
• Excellent stakeholder management skills and ability to communicate and appropriately challenge senior management
• Excellent communication and presentation skills including verbal, and written
• Excellent negotiation and influencing skills
• Very commercially aware and focused
• Driven and pro-active, self-starter, and enthusiastic
• Ability to work with ambiguity or to make broad assumptions to make a recommendation
• Team player and ability to forge relationships at all levels within the organisation
• Strong analytical skills with an eye on details
• Willingness to roll up sleeves and get involved in the detail if necessary

Our ambition is huge. But your impact could be massive. 

Want to know more ? Sounds like you? Then click on Apply.

What can we do for you?

People first. Always. We’re passionate about our colleagues and know the best people deserve an extraordinary working environment. We owe it to them so that’s what we offer. Our workplaces are energetic, inspirational, supportive. To get a taste of the advantages you’ll enjoy, take a look at all our perks in full here .

Intrigued? Our Talent team can tell you everything you need to know about what we want and what we’re offering, so feel free to get in touch.

86% of people would recommend a friend to work at First Central

Simply Health Cash plan. Reclaim the cost of your eye tests, dental appts, physiotherapy and more

Flexible Bank Holidays

Eight flexible bank holidays; you can choose which festivals you observe

We’re passionate about it. Everyone gets a paid day off annually to volunteer

Electric Car Scheme

Plug into our Electric Car Scheme for a deal with insurance, road tax and servicing

Flexible Working

We’re flexible; most roles let you mix office and home working. We work fluidly around core hours

Your Time in Need

Your Time in Need: five days’ leave so you can deal with life stuff. We’ll support you