Group Head of Business Finance
£120,000 - £135,000 + Bonus + Benefits
London

Who They Are
They are a leading, global active investment and asset management group who have built up an excellent reputation with leading investment brands and a diverse product range. There performance and growth over the years has been unparalleled and the organisation offers an attractive work environment fostering the belief that employees are the most valuable assets. Over the last few years, the business has been undergoing change and development to meet the growing future needs of the investment community and planned further new product offerings.

The Role
Reporting to the Group Chief Financial Officer , this a new business critical position adapting a "blue sky" approach to establish and lead the Business Finance team focussed on the core management information activities of the Group, Finance business partnering and development of the Finance platform. The structure of the department will be built from the top down and will initially comprise of 3 people with an estimate of expansion to 8 within 3 years. With such activities spread across various Finance teams the role will be initially focussed on setting a clear framework for the delivery of appropriate management information from the current platform and building/developing critically important information for the business decision making processes of the firm. As the business changes and develops, this role will be responsible for the development of an appropriate Finance platform for all Finance activities of the firm. The role will also be responsible for building the Finance functions business partnering activities. It is envisaged there will be a five year period of foreseeable development growth in the role. The role will be an integral part of the Finance leadership team, working closely with the other Finance leaders whilst reporting to the Group CFO. Given the nature of the role there will be various ad hoc projects requiring careful management and efficient execution. It is hoped that the person would be able to step in for the Group CFO in their absence or grow in stature to do so. At any rate, the individual should have the gravitas to be able to comfortably work with Board members and the Heads of Business areas such as the Head of Distribution. You will be involved in all aspects of significant change within finance. The main tasks and responsibilities are as follows:

Management Information

  • Development of management information to improve transparency and quality of information required for management to make effective decisions in running the business;
  • Oversee the production of monthly management information pack for the Group Management Board and Board of Directors;
  • Oversee the production of monthly Assets Under Management and Net New Money reports;
  • FX impact analysis;
  • Coordination of the firm wide annual planning/budget process;
  • Production and maintenance of the Group's forecasting models;
  • Administration of the MIS application;
  • General oversight of the Group results to ensure accuracy and consistency of approach.

Business Partnering

  • Establish a network of Finance staff to provide support to the various business managers;
  • Oversight all business partnering activities;
  • Provide analyses of profitability by business segments;
  • Oversee the production of summary departmental and headcount reports;
  • Oversee the production of fund and client profitability reports.

Finance Platform

  • Understand the fundamental aspect of the platform and put it into practice
  • Take overall ownership of the core Finance platform, i.e. the core systems and applications used by Finance, data inputs into the finance applications and the resultant reporting tools;
  • Liaise with IT re infrastructure requirements;
  • Control change requests with IT;
  • Develop improvements to the platform.

Other

  • Assist in coordination of the activities of the Finance teams in the various sites;
  • Ad hoc projects in support of the Group CFO;

Who they are looking for
In order to be considered for this rare opportunity to influence the business development and further growth of an organisation, you must meet the following criteria:

  • Qualified ACA, ACCA or CIMA, or equivalent experience, with substantial experience across a variety of Finance roles within investment, asset or wealth management;
  • Experience in finance business partnering including provision of group wide or business MI essential;
  • Experience in Finance change projects and strong planning and organisational skills;
  • A proactive self starter, able to motivate others with strong team management and mentoring skills;
  • Excellent computer/systems knowledge with good data mining skills, in particular strong Excel and Powerpoint skills;
  • Strongly analytical and numerate, strong presentation skills and excellent oral and written communication skills;
  • Ability to deal with all levels of staff across all areas of the company;
  • Clear logical thinker with ability to think top down and put thoughts into practice and ability/confidence to deal with complex situations;
  • Ability to work under pressure with minimum supervision to achieve objectives within agreed timescales.