Sales Finance Business Partner

Overview

Act as a trusted partner and advisor to the business area and client group supported, driving business performance through detailed analysis, commentary, advice, challenge, and decision support.

Provide key support in customer or supplier meetings and negotiations by offering insights, analysis, challenges, and recommendations.

Responsibilities

• Develop an in-depth understanding of the supported business area or client group, including results and key levers influencing P&L performance.
• Understand drivers of historic, current, and forecasted performance; provide monthly financial analysis, insights, and explanations, highlighting emerging issues or trends, and recommend corrective actions.
• Interpret, explain, and drive performance within the business.
• Support and influence operational and strategic decisions with insights and challenge.
• Translate operational targets into executable in-year plans.
• Partner with the client group to drive actions toward meeting targets (pricing, promo ROI, sales, margin, variable costs, overheads, EBITDA, working capital, ROI).
• Advise on key business planning assumptions, trade-offs, and opportunities.
• Review actual performance metrics and make recommendations to reduce costs, improve margins, and enhance cash flow.
• Lead initiatives focused on closing performance variances.
• Ensure understanding and delivery of KPIs.
• Facilitate ad-hoc strategic analysis and insights.
• Support strategy development through financial insights, scenario, and sensitivity analyses.
• Evaluate investment options from a financial perspective, considering long-term impacts on KPIs.
• Assist in managing capex budgets, forecasting capital spending, and analyzing proposals.
• Identify financial implications of projects and initiatives, contributing to business cases and resource allocation.
• Leverage FP&A analyses to inform business decisions.
• Provide insights into the competitor landscape.
• Collaborate with management to define planning assumptions, risks, and investment opportunities for credible IBP processes.
• Support data quality and timeliness by working with relevant functions.
• Participate in meetings with customers, suppliers, and partners to address performance gaps.
• Promote business and financial controls, fostering accountability and culture.
• Offer expert opinions on accounting judgments to ensure financial statement integrity.
• Review CSR and management reports, providing insights on performance and risks.

Qualifications

• University degree or equivalent.
• Part-qualified accountant (e.g., ACA, ACCA, CIMA) where applicable.
• Desirable: MBA or advanced business degree.
• Experience in FMCG sector.
• Strong business and financial analysis skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Project, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
• Excellent communication and writing skills, capable of engaging stakeholders at all levels.
• Ability to influence colleagues in finance and business units.
• Skilled in managing multiple stakeholders and resolving conflicting viewpoints objectively.
• Constructive challenger of assumptions and thinking.
• Effective report writing and presentation skills.