Commercial Finance Director

OCS Group Limited; Ipswich; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading facilities management company in Ipswich is seeking a Commercial Finance Director for its Cleaning Division. This role involves providing strategic leadership, overseeing the commercial strategy, and managing performance. The ideal candidate should have strong leadership abilities, be a strategic thinker, and possess excellent communication skills. Responsibilities include financial control, driving commercial decisions, and improving the reporting function. The position demands a flexible manager who can handle high-pressure situations and enhance business relationships.

Qualifications

• Experienced people manager and senior leader.
• Commercially focused strategic thinker.
• Calm under pressure and excellent communicator.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for producing timely and accurate business data.
• Drive all aspects of performance as a Trusted Adviser.
• Champion a best-in-class reporting function.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Communication

Financial analysis

Client relationship management

Performance management

Job description

Role Overview

OCS UK & Ireland is a leading facilities management company with 50,000+ colleagues and a turnover in excess of £2bn. We deliver innovative, award-winning services within facilities management, hard services, cleaning, security and catering. Our mission is to make people and places the best they can be for our colleagues, customers and the communities we serve. Our commitment to doing business the right way is rooted in our TRUE values - Trust, Respect, Unity, and Empowerment.

OCS Group is currently recruiting for a Commercial Finance Director to join our passionate, innovative and driven Cleaning business on a permanent basis. The commercial finance director will provide strategic leadership support to the Cleaning Division, which has a combined turnover of c£550m, working alongside the CEO of the business. This senior position will be accountable for the commercial strategy and responsible for delivering against and managing the performance of the Cleaning Division.

Responsibilities

• Take overall responsibility for the production of timely, accurate and insightful Business data to support the running of the business.
• Be a \"Trusted Adviser\" who is focused on driving all aspects of performance.
• Own the understanding of the financial position including variances and trends and ensure suitable actions are being taken across the Division to maximise overall performance.
• Develop key performance indicators and variance analysis to provide a clear understanding of the drivers of growth to inform and develop both short-term performance and the SLT.
• Work alongside the Cleaning CEO on identifying and assessing potential acquisition targets and building business cases to support investment decisions.
• Drive commercial decisions affecting the Division, including new business pricing policy, assessment and management of contractual risk, assistance with tenders and negotiations with clients as well as Business specific cost management and controls.
• Champion and maintain a best-in-class reporting function to provide timely, meaningful and contextualised information to Divisional management.
• Continual improvement of financial systems and reporting within the overall Division.
• Responsible for the financial control environment of the Division, including timeliness & accuracy of management accounts, management of all audit processes and implementing sufficient review and oversight of all balance sheet areas.
• Manage the Divisional finance team including recruitment, succession planning and training alongside the development and motivation of team members.
• Ensure Divisional ownership, at all levels on cash and debt management including continually challenging levels of WIP, un-invoiced revenue and debtor positions to maximise cash generation.
• Manage the annual preparation of a full bottom-up budget and strategy across the Division in line with the group timetable.
• Implement a continual forecasting and variance analysis model to improve the visibility of expected results as well as challenging and assessing action plans to drive required improvements so that overall targets are achieved.
• Work closely with the Commercial Finance Director- UK&I in the broader development of a best-in-class finance function which is driven to add value across all areas of the business.
• Attendance at key commercial customer and supplier meetings.
• Continually drive improvements in business partnering and the value that the finance team provides.
• Provide strategic leadership support to the Cleaning Division and be accountable for the commercial strategy, supporting the Cleaning Division's performance.

Qualifications

• Experienced people manager and senior leader.
• Commercially focussed strategic thinker.
• Calm under pressure.
• Excellent communicator of financial detail clearly and concisely in a commercial way.
• Proven ability to influence, challenge and drive performance at a board level.
• Excellent organisation and presentation skills.
• Gravitas and personal presence.
• Engaging client-facing capabilities to build and develop relationships.
• Able to deal with a fast-paced continuously evolving role.
• Determined and focused on achievement.
• Proven experience with customer and supplier-facing commercial discussions.
• Flexible and willing to travel as required by the business.