Commercial Finance Manager Projects

NFU Mutual; Stratford-upon-Avon; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Pension scheme

28 days annual leave

Private medical insurance

Gym membership contribution

Life assurance

Job summary

NFU Mutual is seeking a Commercial Finance Manager to provide strategic financial oversight and commercial support across a diverse portfolio of Change & IT projects. You will lead budgeting, forecasting, and business case development to enable informed decision making and value delivery.

You will influence senior stakeholders, coach teams, and drive financial planning improvements while working in a hybrid model with 2–3 days in Stratford-upon-Avon and remaining days from home.

Qualifications

• Recognised accountancy qualification (ACCA, CIMA, ACA) or MBA.
• Strong experience in project accounting, ideally in a commercial environment.
• Advanced financial modelling, analysis, evaluation and forecasting.
• Ability to gather and analyse data from multiple sources for commercial insight.
• Excellent communication skills with both financial and non-financial audiences.
• Senior stakeholder management experience up to C-suite level.
• Collaborative, proactive approach with influencing and commercial acumen.
• Passion for continuous improvement and change management.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic financial oversight and commercial support across a portfolio of projects.
• Lead development and management of business cases, supporting bids and tenders.
• Monitor budgets, forecasts and actuals; ensure timely reporting and modelling.
• Drive improvements in financial planning, policies, and processes within change initiatives.

Skills

ACCA/CIMA/ACA

Project accounting

Financial modelling

Stakeholder management

Communication

Commercial acumen

Change management

Education

ACCA/CIMA/ACA or MBA

Tools

MS Excel

Job description

Commercial Finance Manager Projects Utilise your extensive financial experience working within Change & IT project environments, shaping and delivering strategic financial insight Influence high-impact change across company-wide projects, for one of the UK’s leading Financial Services organisations Hybrid working on offer - work at our Stratford-upon-Avon offices 2-3 days per week, with the rest of the week working from home

About the role

As Commercial Finance Manager, you’ll provide strategic financial oversight and commercial support across a diverse portfolio of projects. You’ll play a pivotal role in ensuring robust financial control, accurate reporting, and insightful analysis, managing project spend, performance and profitability in line with our long-term strategic objectives. You will be accountable for leading the development and management of business cases, supporting bid and tender processes, and evaluating project impact and return on investment. This role involves building and maintaining strong relationships with project teams, senior stakeholders, and external partners to ensure commercially optimised achievement of business objectives. You will monitor and challenge budgets, forecasts, and actuals, ensuring timely financial reporting and modelling. In addition, you will oversee forecasting and planning at project level, identifying risks and opportunities, and providing insightful analysis to support decision-making and drive value. As a champion for improvements in financial planning and analysis, you will drive enhancements to policies, systems, and processes as part of the wider change proposition. You will influence, coach, and guide colleagues to continuously improve their skills and effectiveness, while leading, motivating, and developing both direct and indirect reports to set clear direction and foster a high-performance culture.

About you

With significant experience managing financial information and planning for change & IT projects (ideally on a large scale), you’ll bring a blend of technical expertise and strong interpersonal skills. You will be comfortable working in complex and ambiguous environments, partnering with senior stakeholders, and translating financial insight into clear, actionable recommendations. You’ll have:

• A recognised accountancy qualification (ACCA, CIMA, ACA) or equivalent professional qualification (e.g., MBA)
• Strong experience in project accounting, ideally in a commercial environment.
• Advanced financial modelling, analysis, evaluation, and forecasting skills, with attention to detail and strong IT skills (especially MS Excel).
• The ability to gather and analyse data from a wide range of sources to drive commercial insight.
• Excellent communication skills - i.e., able to explain complex financial information to both financial and non-financial audiences and able to create clarity from ambiguity.
• Senior stakeholder management experience, with the ability to build and maintain effective relationships up to C-suite level
• A collaborative, proactive approach, with strong influencing, storytelling, and commercial acumen.
• A passion for continuous improvement and change management.

At NFU Mutual, we support an inclusive workplace and value all the differences that make us unique. We celebrate the creativity and innovation that comes from diverse perspectives and experiences and share a common vision of doing the right thing for our customers and employees. We recognise that some candidates may experience barriers during the recruitment process. So, we encourage candidates to discuss any adjustments or accommodations they need to be the best they can be throughout our recruitment process. We're proud to be a Disability Confident Employer, a Race at Work and Women in Finance Charter signatory and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, regardless of age, ethnicity, disability, neurodiversity, gender, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic background.

Benefits and Rewards

• Salary - up to £75,000 dependent on experience
• Annual bonus (up to 25% of salary)
• Contributory pension scheme, up to 20%, including your 8% contribution
• 28 days annual leave + bank holidays + buy/sell/save holiday trading scheme
• A Family Friendly policy that helps you balance your work and family responsibilities
• Private medical insurance + options to add family members
• Access to savings at High Street brands, travel and supermarkets
• £20 contribution to a monthly gym membership - subject to T&Cs
• Health and wellbeing plan - cashback for dentist, opticians, physio and more
• Employee Volunteering - volunteer in the community for one day each year
• Unlimited access to Refer a Friend
• £500 bonus scheme
• Life Assurance cover of 4 x salary
• Employee discounts of 15% on a range of NFU Mutual insurance policies.
• Salary sacrifice employee car scheme - subject to eligibility

Working at NFU Mutual

We’re one of the UK’s leading general insurance and financial services organisations, and for over 110 years we’ve put our customers at the heart of everything we do. Our people are just as important to us, so we’re proud to be recognised as "a great place to work". Our Gallup Exceptional Workplace 2026 award was not only awarded with Distinction, but it also marked us as the first UK based company to earn a Gallup Exceptional Workplace award for eleven consecutive years. We’ve also been consistently recognised by Glassdoor. We appeared in the Glassdoor Best Places to Work UK list in 2023, 2024 and 2026 - and in 2026, we were the highest ranked insurance business in the UK, highlighting our strong employee experience and the positive feedback our people share on the platform. Additionally, we were named in the LinkedIn Top Companies 2026 list of "Best midsize employers to grow your career in the UK", and we’ve been certified as a UK Top Employer by the Top Employers Institute in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. We offer a supportive and empowering culture where people are inspired to perform, given opportunities to grow, and recognised and rewarded for their contribution. Our people are proud to work for a company that respects them and their communities, and they trust us to be financially sustainable- so we’re successful now and in the future.