Finance Business Partner

Brakes; Ashford; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Car allowance £5500 per annum

Private medical cover

Flexible time off

Wellbeing & health support

Pension scheme

Sysco Perks discounts

Product discounts

Career opportunities

Job summary

Brakes is seeking a Management Accountant / Finance Business Partner to join our finance team on a permanent, hybrid basis. You will report to the Senior Finance Business Partner and support procurement and category management with data-driven insights on product categories, supplier performance and profitability.

This role requires strong financial analysis, advanced Excel and experience with SAP or Workday. Local candidates with Ashford area proximity preferred, with weekly office attendance.

Qualifications

• Recently qualified accountant or passed finalist (CIMA/ACCA/ACA).
• Currently working as Finance Business Partner, Management Accountant or Finance Analyst.
• Confident with stakeholders and able to challenge decisions constructively.
• Strong finance knowledge with analytical insight and modelling ability.
• Advanced Excel skills; SAP or Workday experience is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Develop category performance reporting and provide merchandising insights on revenue, margin, cost and spend.
• Analyze category sales to identify margin improvement opportunities.
• Support category penetration and growth opportunities across customer segments.
• Develop price laddering frameworks for good-better-best positioning and competitiveness.
• Analyse promotional activities, including ROI and success.
• Provide supplier trend insights to support negotiations and profitability.
• Build robust data models to support category performance analysis and scenario planning.
• Improve data quality and reporting to provide a single view for merchandising.
• Project work as required and provide cover as needed.

Skills

Advanced Excel

Financial analysis

Data modelling

Stakeholder management

Education

CIMA/ACCA/ACA finalist

Tools

SAP

Workday

Job description

If you're looking to take the next step in your finance career, we now have a fantastic opportunity for a Management Accountant / Finance Business Partner to join us on a permanent. You'll be reporting directly into the Senior Finance Business Partner and responsible for supporting the procurement and category management functions. This role will provide an appropriate balance of support, challenge and value add to deliver data-driven insights across product categories, industry penetration, and supplier performance. As a key business partner to the procurement teams, this role will focus on driving performance, price architecture, and category profitability through robust analytics and a deep understanding of market and industry trends. We are offering a hybrid working contract and you will be required to attend the Ashford office once per week so ideally you will be local to the office and comfortable

Key Accountabilities & Responsibilities

• Working with the procurement function to develop category performance reporting and providing merchandising insights focusing on category-level revenue, margin, cost performance and spending across product ranges.
• Provide insights on range performance with detailed analysis on category sales to identify margin improvement opportunities.
• Category and industry penetration, identifying gaps and growth opportunities across customer segments
• Developing, analysing and maintaining a price laddering frameworks to ensure clear good-better-best positioning, ensuring competitiveness and identifying inconsistencies
• Analyse promotional activities, including return on investment and promotional success
• Providing insight into supplier trends and performance to support negotiations and strategic aims, focusing on funding support, cost moves and margin contribution and overall profitability and identifying growth opportunities
• Build robust data models to support category performance analysis, scenario planning and pricing decisions.
• Improving data quality, reporting and insights to provide a one view of truth to the merchandising function
• Project work as and when required
• Understanding the roles & responsibilities of the wider team to provide cover when required

About you: You'll be a recently qualified accountant or a passed finalist, (CIMA, ACCA, ACA) currently operating as a Finance Business Partner, Management Account or Finance Analyst, looking to join a global organisation as part of your career development. We are looking for someone who has the confidence to deal with stakeholders at all levels across the business and to challenge decisions in a constructive way, offering solutions to any problems, always ensuring the best outcome is achieved. Using your finance knowledge and experience you will provide a vital service and partner closely with the team on risk and continuous improvement, so you must be able to hold a strong conversation with sound analytical insight. The ability to understand trends and results with a high level of competency in financial analysis and modelling is essential. An advanced level of Microsoft Excel is also required. Any working knowledge of SAP or Workday is advantageous.

What you'll receive:

• A competitive salary.
• Car Allowance of £5500 per annum
• Single Private Medical Cover
• Flexible Time Off: Take advantage of the option to purchase additional annual leave.
• Comprehensive Wellbeing & Health Support: Benefit from our Employee Assistance Programme, offering confidential mental health support, 24/7 GP appointments, physiotherapy, flu vaccinations, eye tests and a wide range of health services for you and your family.
• Competitive Pension Scheme: Secure your future with our robust pension plan designed to help you plan long term.
• Exclusive Discounts: Enjoy access to Sysco Perks, where you'll find discounts on everything from gym memberships to your weekly grocery shop.
• Special Sysco Product Discounts: Get the chance to purchase our food products at significantly reduced prices.
• Real career opportunities - being part of Sysco, the world's leading foodservice business, opens up a world of possibility.