Finance Business Partner

Chelsea Football Club; England; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent sports club in the UK is seeking a Finance Business Partner to oversee budgeting and financial reporting. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in finance, excellent communication skills, and a minimum of 3 years post-qualification experience. This role involves financial management, business partnering across departments, and strategic advisory support.

Benefits

25 days annual leave

Pension contribution (5%)

Life assurance

Private healthcare

Cycle to Work scheme

Chelsea Ticket Membership Program

Free staff lunches

Employee Assistance Program

Qualifications

• Minimum of 3 years PQE in finance and accounting.
• Proven ability to manage budgeting, forecasting, and variance analysis.
• Experience in a sports club environment is essential.

Responsibilities

• Manage key operational activities, such as budgeting and management accounting.
• Work with multiple departments to provide financial analysis and insights.
• Deliver meaningful financial reporting to stakeholders.

Skills

Commercial awareness

Budgeting

Forecasting

Attention to detail

IT literacy

Communication

Relationship building

Teamwork

Education

Higher education and qualified accountant – ACA, ACCA or CIMA with a minimum of 3 years PQE

Tools

Advanced Excel

ERP/BI systems

Job description

JOB TITLE: Finance Business Partner

DEPARTMENT: Finance

LOCATION: Stamford Bridge

CONTRACT: Permanent, 35 hours.

Closing date: 19th November

We encourage you to apply as soon as possible. In the event that we receive a large number of applications, the position may be filled before the listed closing date. To avoid missing out, please submit your application at your earliest convenience.

Job Function:

To act as a finance subject matter expert in supporting the Club-wide delivery of objectives, supporting the heads of business activities and Senior Finance Manager, in delivering budgetary cost control, management reporting, variance analysis and key performance indicators in a timely and efficient manner.

You’ll Be (Main Responsibilities):

Financial Management & Control

• Managing and drive the end-to-end execution of key operational activities, such as budgeting and monthly management accounting.
• Responsible for administering financial controls to ensure that accurate financial information is always provided.
• Responsible for delivering financial reporting which is meaningful, insightful and accurate across their business activities.
• Understands and works within sector requirements and guidelines.

Business Partnering & Analysis

• Business Partnering: Working closely with a number of departments across the Club to challenge assumptions and provide financial analysis and information to facilitate change.
• Performance Reporting: Ensuring that departmental results are reported accurately and in a timely manner to Department Heads and Senior Leadership.
• Variance Analysis: Providing detailed variance analysis to understand the financial position against budgeted targets.
• Forecasting: Leading the process to forecast out for the rest of the year for designated business areas.
• Delivering key information and analytics around operational performance.
• Understands and leads the concept of adding value to the business and cost control.

Strategic & Advisory Support

• Providing analysis and insight that connects financial reporting to the Club strategy.
• Assisting Heads of Departments in targeted strategic thinking across their departments.
• Long-Range Planning: Assisting the Senior Finance Manager and Head of Business Finance with preparing longer-range forecasts to help inform Club strategy.
• Understanding and interprets industry specific information, economic trends and competitor landscape intelligence.

Measures of Performance:

• Budgeting, monthly results, variance analysis, and forecasts for partnered departments are delivered on time, accurately, and with clear insight.
• Effective and robust financial information provided to key stakeholders to assist the business in decision making.
• Championing and delivering effective financial operational procedures and systems.
• Initiating and leading change to ensure best practice approaches and continual improvement across their business activities to better support the business and its needs.

You’ll Have (Personal Specification):

Qualifications:

Essential

• Higher education and qualified accountant – ACA, ACCA or CIMA with a minimum of 3 years PQE.

Experience:

Essential

• High level of commercial awareness and the ability to understand the specific nature of financing and revenue generation in a sports club environment.
• Proven ability to own and manage budgeting, forecasting, and detailed variance analysis for business units.
• Excellent attention to detail, accuracy and IT literacy (e.g., advanced Excel, experience with ERP/BI systems) and the ability to gather analyse and interpret both quantitative and qualitative data to communicate conclusions and make recommendations in a clear and compelling way.
• Demonstrate a confident and persuasive communication style (verbal and written) which adapts to the audience and can present and communicate complex information in a simple and compelling way.
• An ability to work with senior stakeholders to persuade and challenge in the face of resistance and ambiguity.
• Demonstrable ability to build relationships, negotiate, facilitate and manage conflict resolution.
• Excellent team working skills, which embody proactivity, enthusiasm and a hands on approach.
• Appreciation and experience of working with sensitive and confidential information

In return: (Benefits)

• 25 days annual leave (pro-rata) + Bank Holidays. After three years’ service, AL days increase to 28 (pro-rata).
• Pension Contribution (5%)
• Life Assurance (4 x base salary)
• Private healthcare through Vitality
• C2W (Cycle to Work scheme)
• Chelsea Ticket Membership Program – enables employees to purchase tickets for home games 49 days prior to the match
• Free staff lunches at Stamford Bridge (Mon-Fri)
• Discount on club and club-affiliated products (Megastore, Nike 25% discount, Stadium Tours, onsite bar/restaurant etc)
• Employee Assistance Program, Mental Health first aiders and a strong well-being community

Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion:

The Employee must at all times carry out his/her responsibilities with due regard to Chelsea Football Club policies and procedures in particular Health & Safety, Financial Authorisation, Confidentiality and with regard to the Data Protection Act. The Employee must act to protect all young people and vulnerable adults that are in their care or attending the Company’s premises. The Employee must report any misconduct or suspected misconduct to the Safeguarding Lead.

Chelsea Football Club and the Foundation is fully committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all children, young people and adults at risk (vulnerable groups) that are in our care or attending our premises. As a consequence, Chelsea FC may require any successful applicants to complete a DBS Check prior to working at our premises. Successful applicants may also be required to undergo other child protection screening appropriate to the post applied for.

The Employee must ensure a positive commitment towards equality and diversity by treating others fairly and not committing any form of direct or indirect discrimination, victimisation or harassment of any description and to promote positive working relations amongst Employees and customers.

The above Job Description is not intended to be exhaustive, the duties and responsibilities may therefore vary over time according to the changing needs of the Club.