Finance Business Partner

Simmons & Simmons; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonuses dependent on role/level

Private medical insurance

Pension contribution

Job summary

Simmons & Simmons is seeking a Finance Business Partner in London to drive financial insight, challenge assumptions and influence decision-making across practice groups.

You will lead planning cycles, deliver forward-looking analysis, and partner with senior stakeholders to ensure robust, strategy-aligned plans. The role emphasises proactivity, commerciality, and data-driven decision support.

Qualifications

• Qualified accountant (ACA/ ACCA/ CIMA or equivalent).
• Strong experience in financial planning, analysis and modelling.
• Experience in a professional services environment preferred.

Responsibilities

• Act as trusted advisor to Practice Group Heads and partners, providing commercial financial insight.
• Deliver forward-looking analysis to support revenue growth and profitability.
• Lead budgeting, forecasts and long-term planning with stakeholders.
• Develop business cases for investments and strategic initiatives.
• Drive improvements in reporting, automation, and data integrity.
• Embed AI into finance processes and forecasting.

Skills

Financial planning & analysis

Advanced Excel

Power BI

AI & data tools

Communication skills

Interpersonal skills

Commercial awareness

Attention to detail

Team player

Strategic thinking

Education

Qualified accountant (ACA/ ACCA/ CIMA or equivalent)

Tools

Power BI

Job description

The role:

We are looking for a Finance Business Partner to join our Finance department in London.

This role is a true business partnering position, responsible for driving financial insight, influencing decision-making, and delivering forward-looking analysis across the firm’s practice groups.

The Finance Business Partner will work closely with Practice Group Heads, partners and senior stakeholders to translate financial data into actionable insight, challenge assumptions, and support strategic and operational decisions.

The role goes beyond traditional reporting and analysis, with a strong emphasis on proactivity, commerciality, and stakeholder engagement, ensuring finance plays a central role in shaping business performance.

What will you do:

Business Partnering & Stakeholder Influence

• Act as a trusted advisor to Practice Group Heads and partners, providing clear, commercially focused financial insight.
• Proactively identify risks and opportunities, challenging and influencing decision-making where appropriate.

Financial Performance & Insight

• Deliver forward-looking, insight-led analysis to support revenue growth, profitability and strategic priorities
• Provide analysis across key drivers including utilisation, realisation, pricing, working capital and cost performance.

Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting

• Lead financial planning cycles, including budgets, forecasts and long-term plans.
• Partner with stakeholders to ensure plans are robust, aligned to strategy and grounded in commercial reality.
• Continuously improve forecasting accuracy and scenario planning capability.

Strategic Analysis & Business Cases.

• Develop and challenge business cases for investments, lateral hires and strategic initiatives.
• Support post-investment reviews and tracking of returns.
• Provide clear, data-driven recommendations to senior stakeholders and committees.

Data, Reporting & Continuous Improvement

• Drive improvements in reporting, focusing on automation, efficiency and clarity of insight.
• Ensure data integrity, consistency and usability across reporting outputs.

Embedding AI & Advanced Analytics

• Leverage AI and advanced analytics tools to: Automate routine reporting and data preparation; Generate deeper, faster insights from large datasets; and enhance forecasting, scenario modelling and trend analysis.
• Identify opportunities to embed AI into finance processes and decision-making.

What we are looking for:

Experience & Qualifications:

• Qualified accountant (ACA/ ACCA/ CIMA or equivalent).
• Strong experience in financial planning, analysis and modelling.
• Experience in a professional services environment preferred.

Technical skills:

• Advanced Excel and financial modelling capability.
• Strong ability to analyse complex datasets and translate into insight.
• Experience with financial systems and reporting tools (e.g. Power BI).
• Interest in, and willingness to adopt, AI and data tools to enhance finance outputs.

Core Competencies:

• Highly proactive and self-driven – identifies issues and opportunities without prompting.
• Outstanding communication skills – able to clearly explain financial concepts to non-finance stakeholders.
• Strong interpersonal skills – confident engaging with senior stakeholders and partners and building new relationships.
• Commercially minded with a strong understanding of how financial drivers link together.
• Detail-orientated with high standards of accuracy.
• Collaborative and team-oriented, while also able to work independently.

Career Level:

The career level assigned to this role is level 4. The career level framework provides a formal structure for the business services functions at the firm. The framework, which ranges from level 1 to level 7, clearly defines the responsibilities, skills and competencies required at each level.

Here at Simmons & Simmons:

At Simmons, we are proud of our collaborative, open and non-hierarchical culture, where everyone is treated with respect and dignity and the wellbeing of our people is paramount. Our dynamic minds work as one integrated team, partnering with leading organisations on inspirational and thought-provoking projects that matter. From day one, irrespective of job title, qualification or background, everyone’s voice is heard, and you are encouraged to have an enquiring mind and share ideas that drive the firm forward. Through innovative learning and development opportunities, you will have a platform to excel, exceed your career ambitions, and achieve things you never thought possible.

Some key information:

• We offer a competitive package including bonuses dependant on role/level, private medical insurance and pension contribution.

• Our global skills academy provides our people, regardless of their role and location, with excellent learning opportunities (including live workshops, podcasts, short videos and practical learning experiences).

• We have adopted a hybrid working approach with a requirement for a minimum of three days in the office with flexibility dependant on role/team/client demands.

• We are proud to rank as a Times Top 50 Employer for Gender Equality, a Stonewall Top Global Employer, and a Top 75 Employer for Social Mobility.

• We have a range of social and sports committees, summer and winter parties and monthly get togethers.

• We have a range of diversity networks to connect people and celebrate our differences which is integral to our inclusive culture.

• All UK offices have their own artwork collections – including Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin pieces in the London office. We have a long-standing history in supporting the art community especially up-and-coming artists.

• We have recently introduced a Strategic Advisory Council which is a mix of associates and business services who will propose strategic initiatives that align with our firm’s mission and support the delivery of our business plan, shaping the future of our next-generation law firm.

• Our in-house generative AI tool, Percy, won the ‘Innovation in Automation and AI Tools’ category at the 2024 FT Innovative Lawyers Europe Awards. This achievement highlights our commitment to technological innovation and client service.

• We have been commended in The Times Best Law Firms 2026 across three categories: construction, employment, and intellectual property. Our profile is highly positive, highlighting our sector specialisms and notable case and transactional work.

Equal opportunities:

• Upholding equal opportunities, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender reassignment, gender identity, marital status, or pregnancy, including maternity and paternity. This commitment extends to addressing any instances of perceived or associative discrimination and harassment. We also ensure fair treatment during recruitment and selection processes for those who are serving or have served in the armed forces, along with their families.

• Accommodating requests for flexible working arrangements whenever possible. We encourage you to discuss your needs with us if this is something you require.

• Making our roles accessible to individuals with diverse abilities. If you need any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know so we can meet your needs.

• We offer a range of employee networks to support our colleagues. More information about these networks can be found in the D&I Information booklet that candidates are sent when invited to interview.