Finance Business Partner- FTC

WPP; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Job summary

WPP is seeking a commercially minded Finance Business Partner on a 3-month fixed-term contract to drive financial insight and robust reporting across key corporate functions. You’ll partner with Finance and People leaders, challenge budgets, and influence decision-making at senior levels.

You will lead month-end close, variance analysis, and support transformation programmes while maintaining data integrity in financial systems across a complex global organisation.

Qualifications

• Qualified accountant with international experience.
• Strong commercial and analytical mindset.
• Ability to translate financial information into business insight.
• Experience partnering with senior finance and non-finance stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Provide financial insight and analysis, tracking performance against budgets and forecasts.
• Lead month-end performance reporting, variance analysis and action planning.
• Support budget holders with robust budgets and forecasts.
• Ensure data integrity in financial systems and reports.
• Collaborate on cost-saving initiatives and transformation programmes.
• Work with FP&A, Controllership and Tax to align reporting.
• Own calculations underpinning the Finance and People recharge process.

Skills

Finance business partnering

Stakeholder management

Advanced Excel

PowerPoint

Data visualisation (Power BI)

Education

Qualified accountant (ACCA/ACA/CPA/CIMA)

Tools

Excel

Power BI

Job description

WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands.

We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth.

We work with the world's most valuable brands and have global reach across 100+ markets, with deep local expertise.

Our people are the key to our success. We're committed to fostering a culture of creativity, belonging and continuous learning, attracting and developing the brightest talent, and providing exciting career opportunities that help our people grow.

For more information, visit WPP.com.

We're looking for a commercially minded Finance Business Partner to join our HQ Finance team on a 3-month fixed-term contract, partnering closely with Finance and People leaders to provide meaningful financial insight, robust reporting and informed decision support.

You’ll analyse financial performance, challenge and influence stakeholders, and support budgeting and forecasting across key corporate functions. Through detailed variance analysis, you’ll help identify performance drivers, highlight opportunities for improvement and provide the insight needed to support effective decision‑making.

You’ll also contribute to broader transformation initiatives across WPP, working with senior stakeholders to drive efficiency, improve business insight and support change across a complex global organisation.

We're looking for someone who can start as soon as possible and make an immediate impact.

What you’ll be doing:

• Partner with HQ Finance and People leaders to provide financial insight and analysis, including tracking actual performance against budgets and forecasts.
• Act as the primary finance contact for budget holders and department leads, supporting the development of accurate, transparent, and robust budgets and forecasts.
• Lead month‑end performance reporting, including cost actualisation, variance analysis, risk and opportunity assessment, and the identification of mitigating actions.
• Support management accountants through the month‑end close process by providing information required for journal preparation and posting.
• Maintain the integrity and accuracy of budget and forecast data within WPP's financial systems.
• Partner with the Finance Director, GBS, Finance and People to support business cases, cost‑saving initiatives, and transformation programmes.
• Analyse key cost drivers and collaborate with business leaders to identify efficiencies and opportunities that contribute to transformation and cost optimisation targets.
• Work closely with FP&A, Controllership, Tax and other Finance teams to ensure consistent, accurate, and aligned reporting and analysis.
• Own and manage the calculations that underpin the Finance and People recharge process across WPP.

What you’ll need:

• Qualified accountant (ACCA, ACA, CPA, CIMA or equivalent) with proven Finance Business Partnering experience within a complex, international organisation.
• Strong commercial and analytical mindset, with the ability to translate complex financial information into clear, actionable business insight.
• Confident partnering with and influencing senior finance and non‑finance stakeholders, providing constructive challenge and supporting informed decision‑making.
• Advanced Excel and PowerPoint skills, with experience using enterprise financial systems and ideally data visualisation tools such as Power BI.
• Excellent organisational and execution skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver at pace in a fast‑moving environment.
• Comfortable working across large, diverse and international teams, building effective relationships across functions and geographies.
• Proactive and improvement‑focused, with experience identifying opportunities to simplify, automate and standardise processes and make better use of data.

Who you are:

You're open: We are inclusive and collaborative; we encourage the free exchange of ideas; we respect and celebrate diverse views. We are open‑minded: to new ideas, new partnerships, new ways of working.

You're optimistic: We believe in the power of creativity, technology and talent to create brighter futures or our people, our clients and our communities. We approach all that we do with conviction: to try the new and to seek the unexpected.

You're extraordinary: we are stronger together: through collaboration we achieve the amazing. We are creative leaders and pioneers of our industry; we provide extraordinary every day.

What we’ll give you:

• Passionate, inspired people – We aim to create a culture in which people can do extraordinary work.
• Scale and opportunity – We offer the opportunity to create, influence and complete projects at a scale that is unparalleled in the industry.
• Challenging and stimulating work – Unique work and the opportunity to join a group of creative problem solvers. Are you up for the challenge?

#LI-Hybrid #LI-DNP

We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

WPP is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.