Finance Business Partner & Site Controller

DC Thomson; Dundee; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

DC Thomson is seeking a Finance Business Partner & Site Controller for its Kingsway printing operation in Dundee. You will be the financial lead for the Kingsway site, partnering with production and commercial teams to drive profitability, capital project appraisal and pricing decisions.

The role requires a qualified accounting professional with strong costing and ERP skills, combined with a proven track record in manufacturing finance and business partnering.

Qualifications

• Qualified accounting professional with CIMA/ACCA/ACA or equivalent.
• Significant experience in finance business partnering, management accounting, or site controlling.
• Experience in manufacturing/print/operational environments.
• Strong costing knowledge including standard costing, overhead recovery, variances.
• Ability to connect operational activity to financial outcomes and influence decisions.

Responsibilities

• Act as the finance lead for Kingsway and advise the site leadership.
• Deliver insightful financial reporting and commentary for decision making.
• Lead budgeting, forecasting and long-range planning processes.
• Develop KPI reporting on profitability, productivity and capacity.
• Own standard costing methodologies and manufacturing performance reporting.
• Provide financial support to drive cost control and profitability improvements.
• Build financial models, investment appraisals and business cases for initiatives.
• Support pricing decisions, commercial opportunities and contract negotiations.

Skills

Advanced Excel

ERP systems

Financial modelling

Stakeholder management

Contract pricing & negotiation

Education

Accounting qualification (CIMA/ACCA/ACA)

Tools

ERP systems

Job description

At DC Thomson, our print operations (Discovery Print) remain a critical part of our business, delivering trusted newspapers and magazines to millions of readers while continuing to evolve and grow through commercial partnerships and operational excellence.

We're looking for a commercially minded Finance Business Partner & Site Controller to join the leadership team at Kingsway, our flagship printing operation in Dundee.

This is a high-impact role sitting at the heart of our manufacturing and commercial operations. You'll be the financial lead for the Kingsway site, partnering closely with operational leaders to drive performance, improve profitability and identify opportunities to maximise the value of our production assets.

You'll play a key role in shaping strategic decisions through financial insight, leading the implementation and ownership of standard costing, enhancing operational reporting and supporting commercial growth opportunities across newspaper printing and outsourced magazine production.

This role offers a unique blend of operational finance, manufacturing controlling and strategic business partnering. You'll influence decisions that affect site productivity, pricing, customer profitability, supplier relationships, capital investment and long-term growth.

What you'll be doing

• Acting as the finance lead for Kingsway and a trusted advisor to the site leadership team.

• Delivering insightful financial reporting, analysis and commentary to support operational and commercial decision making.
• Leading budgeting, forecasting and long-range planning processes.
• Developing meaningful KPI reporting across profitability, productivity, capacity utilisation and operational performance.
• Owning and continuously improving standard costing methodologies and manufacturing performance reporting.
• Providing financial challenge and support to drive operational efficiency, cost control and profitability improvement.
• Building robust financial models, investment appraisals and business cases to support strategic initiatives and capital projects.
• Supporting customer pricing decisions, commercial opportunities and contract negotiations with clear profitability insight.
• Providing financial leadership for annual magazine print tenders and outsourced print supplier management.
• Identifying opportunities to improve manufacturing efficiency, increase utilisation of available press capacity and enhance financial returns.

This is an opportunity to make a visible impact in a business where finance is a genuine commercial partner and where your insights will help shape future operational and growth strategies.

We're looking for a qualified finance professional who enjoys working close to operations and can translate complex financial information into clear, actionable insight.

You'll bring:

• A recognised accounting qualification (CIMA, ACCA, ACA or equivalent).

• Significant experience in finance business partnering, management accounting, operational finance or site controlling roles.
• Experience working within a manufacturing, production, engineering, print or operationally intensive environment.
• Strong knowledge of standard costing principles, overhead recovery, manufacturing variances and operational performance analysis.
• Previous experience implementing, developing or operating standard costing frameworks.
• The ability to connect operational activities and business performance to meaningful financial outcomes.
• Experience partnering senior operational and commercial stakeholders to improve decision making and business performance.
• Strong commercial acumen, including customer profitability analysis, pricing, tender evaluation and contract support.
• Experience developing financial models, investment appraisals and business cases.
• Excellent analytical skills with the ability to identify trends, risks and improvement opportunities from complex datasets.
• Advanced Excel capability and experience working with ERP and management reporting systems.
• Outstanding stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the confidence to challenge constructively and drive accountability.
• A proactive and continuous improvement mindset, with a passion for delivering measurable business impact.

Why join us?

At DC Thomson you'll have the opportunity to combine finance expertise with operational leadership in a role that genuinely influences business performance. You'll work alongside experienced leaders, contribute to strategic growth initiatives and help shape the future of one of the UK's most established and innovative media businesses.

If you're looking for a role where you can blend commercial thinking, operational insight and financial leadership to deliver tangible results, we'd love to hear from you.

Location & Ways of Working

This role is based in Dundee, supporting our Kingsway print operation.

We operate a hybrid working model, with an expectation that you'll spend a minimum of two days per week on-site at Kingsway. Given the operational nature of the role and the importance of partnering closely with production and commercial teams, there will be times when additional site presence is required to support key business activities, projects or planning cycles.

This balance provides the opportunity to build strong relationships across the operation while maintaining flexibility to work remotely where appropriate.

Closing Date: 30 September 2026