Finance Change Lead

First Central Services UK Ltd; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading insurance company is seeking a Finance Change Lead to oversee the administration of financial systems like Workday. The role includes managing change projects, supporting system implementations, and ensuring compliance with company policies. Ideal candidates will have experience in finance, strong leadership skills, and live near Manchester or be open to remote work. This position offers hybrid working options and is focused on continuous improvement and team development.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Supportive working environment

Qualifications

• Experience in an accounting/finance function.
• Experience as a finance system administrator.
• Experience with ERP systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead administration and maintenance of core financial applications.
• Manage change initiatives and project management.
• Conduct performance reviews and recruitment as necessary.

Skills

Workday Financials

Adaptive Planning

Communication

Analytical skills

Leadership

Education

Part qualified accountant (AAT, CIMA, ACCA)

Tools

Microsoft Excel

Job description

We’re 1st Central, a market-leading insurance company utilising smart data and technology at pace. Rapid growth has been based on giving our 1.4 million customers exactly what they want : great value insurance with an excellent service. And that’s the same for our colleagues too; we won Insurance Employer of the Year at the British Insurance Awards 2024 and our Glassdoor score is pretty mega too!

Our Finance team need a result driven, agile and logical thinking Finance Change Lead , who knows a thing or two about Workday Financials or Adaptive Planning. Ideally, you’ll have been involved in system implementation and post go-live support for either or both systems!

Supporting the Finance Change Manager, you’ll be the go to and lead on administration, maintenance and the day to day running of the core Workday financials or adaptive application. You’ll also lead on change management initiatives including project management and business analysis support. Do you fit the bill?

We love hybrid working, so you'll spend most of your time working from home, with a day a week in the office (so living close to Haywards Heath, West Sussex would be a perfect match!) But of course, it’s your choice - if you prefer to be in the office more - that's good with us too. We're also open to applicants that live a commutable drive to Salford Quays, Manchester or a remote worker.

You’ll be the perfect person for us if :

• Have experience in either Workday Financials or Adaptive Planning
• Communicating, challenging and influencing senior management is your strength
• Change delivery experience

What's involved :

Together with the Finance Change Manager and Group Finance Systems Manager responsible for the execution of finance systems change ensuring it continually adapts to complement the Groups operating model :

Pre-release – ensure clear articulation and understanding of the business case of what the proposed change is required to deliver and assure that the detailed requirements and solution design will deliver the same.

Release – agree scope and deliverables for each sprint & and in-process changes to it. Assure the quality of development & testing, sing, off Live testing requirements and confirm go / no go to deploy the release into production.

Post release – ensure all warranty defects are resolved, and ongoing production monitoring & continuous improvement are in place.

Lead, design, test and implement technical system changes to deliver ongoing continuous improvements to Finance

Lead the gathering and documentation of change requests, and requirements from the wider Finance function liaising with SMEs to assist with prioritisation and design of configuration changes.

Assist with the management and delivery of Finance transformation projects with the help of 3rd party support and key stakeholders

Responsible for key administration changes within Workday, ensuring key system control and integrity is maintained and protected.

Assist in the design and production of Workday reports, Business Processes, and Integrations

Lead the prioritisation and resolution of any incidents and issues, liaising with relevant stakeholders and 3rd party support / vendors to agree actions, owners, and dates

Build effective working relationships and influence across all levels, fostering an open and collaborative culture

Manage and lead finance system updates and maintenance development work across all finance systems

Challenging current practices, actively seeking to improve processes, whilst managing risk

End user set-up and security maintenance, as required.

Comply with the requirements, and act in accordance with, the Group Code of Conduct and Fitness and Propriety policies at all times

Ensure compliance with Company Policies, Values and guidelines and other relevant standards / regulations at all times

Conduct colleague management duties including :

Delivering coaching and feedback to direct report to achieve KPI’s and SLAs, and conducting regular performance reviews, including probationary reviews and annual appraisals as necessary.

Deal with colleague issues including monitoring absence.

Assist in the recruitment process where necessary

Experience :

Experience in an accounting / finance function

Experience as a finance system administrator and / or finance change role

Experience with ERP, General Ledger or P2P systems

Experience of financial systems (Workday Financials – desirable)

Experience of system implementations and post go-live support models.

Skills :

Proficient in Microsoft applications, especially Excel

Strong mathematical, analytical, and organization skills

Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written

Good leadership, mentoring and coaching skills

Strong analytical skills and ability to drive process improvement, based upon analysis of data

Work effectively under pressure and think clearly and logically in challenging situations

Knowledge :

Knowledge of Agile development approaches

Qualified by experience or part qualified accountant (AAT, CIMA, ACCA)

Report writing across a number of systems

Working knowledge of Lean or Six Sigma Frameworks.

Behaviours :

Results driven with a constant eye on the detail but understand the audience.

Acts as a role model and motivates other.

Empathetic approach to leadership with an ability to get the best out of a wide range of stakeholders.

Ability to lead and influence.

A driven attitude to deliver controlled change and rapidly overcome obstacles.

An agile approach to project management and able to rapidly react to changes in business priorities to take advantage of emerging business and customer opportunities

Want to know more? Sounds like you? Then click on Apply.

What can we do for you?

People first. Always. We’re passionate about our colleagues and know the best people deserve an extraordinary working environment. We owe it to them so that’s what we offer. Our workplaces are energetic, inspirational, supportive. To get a taste of the advantages you’ll enjoy, take a look at all our perks in full .

Intrigued? Our Talent team can tell you everything you need to know about what we want and what we’re offering, so feel free to get in touch.