Finance Manager

Alchem Partners; Swansea; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company car

Bonus

Benefits

Job summary

Alchem Partners is seeking an experienced Finance Manager to lead the finance function, acting as the Managing Director's financial and commercial advisor. The role demands robust financial control, process improvements, and leadership of the finance team in a privately owned SME.

The successful candidate will drive budgeting, forecasting, and governance, while delivering commercial insight to pricing, margins and profitability decisions.

Qualifications

• Qualified Accountant with a recognised UK accountancy body (ACA/ACCA/CIMA or equivalent).
• Experience leading finance functions in an SME, preferably in manufacturing/chemicals or fast-paced sectors.

Responsibilities

• Lead the finance function and act as MD’s financial and commercial advisor.
• Drive budgeting, forecasting, and variance analysis against budget and prior year.
• Provide commercial insight to pricing, margins, and profitability decisions.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Financial modelling

Budgeting & forecasting

Hands-on / doer mindset

Strategic thinking

Education

Qualified Accountant (ACA/ACCA/CIMA)

Tools

Dynamics

Advanced Excel

Job description

Help shape the future of a growing, dynamic business.

Alchem Partners is excited to be partnered with a growing, flexible and privately owned chemical business with a well established market position and a consistent record of profitable growth.

We are seeking to appoint an experienced and hands on Finance Manager to lead the finance function and act as the Managing Director’s financial and commercial advisor.

This is a broad role for a commercially minded finance professional who enjoys the variety and breadth of working within a privately owned SME. The successful candidate will provide financial leadership, commercial insight and constructively challenge, whilst ensuring robust financial control, improvement of existing processes and the leading and development of the existing finance team.

Key Responsibilities

• Support business-wide financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting alongside ethe Managing Director.
• Provide commercial insight to drive pricing, margin, and profitability decisions.
• Oversee compliance, audit preparation, and financial governance.
• Enhance reporting systems, dashboards, and KPIs for better decision-making.
• Manage and develop the finance team to achieve operational excellence.
• Commercial and financial reporting, including variance analysis against budget and prior year.
• Cash flow, treasury and working capital management, including oversight of receivables, payables and inventory performance.

Candidate Profile

Qualifications

• Qualified Accountant with a recognised UK Accountancy Body (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, or equivalent).

Knowledge & Experience

• Strong understanding of financial regulations, systems, and processes.
• Proven finance leadership experience in an SME environment, ideally in chemical manufacturing, food production, agriculture, or similarly fast-paced sectors.
• Proven expertise in management accounting, including budgeting, forecasting, board-level reporting, margin analysis, and financial modelling.
• Skilled in stakeholder management, including auditors, banks, HMRC, and external advisers.
• Proficient in finance systems with advanced Excel, Dynamics and other systems skills.
• A hands-on leader with a ‘doer’ approach.
• Excellent leadership, influencing, negotiation, and relationship-building skills.
• Strong organisational skills, with the capacity to manage multiple priorities under pressure.
• Tenacity, drive, and determination to deliver results.
• Willingness to challenge established processes and drive change.
• Confident communicator, able to engage effectively at all levels of the organisation.

In return our client is offering c£60,000 - £70,000pa, company car, bonus and benefits, flexible and hybrid working.