Financial Controller

Vegetarian Express; Watford; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in plant-based food services is seeking a Financial Controller to support the CFO. This role involves managing a finance team, overseeing technical accounting, and driving strategic projects. The ideal candidate will have strong leadership skills and experience in financial reporting.

Benefits

Option to purchase additional annual leave

Life assurance (4 x salary)

Staff discount on ALL products

Pension (3% employer and 5% employee)

Qualifications

• Fully qualified accountant with over 3 years’ post-qualification experience.
• Strong technical expertise in group consolidation, budgeting, and scenario analysis.

Responsibilities

• Act as the effective No. 2 to the Chief Financial Officer.
• Lead and manage a team of finance professionals.
• Oversee month-end processes and review Board Packs.

Skills

Leadership

Organizational Skills

Communication

Problem Solving

Education

ACA

CIMA

ACCA

Tools

Microsoft Office Suite

SAGE 200

Power BI

Job description

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Hours of work: 40 hours per week (8.30am – 5.00pm Monday to Friday)

Salary & Benefits

• Competitive basic salary dependant on experience
• Option to purchase additional annual leave (up to 3 days)
• Life assurance (4 x salary)
• Staff discount on ALL products
• Pension (3% employer and 5% employee)

Main purpose of job:

We are seeking a highly capable individual to support the Chief Financial Officer across all aspects of finance. This leadership role involves managing and developing a team of five, ensuring the effective delivery of day-to-day and month-end financial processes and reporting.

You will act as the primary point of contact for external advisors and handle all technical accounting queries. The role also includes leading finance-related and wider Group initiatives, requiring the ability to build strong working relationships with the Senior Leadership Team.

This is a broad and varied role that offers the opportunity to drive process improvements, deliver key projects, and provide strategic support to both the finance function and the wider organisation.

As a Private Equity-backed business, this position presents a unique opportunity for an individual to gain exposure to a dynamic, high-growth environment and play a key role in the next phase of the company’s strategic growth and development.

Key Job Responsibilities:

• Act as the effective No. 2 to the Chief Financial Officer, serving as their delegate in their absence.
• Provide full line management and leadership to the finance team, comprising two Management Accountants, two Accounts Receivable Clerks, and one Accounts Payable Clerk.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for all external advisors, including the audit and tax partners, Lloyds relationship manager, and NVM Private Equity (investors).
• Set, manage, and motivate team members through clear, measurable SMART objectives.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with the Senior Leadership Team, providing financial insight and support as required.
• Oversee all areas of technical accounting, including but not limited to: consolidation, changes in legislation and accounting standards, and tax accounting (in collaboration with external advisors).
• Oversee the month-end process and review monthly Board Packs ahead of submission to the CFO.
• Review and authorise monthly payroll in advance of final submission.
• Lead the preparation of budgets, forecasts, and five-year strategic plans—covering P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, capital expenditure, and associated Board Pack reporting.

Project Leadership and Strategic Support:Lead and contribute to a range of strategic and operational projects, including but not limited to:

• Development and implementation of new Power BI dashboards and analytical reporting tools.
• Support the Group growth strategy, including network reviews for new site opportunities—conducting analysis, drawing conclusions, and supporting implementation.
• Foreign exchange (FX) management to mitigate risk and optimise financial outcomes.
• Central cost management, collaborating closely with departmental Heads to monitor and control overheads.
• Drive team efficiency initiatives, identifying opportunities for process improvement and operational optimisation.
• Deliver margin analysis and commercial insights to support strategic decision-making.
• Provide ad hoc support on high-priority initiatives and strategic tasks as requested by the CFO.
• Fully qualified accountant with over 3 years’ post-qualification experience (ACA,
• CIMA, or ACCA)
• Strong technical expertise in group consolidation, budgeting, and scenario analysis
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) and SAGE 200
• Excellent organisational and time management skills; able to prioritise tasks
• effectively under pressure
• Detail-oriented with a proactive, problem-solving approach
• Adaptable and flexible in managing changing workloads
• Self-motivated with a high level of initiative
• Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal

About Vegetarian Express:

Vegetarian Express specialise in delivering plant-based ingredients, ideas and inspiration to chefs across the UK for eating out of home. With the astronomical rise in popularity of plant-based, vegan, vegetarian and flexitarian diets, Vegetarian Express are uniquely placed in Foodservice to meet with this demand, and as such are rapidly growing and expanding.

Vegetarian Express is supported by NVM Private Equity, which invested in the business in February 2024.

Nationally we supply more than 4,000 skilled chefs from customers such as Compass, Baxterstorey and CH&Co, as well as a ton of Independent operators and events such as The Chelsea Flower Show, Wimbledon and Wembley Stadium to name just a few.

Vegetarian Express work with customers to create plant-based menus that are enticing, better for consumers health, the planet and commercially for businesses.

Vegetarian Express are proud to be a certified B Corporation. This means they are part of a growing number of progressive businesses around the world that truly believe in the power of business to do good things and, more importantly, are doing something about it.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Not Applicable

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Accounting/Auditing and Finance

• Industries

  Food and Beverage Services

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