Group Finance Director

Hawthorn One; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 99,000 - 121,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary up to £110,000

Performance bonus up to 25%

Car allowance

Pension via salary sacrifice

Enhanced holiday package

Job summary

Hawthorn One invites a Group Finance Director to lead finance across a growing multi-site manufacturing network in the UK. The role combines strategic board-level oversight with hands-on sites engagement to drive profitability, cash generation and operational performance.

You will strengthen controls, governance and reporting, manage cash flow, working capital and budgets, and participate in acquisitions from due diligence to integration. Travel across sites is a core part of the role.

Qualifications

• Significant senior finance leadership experience within manufacturing.
• Experience at Group Finance Director or Finance Director level.
• Comfortable operating strategically while remaining hands-on on site.

Responsibilities

• Oversee finance across multi-site network and interact with site leaders.
• Strengthen financial controls, reporting and governance across the Group.
• Manage cash flow, working capital, budgets and funding arrangements.
• Lead financial due diligence and integration for acquisitions.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Hands-on site finance

Group Finance Director

Cash flow mgmt

Working capital

Treasury & funding

Lender relations

Acquisition support

Education

ACA/ACCA/CIMA

Job description

Hybrid | Multi-Site Manufacturing Group | Flexible Location (North West, Midlands, South East)

The successful candidate will be required to travel regularly across a UK network of manufacturing sites. The role would therefore suit candidates based between the North West, Midlands and South East, including Greater Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Stafford, Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Northampton, Milton Keynes and Oxford. Considerable autonomy and flexibility are offered, with travel planned around business requirements.

About the Company

Hawthorn One has been exclusively retained to appoint a Group Finance Director for a fast-growing, privately owned multi-site manufacturing group. The group has grown through a combination of organic development and acquisition and has significant long-term growth ambitions, to be achieved through continued organic growth, operational improvement and further acquisition. It is entrepreneurial, acquisitive and operationally focused, a business that works hard, respects its people, and the senior team is lean, dynamic and genuinely hands‑on. The group is at an important stage of its development; hence the finance leader it needs has to operate effectively in the business it is today, yet also have the ability to build the financial infrastructure, controls, systems and capability for a significantly larger group.

This is the most senior finance position within the Group, offering the successful candidate the opportunity to grow alongside the business. Working closely with the Group's leadership team, you'll play a central role in shaping its financial infrastructure, improving operational performance and supporting its next phase of growth. With ambitious expansion plans, the successful candidate could soon be leading the finance function of a significantly larger manufacturing group.

The Group Finance Director Job

Reporting to the Group's senior leadership and joining the executive leadership team, you'll take overall responsibility for finance across the multi-site manufacturing group, working closely with the individual business leaders and their teams. This is not a corporate or reporting-focused Finance Director job. You'll need to be comfortable working at Board level, managing banking relationships and supporting acquisitions, but equally happy spending time on manufacturing sites, understanding operational performance and working alongside management teams to improve profitability, efficiency and cash generation.

A significant part of the position will involve strengthening financial controls, reporting and governance across the Group. You’ll work with the local finance teams across the group to establish consistent reporting, improve financial visibility and ensure that information is used to make better commercial and operational decisions. Cash and working capital management will be another important responsibility, alongside overseeing Group budgets, forecasts, funding arrangements and relationships with lenders. You'll also play a key role in future acquisitions, from financial evaluation and due diligence through to integrating new businesses into the Group's reporting, processes and financial controls.

The Requirements

• You’ll hold a recognised accountancy qualification (ACA, ACCA or CIMA) with significant senior finance leadership experience within a manufacturing environment and have operated at Group Finance Director or Finance Director level.
• You must be comfortable operating strategically whilst remaining hands‑on, spending meaningful time within the manufacturing sites, building relationships with operational teams, challenging performance and turning financial information into practical improvements.
• You'll need to be adaptable and confident operating within an entrepreneurial business where priorities can change quickly, and where getting involved in the detail is just as important as contributing at Board level.
• Experience within a multi‑site or multi‑entity business is important, particularly where you've had responsibility for financial reporting, consolidation, controls and governance across different operations.
• You’ll bring in depth experience of cash flow, working capital management, treasury and funding, with proven relationships with banks, lenders, auditors and other external stakeholders.
• Experience supporting acquisitions, financial due diligence and integrating businesses would be highly advantageous, particularly within an acquisitive or growing organisation.

The Rewards

The role offers considerable autonomy; you will manage your own diary which will include regular travel to the manufacturing sites forming an important part of the position. A competitive package is on offer, including:

• salary of up to £110,000
• up to 25% performance-related bonus
• car allowance
• company pension via salary sacrifice
• an enhanced holiday package

Please note that, following initial screening, you will be asked to sign an NDA before further information or the company is disclosed.