Head of Accounting Services

Lorien; Manchester; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Lorien is seeking a Head of Accounting Services in Manchester to lead a large Sales to Cash function within a shared services environment. The role focuses on driving operational excellence across billing, collections, cash application and financial controls, with accountability for circa £1bn of annual billing and collections activity.

The candidate will lead transformation, optimisation and service excellence across people, processes and technology, partnering with senior stakeholders to

Qualifications

• ACA, ACCA, CIMA or CCAB-recognised qualification.
• Significant leadership experience within Shared Services, GBS or Finance Operations environments.
• Deep understanding of Order-to-Cash, Sales-to-Cash, Credit Management and Collections processes.
• Experience leading large-scale teams through change and transformation.
• Strong SAP ERP experience and exposure to outsourced service delivery models.
• Proven ability to improve controls, processes and operational performance.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Strong analytical, governance and risk management capability.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for the end-to-end Sales to Cash process.
• Drive improvements across billing, collections, cash application and reconciliation activities.
• Lead working capital performance and support cash flow optimisation initiatives.
• Ensure delivery against agreed SLAs, KPIs, governance controls and service standards.
• Optimise SAP and associated finance systems, improving efficiency and control.
• Partner with senior business leaders on working capital and commercial finance matters.
• Lead, coach and develop a large finance operations team.
• Drive transformation and continuous improvement across shared service processes.
• Collaborate with peers across Finance Services to deliver organisational objectives and strategy.

Skills

Leadership experience

Stakeholder management

Transformational capability

Analytical capability

Financial controls

Order-to-Cash expertise

Education

ACA, ACCA, CIMA or CCAB-recognised qualification

Tools

SAP ERP

Job description

Location: Manchester - 2 x days per week required onsite

Duration: End of Jan, 2027

We're seeking a Head of Accounting Services to lead our clients Sales to Cash (StC) function within a large-scale shared services environment.

This is a leadership opportunity for a commercially minded finance professional to drive operational excellence across working capital, billing, collections, cash application and financial controls. You'll oversee a critical finance operation responsible for circa £1bn of annual billing and collections activity whilst leading transformation, optimisation and service excellence across people, processes and technology.

Working as part of the wider Finance Services leadership team, you'll partner with senior stakeholders across the business to improve cash flow performance, strengthen controls and deliver continuous improvement across a complex operational environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for the end-to-end Sales to Cash process
• Drive improvements across billing, collections, cash application and reconciliation activities
• Lead working capital performance and support cash flow optimisation initiatives
• Ensure delivery against agreed SLAs, KPIs, governance controls and service standards
• Optimise SAP and associated finance systems, improving efficiency and control
• Partner with senior business leaders on working capital and commercial finance matters
• Lead, coach and develop a large finance operations team
• Drive transformation and continuous improvement across shared service processes
• Collaborate with peers across Finance Services to deliver organisational objectives and strategy

About You

We're looking for an experienced finance leader who combines technical expertise with strong operational and transformation capability.

You'll bring:

• ACA, ACCA, CIMA or other CCAB-recognised qualification
• Significant leadership experience within Shared Services, GBS or Finance Operations environments
• Deep understanding of Order-to-Cash, Sales-to-Cash, Credit Management and Collections processes
• Experience leading large-scale teams through change and transformation
• Strong SAP ERP experience and exposure to outsourced service delivery models
• Proven ability to improve controls, processes and operational performance
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills
• Strong analytical, governance and risk management capability

Apply

This role offers an outstanding opportunity to join a high-performing finance leadership team and play a pivotal role in driving operational excellence, working capital performance and finance transformation across a large and complex organisation.

If you're an ambitious finance leader with a passion for operational improvement and people leadership, we'd love to hear from you.