Senior Commercial Accounting Manager

Bird & Bird LLP; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private medical cover

Life assurance

Critical illness cover

Regular health assessments

Job summary

Bird & Bird LLP is seeking a Finance Lead to drive the commercial performance of selected practice groups in London. You will provide clear views on profitability, lead budgeting and forecasting, and partner with senior leaders on strategic pricing and investments.

You will work with the commercial accounts and pricing teams, building robust financial models, delivering insights, and supporting a high-performing finance culture across the firm.

Qualifications

• Advanced Excel and Power BI skills with strong analytical ability.
• Structured problem solving and ability to explain complex financial information clearly.
• Teamwork across finance teams and business services.
• Pricing experience in a business partnering context is advantageous.
• Ideally qualified or studying towards a formal finance qualification, ideally within professional services.

Responsibilities

• Commercial performance review and profitability analysis to guide senior management decisions.
• Business partnering with Practice Group Heads and senior leaders as trusted adviser.
• Budgeting, forecasting and scenario planning with robust models and risk checks.
• Pricing strategy input to balance competitiveness with profitability and strategic goals.
• Investment appraisal for lateral partner opportunities with P&L impact.
• Reporting support for Marketing/BD using data requests and insights.
• Enhance reporting and financial systems, including Power BI and standard templates.
• Mentor and develop junior finance staff and promote a high-performing culture.
• Drive process improvements in reporting, budgeting and forecasting.
• Support CFO and lead finance initiatives and strategic programs.
• Lead AI, data and analytics initiatives to improve decision-making.

Skills

Advanced Excel

Analytical ability

Stakeholder management

Financial modeling

Problem solving

Education

Professional finance qualification or studying towards (ACA/ACCA/CFA)

Tools

Power BI

Excel

Job description

Partners make commercial decisions every week, who to hire, what to charge and where to invest. This role exists to make those decisions better. You will be the finance lead for a selection of practice groups, giving leaders a clear view of commercial performance and a firm recommendation on what to do next. You will work closely with the commercial accounts team, the pricing team, the fee-earning community and senior leadership across the firm.

Bird & Bird's Finance team's mission is to provide world class finance support to the business. In London the team comprises of over 70 finance professionals across a wide range of areas including management and financial accounting, transaction processing, partner accounting, tax, treasury, pricing and commercial decision support. Our 34 international offices have their own professionals providing local expertise and support. Collaborative across the network, the team are focussed on driving efficiency, adding value and profitable growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Commercial performance: Review performance against budgets and forecasts, identify the drivers of profitability, utilisation, working capital and cost control, and present clear recommendations to senior management.
• Business partnering and stakeholder engagement: Build strong relationships with Practice Group Heads, partners and senior leaders, acting as a trusted adviser and providing commercial insight to support informed decision-making and the profitable delivery of the five-year strategy.
• Budgeting, forecasting and scenario planning: Work with business units to develop robust budgets and forecasts, model revenue trends and resource capacity, and identify financial risks, opportunities and actions.
• Pricing strategy and governance: Collaborate with the Pricing team to provide strategic input into pricing decisions, balancing competitiveness and client expectations with profitability and the firm's longer-term profit ambitions.
• Lateral partner investment appraisal: Develop robust financial models for potential lateral partner hires, including revenue projections, cost implications, profitability and P&L impact, and assess strategic alignment to support informed recruitment decisions.
• Marketing and Business Development support: Advise Marketing and Business Development teams by reviewing data requests, providing relevant reporting and analysis, and applying findings to practice and business development strategy.
• Reporting and systems: Collaborate with the Business Intelligence and Financial Systems teams to enhance reporting capability, including Power BI, standardised reporting templates and consistent financial models.
• Leadership and collaboration: Support and develop junior finance team members, collaborate across Commercial Accounting, FP&A, Accounting, Pricing and other finance teams, and promote a proactive, high-performing business-partnering culture.
• Process improvement: Drive continuous improvement across finance processes, including reporting, modelling, budgeting, forecasting, write-offs and discounts, identifying opportunities to standardise, simplify and improve efficiency.
• CFO and strategic initiatives: Support the CFO and senior finance leadership in delivering the strategic vision for the commercial management of the firm and in progressing wider finance initiatives.
• AI, Data & Innovation Leadership: Use artificial intelligence tools, automation and advanced analytics to improve decision-making, insight and efficiency across the firm.

What you'll bring

• Advanced Excel and Power BI skills, with strong analytical ability, accuracy and attention to detail.
• Effective time management, and pride in delivering excellence while managing stakeholder expectations. A record of changing senior stakeholders' decisions using financial evidence.
• Structured problem solving, and the ability to explain complex financial information clearly to financial and non-financial colleagues at all levels.
• Teamwork: Collaborative work with the wider commercial accounts team across the finance department and business services, requiring good people skills.
• Pricing experience: Some pricing experience in a business partnering context will be very advantageous.

Other desirable skills and experience

• Ideally the candidate will be qualified or studying towards a formal finance qualification and/or have experience of working within a law firm or professional services environment.

What's in it for you

• private medical cover
• life assurance
• critical illness cover
• regular health assessmentsą [END OF TEXT]