Senior Finance Accountant

Ocado Technology Group; Hatfield; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Ocado Technology Group is seeking a Senior Finance Accountant for an 8-month secondment. The role is pivotal in the timely delivery of financial processes, necessitating strong analytical capabilities and effective stakeholder management. The successful candidate will work closely with finance leaders to drive process efficiency and ensure financial integrity.

Benefits

30 days ‘working from anywhere in the world’ policy

25 days annual leave, rising to 27 days after 5 years

Pension scheme with employer contribution matching

Generous Private Medical Insurance

Income Protection and Life Assurance

Cycle to Work Scheme

Free shuttle bus service

15% discount on Ocado.com

Qualifications

• Relevant financial qualifications (ACA, ACCA, CIMA) required.
• Experience in a fast-paced financial environment.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

Responsibilities

• Manage month-end accounting processes and prepare financial reports.
• Ensure accuracy and adherence to accounting policies.
• Build relationships with finance business partners to resolve variances.

Skills

Analytical skills

Problem-solving skills

Communication skills

Interpersonal skills

Attention to detail

Education

ACA, ACCA, CIMA qualified

Job description

Ocado Group is an equal opportunities employer and as such makes every effort to ensure that all potential employees are treated fairly and equally, regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, marital status, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, age, or disability or union membership status.

About Us

Our teams are putting the world’s retailers online using the cloud, robotics, AI, and IoT. We provide services to partner clients globally via our innovative advanced robotics technology, known as the Ocado Smart Platform ("OSP"), this drives our highly automated, multi-million pound Customer Fulfilment Centres (CFCs). In our CFCs - together with the proprietary software applications - we operate a world-class online grocery business that automates the single pick of products, ready for your online delivery.

About the role - 8 months secondment

The Senior Finance Accountant (SFA) plays a pivotal role in ensuring the timely and accurate delivery of month-end financial processes within the business unit. This position is integral to maintaining financial integrity and supporting the Finance Manager in optimising team operations. The ideal candidate will possess a blend of strong analytical capabilities, a proactive approach to process improvement, and effective stakeholder management skills.

Accountabilities

• Undertake monthly accounting and month-end close activities including: processing journal entries where required and the preparation of key reporting on the group’s financial performance to the period-end close timelines
• Responsible for the preparation of robust P&L’s and month-end packs, substantiating account/general ledger balances and providing first level commentary
• Presenting monthly financial results to key stakeholders and highlighting risks and opportunities
• Ensuring Balance Sheet reconciliations have been completed to an excellent standard, in a timely manner and have been subjected to a robust review process
• Supporting in the half year and year end process and ensuring audit requests are dealt with swiftly
• Raising issues with senior management and helping resolve them
• Ensure accounting policies set by the in-house technical team are implemented and adhered to
• Proactively identifying problems and opportunities to standardise, streamline/improve processes and analysis and improve accuracy
• Embed a culture of controls, responsible for operating effectiveness of all key controls within the department’s processes and remediation of any control weaknesses
• Build excellent relationships with finance business partners and other areas of finance to quickly resolve variances and issues in order to meet reporting/timing requirements
• Closely partnering with the commercial finance team, including providing first level commentary on key movements to aid business decision making
• Provision of accurate numbers for all disclosures in the annual report and statutory accounts
• Support by driving process efficiency, effectiveness and compliance
• Working with and supporting the Finance Manager and Senior Finance Manager to improve the service offering.
• Seeking continuous improvement and constantly challenge to improve standards
• Supporting internal control and audit processes and the safeguarding of Ocado assets

About you

• Relevant financial qualifications (ACA, ACCA, CIMA) and understanding of relevant regulatory environments
• An understanding of core financial processes and relevant systems
• Experience in a fast-paced similar sized environment
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Experience with process improvement and implementation.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders.
• Ability to work effectively under pressure and manage multiple priorities.
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy.
• Ability to manage stakeholders as required.

What we offer you

Our employee benefits are designed for you, we care about people and we’ve ensured we have a wealth of benefits that focus on your well-being. We regularly review our benefits to ensure we are supporting our employees appropriately.

• 30 days ‘working from anywhere in the world’ policy
• Wellbeing support through dedicated apps and an Employee Assistance Programme
• 25 days annual leave, rising to 27 days after 5 years service (plus optional holiday purchase)
• Pension scheme (various options available including employer contribution matching up to 7%)
• Generous Private Medical Insurance (within the first month of joining!)
• Income Protection (can be up to 50% of salary for 3 years) and Life Assurance (3 x annual salary)
• 22 weeks paid maternity leave and 6 weeks paid paternity leave (once relevant service requirements complete)
• Train Ticket loan (interest-free)
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Free shuttle bus to and from Hatfield Train Station to the Hatfield offices
• Free shuttle bus to and from Welwyn Garden City Train Station to the Welwyn Garden City offices
• Opportunity to participate in Sharesave and Buy as You Earn share schemes
• 15% discount on Ocado.com and free delivery for all employees (within the first month of joining!)

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