Senior FP&A Analyst

Forge Talent; Manchester; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Forge Talent partners with a PE-backed business to recruit a Senior FP&A Analyst into the Group Finance team. This role offers ownership of cost bases, margins and commercial drivers, with a clear route to FP&A Manager as the business grows.

You'll report to the Head of FP&A and partner with senior stakeholders, building financial models, budgets and forecasts, and supporting pricing and strategic growth decisions across the Group.

Qualifications

• ACA, ACCA or CIMA qualification, or be a finalist.
• Experience within FP&A, commercial finance, costing or margin analysis.
• Strong analytical and financial modelling capability.
• Experience building financial models and analysis from first principles.
• Short-term cash flow forecasting experience would be beneficial.

Responsibilities

• Develop detailed understanding of the business, operations and cost base.
• Lead costing analysis across different treatment and surface coating processes.
• Produce detailed gross margin analysis by treatment, coating type and customer.
• Analyse impact of increased internal transfer volumes as the Group grows.
• Use financial insight to support pricing, investment and growth decisions.
• Develop and improve financial models, drivers and assumptions.
• Use variance analysis and actual performance to strengthen forecasting.
• Own the annual budgeting process, rolling forecasts and short-term cash flow forecasting.
• Support Head of FP&A with Group reporting and monthly Board reporting.
• Support wider Group budgeting, reforecasting and longer-term strategic planning.
• Build trusted relationships with MD and senior leadership; broaden FP&A across Group.

Skills

FP&A

Financial modelling

Forecasting

Stakeholder management

Commercial awareness

Education

ACA, ACCA or CIMA qualification, or finalist

Tools

Planful

Job description

Forge Talent are exclusively partnering with a fast-growing, PE-backed business to recruit a Senior FP&A Analyst into their Group Finance team. This is an excellent opportunity for a qualified accountant or finalist with experience across FP&A, commercial finance, costing or margin analysis to take ownership of a strategically important part of the Group.

The role will initially focus on understanding its operations, cost base, margins and commercial drivers. As the business continues to grow, the remit will expand across the wider Group, providing a clear route towards an FP&A Manager position.

The Role

Reporting to the Head of FP&A, you'll become the key finance partner to the business, combining hands-on analysis with commercial business partnering.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Developing a detailed understanding of the business, its operations and underlying cost base.
• Leading costing analysis across different treatment and surface coating processes.
• Producing detailed gross margin analysis by treatment, coating type and customer.
• Analysing the impact of increased internal transfer volumes as the Group continues to vertically integrate.
• Using financial insight to support pricing, investment and strategic growth decisions.
• Developing and improving financial models, drivers and assumptions.
• Using variance analysis and actual performance to continually strengthen forecasting.
• Taking ownership of the annual budgeting process, rolling forecasts and short-term cash flow forecasting.
• Supporting the Head of FP&A with Group reporting and monthly Board reporting.
• Supporting wider Group budgeting, reforecasting and longer-term strategic planning.
• Building trusted relationships with the Managing Director and senior leadership team.
• Over time, taking on broader FP&A responsibility across additional Group businesses.

About You

We're looking for someone who enjoys getting into the detail and understanding what actually drives a business financially.

You'll ideally have:

• ACA, ACCA or CIMA qualification, or be a finalist.
• Experience within FP&A, commercial finance, costing or margin analysis.
• Strong analytical and financial modelling capability.
• Experience building financial models and analysis from first principles.
• Short-term cash flow forecasting experience would be beneficial.
• A genuine interest in understanding operational performance and the commercial drivers behind the numbers.
• Confidence working with senior stakeholders and challenging constructively where appropriate.
• Experience with FP&A/planning systems such as Planful would be beneficial.

Why This Role?

This is an opportunity to join a PE-backed business with ambitious growth plans and play a key role in developing the financial insight that supports that growth.

Rather than simply inheriting existing reporting, you'll have the opportunity to build models, improve analysis and influence decisions around margins, pricing, costs and future investment.

As your understanding and impact grows, the role will broaden across the Group, creating a clear progression path towards FP&A Manager.