Strategic Finance Partnering Manager

RNLI; Poole; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 105,000; Full time

Job summary

The RNLI is seeking a Strategic Finance Partnering Manager to join our Financial Planning & Analysis team. You will lead a high-performing partnering function across the organisation, delivering evidence-based financial support and robust challenge to inform decisions under our 5-Year Plan (2026–2030).

You will coach finance professionals, influence senior leaders, and ensure governance and value-for-money across donor-funded activities, enabling affordable, sustainable lifesaving work at sea.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in senior finance business partnering or a comparable strategic finance role.
• Experience influencing, supporting and challenging senior leaders in a complex organisation.
• Experience leading, coaching or developing finance professionals and building high performance across a team.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a high-performing Strategic Finance Partnering capability across the RNLI.
• Hold senior partnering responsibility for a key directorate and provide leadership across the wider partnering function.
• Deliver consistent, high-quality financial support, challenge and decision-making to enable the 5-Year Plan (2026–2030).
• Support investment cases, forecasts and long-term financial planning with strong governance.

Skills

Senior finance partner

Stakeholder influence

Coaching finance

Financial governance

Complex data to advice

Job description

About us

The RNLI is a charity with the purpose to save lives at sea with a vision to save every one. We providea 24-hour lifeboat search and rescue service, lifeguards, fundraising, and drowning prevention. Our frontline lifesavers and fundraisers need a dedicated, professional and talented team behind them, and that is where you come in. This is your chance to join that team and help save lives every day.

We are looking for a Strategic Finance Partnering Manager to join our Financial Planning & Analysis team, who will support the RNLI by ensuring RNLI leaders make informed, evidence-based decisions that maximise lifesaving impact and the responsible stewardship of donor funds through leading the development, delivery and continuous improvement of high-quality strategic finance partnering, robust challenge and long-term financial planning for the RNLI.

Your role

This is an exciting opportunity to make a real difference. You will be coming into this new role at an interesting time as we shape the organisation to take on the challenges of the future with the delivery of our 5-Year Plan (2026 to 2030) in support of our overall RNLI strategy.

As Strategic Finance Partnering Manager you will contribute to the achievement of the RNLI’s 5-year plan and overall vision to ensure affordability and value for money for the organisation. The successful candidate will lead and develop a high performing Strategic Finance Partnering capability across the RNLI, ensuring consistent, high-quality financial support, challenge and decision-making. You will hold senior partnering responsibility for a key directorate, as well as providing leadership, coaching and resilience across the wider partnering function. This role is an enabler to the wider Finance Planning and Analysis function, alongside working collaboratively with the whole Finance and Corporate Services directorate, ensuring alignment.

About You

To be considered as our new Strategic Finance Partnering Manager you will be someone who enjoys developing others, creating consistency without unnecessary bureaucracy, and helping senior leaders make confident decisions. We are looking for someone who is comfortable retaining an active partnering portfolio while leading the wider partnering function, whilst fostering RNLI values and a clear focus on saving lives at sea. You will also have:

• Proven experience in senior finance business partnering or a comparable strategic finance role.
• Experience of successfully influencing, supporting and constructively challenging senior leaders in a complex organisation.
• Demonstrable experience of leading, coaching or developing finance professionals and building consistent standards and high performance across a team.
• Experience supporting significant business cases, investment decisions, forecasts, budgets and long-term financial planning.
• Strong understanding of financial controls, governance and the practical application of value-for-money principles.
• Experience translating complex financial and organisational information into clear advice and recommendations.

If this sounds like you, and you are someone who is an influential and trusted finance leader, combining strong organisational knowledge with sound judgement and constructive challenge.

In return, you will be part of an extraordinary team and have the satisfaction of playing a significant role in driving forward the business of the RNLI: saving lives at sea.