Head Of Finance jobs in United Kingdom

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Contract: Permanent/Full time

Compensation:

If you've worn a pair of glasses, we've already met.

We are a global leader in the design, manufacture, and distribution of ophthalmic lenses, frames, and sunglasses. We offer our industry stakeholders in over 150 countries access to a global platform of high-quality vision care products (such as the Essilor brand, with Varilux, Crizal, Eyezen, Stellest and Transitions), iconic brands that consumers love (such as Ray-Ban, Oakley, Persol, Oliver Peoples, Vogue Eyewear and Costa), as well as a network that offers consumers high-quality vision care and best-in-class shopping experiences (such as Sunglass Hut, LensCrafters, Salmoiraghi & Viganò and the GrandVision network), and leading e-commerce platforms.

Join our global community of over 190,000 dedicated employees around the world in driving the transformation of the eyewear and eyecare industry.

Discover more by following us on LinkedIn!

Your #FutureInSight with EssilorLuxottica

Are you willing to pioneer new frontiers, foster inclusivity and collaboration, embrace agility, ignite passion, and make a positive impact on the world? Join us in redefining the boundaries of what's possible.

Your role:

In this position, you will act as the Senior Commercial Finance Business Partner for the Professional Solutions Division of the UKI EssilorLuxottica Group, serving as the main finance contact for the Commercial Team and Senior Stakeholders for the Frames & Lenses business. The overall purpose of the role is to provide proactive, strategic financial support to drive commercial decision-making, ensure robust weekly and monthly reporting of net revenues, and lead the development of credible, insight-driven revenue forecasting. This is a key role requiring strong business acumen, analytical capability, and the ability to influence senior stakeholders.

Main responsibilities:

Business Partnering & Commercial Support
• Act as a trusted advisor and critical partner to the Commercial Directors and Sales Team, providing financial insight, challenge, and decision support.
• Support contract negotiations and tenders with financial modelling and ROI analysis.
• Collaborate with Sales, Marketing, Category, and BI teams to clearly understand and drive business performance and deliver positive commercial outcomes.

Budgeting & Forecasting
• Lead the periodic forecasting process for sales volumes, revenue, and commercial conditions/gross margin.
• Manage weekly and monthly rolling net sales forecasts, including system inputs.
• Provide inputs to the Credit team for cash forecasting and support sales bonus calculations.

Month-End Close & Revenue Recognition
• Oversee month-end Net Sales and Gross Margin close tasks to ensure accuracy and completeness.
• Reconcile commercial condition accruals and customer bonus (YEB) provisions.
• Ensure compliance with Group Accounting & Reporting standards, audit and revenue recognition requirements.

Reporting & Analysis
• Deliver accurate, timely reporting on sales and margin performance by channel, customer, and product.
• Conduct ASP analysis, volume/price/mix variances, and margin bridge reporting.
• Prepare weekly sales actuals with commentary and lead discussions in review meetings.
• Manage BI tools and dashboards; track samples, returns, and support CMD knowledge.
• Interrogate commercial data to provide novel and value adding business insights

Commercial Agreements & Pricing
• Support the Internal Business case approval process (LOA/POA) for commercial agreements. This includes partnering with the commercial teams to evaluate the proposed conditions, providing guidance and feedback, business case preparation, modelling of the customer P&L, and presentation to senior stakeholders.
• Evaluate pricing proposals and their impact on sales, revenue, and margin.
• Review and harmonise commercial condition structures across customers and business units

Business Process Improvement
• Constantly explore ways to simplify, automate and improve Finance related business processes to drive simplicity and efficiency
• Promote a process efficiency mindset with the team and nurture a culture of continuous improvement

Talent Development & Team Leadership
• Lead the UK Commercial Finance team in a way that nurtures and rewards talent whilst building team cohesion and a winning together approach.
• Adopt a result driven mindset and role model positive leadership behaviours across the team
• Act as a key support across the wider UK Finance team and actively look for ways to support the UK Finance Manager as an opportunity to develop and grow.

Main requirements:
• Proven track record of business partnering with commercial teams and influencing non-finance stakeholders.
• Strong analytical mindset with the ability to distil complex data into clear, actionable insights.
• Experience with revenue forecasting, reporting, and financial planning processes.
• Understanding of pricing strategy, margin optimisation, or contract negotiation.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including comfort presenting to senior management.
• Proactive, self-starting mindset with the confidence to challenge and engage senior stakeholders.
• Excellent organisational skills; able to manage multiple priorities to meet tight deadlines.
• Collaborative and team-oriented, with the ability to build cross-functional relationships.
• Adaptable and resilient in a fast-paced, evolving environment.

Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion commitment

We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We celebrate diversity and provide equal opportunities to all, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic that makes us unique.