Head Of Financial Operations 12 Month Ftc

Job Title:            Head of Financial Operations (12 month FTC)

Salary:                Up to £80,000 depending on experience

Location:            Shoreham-by-Sea (Hybrid (3 office / 2 home)

Established in 2003, Focus Group is proud to be one of the UK’s fastest growing independent providers of essential business technology providing digital workplace solutions to around 30,000 SME customers. Our PE backers (Hg) recent investment will support Focus Group's organic growth plan, M&A ambitions and product development initiatives, enhancing its ability to deliver innovative solutions for the UK SME sector.
The Head of Financial Operations is responsible for key elements of our financial activities, ensuring that all parts of the working capital cycle are appropriately managed and controlled, and also has a key responsibility in aligning finance activities of new acquisitions. The role reports to the Finance Director with significant involvement with the CFO and other C-suite members.

This is a critical role right at the heartbeat of our rapidly growing and evolving finance function. We are about to embark on a critical phase to replace our ERP system and re-engineer our core financial processes, the Head of Financial Operations will be central to the delivery of this project. We are looking for someone who:

• Has strong systems experience and is comfortable working with multiple processes (due to our high volume of acquisitions) but focussed on establishing robust and scalable solutions as we implement a new ERP platform.
• Understands what good accounts receivable, accounts payable, cash book and payroll processes look like and has experience of managing these functions
• Is able to work alongside recent acquisitions to onboard onto our processes, work with the Finance Director to refine the number of bank accounts currently in operation
• Is happy to work in a growing and fast paced environment and wants to make a difference through process change and system implementation, and is motivated to continually develop and coach our committed teams

Principal Responsibilities/Duties

• Management of the purchase ledger (AP) team, sales ledger (AR team), payroll and accounts assistants. 4 direct reports and 20+ indirect reports.
• Management of all aspects of banking, cash book team.
• Acting as a support for the CFO and Finance Director and as a key member of the senior finance leadership team.
• Manage working capital cycles, aiming to maximise Group cash and build appropriate forecasting models, escalating any issues efficiently to the Finance Director.
• Develop and enhance the team and process to ensure as Focus Group grows, we are able to provide an effective Finance function.
• Review of levels of aged debt, ensuring that the bad debt provision remains adequate and liaison with other business units/legal teams.
• Full management, review and sign off on payment runs.
• Engage with newly acquired businesses to understand integration requirement and manage change where necessary.
• Control and manage the banking processes, including projects to transfer all banking, credit card facilities to single bank.
• Responsible for key compliance matters such as National Statistics and payment reporting.
• Ensure full compliance and integrity of all payroll matters.

Essential Skills

• Able to demonstrate a high level of business and commercial awareness to independently lead change and process improvement.
• Strong financial acumen, practice trained accountant.
• Team leader with the ability to manage change.
• Strong technical accounting skills.
• Experience of working within a high growth, highly acquisitive environment.
• Ability to work under pressure and prioritise accordingly.
• Thorough analytical approach with a commercial mindset.
• Advanced excel skills.

Benefits

At Focus Group you can be proud of what you do, how you do it and feel a true part of the team. We work hard to create an inclusive, collaborative and rewarding environment where you are inspired to achieve brilliant things and really make a difference to the future of our business.

We’re proud to have built an outstanding place to work where people thrive and are recognised for their achievements. We’re delighted to have been named one of the UK’s best 100 Companies to Work for 2021 and a British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) 2023 Vision Award Winner for London & South East for our commitment to culture and ESG.

We welcome all applications and if you struggle to apply online, please contact us for a chat, or email us directly. We can make any reasonable adjustments to the working environment to ensure all employees are included and can work safely in our offices.