Head of Finance - Transversal FP&A

Job Introduction

As a Head of Finance - Transversal FP&A, your key responsibilities are: 

• Coordinate and lead service operations and transversal functions reporting, planning and accounting. 

• Shape and influence investment in SG&A across the region including financial  oversight of the governance and reporting of regional business cases and projects. 

• Be the key business partner for RLC members on managing their SG&A by providing insights and analysis that assist in decision making. 

• Oversee a finance team with direct line manager responsibility for key team members.  

Role Responsibility

• Finance lead responsible for all reporting, planning and accounting for service operational and transversal SG&A in region including the shaping and influencing of SG&A investment.  

• Manage and maintain SG&A reporting across the region, ensuring role by role and activity based models are maintained to ensure informed decisions are made.   

• Drive process and financial control improvements across SG&A.  This will include driving consistency of process and output, delivering ‘faster close’ where we will move from WD+5 to WD+4, streamlining the recharge process and developing and embedding a new reporting framework. 

• Financial oversight of the governance and reporting of regional business cases and projects. Supporting development of regional business cases to a high standard and ensuring appropriate reviews of cost, both capex and opex, and that the business benefits are clear and realistic. 

• Project lead and support on regional and global projects as required 

• Manage specific finance processes: free shares accounting, apprenticeship levy prepayment and exceptional costs accounting. 

• Work closely with the controllers to improve control and visibility over the balance sheet. 

• Ensuring all group finance policies, processes and procedures are known, understood and consistently applied in the team to support the achievement of the group’s financial objectives.  Strong financial controls are in place to ensure accuracy of reporting and outputs. 

• Support Director of Financial Management and CFO in implementing key region / group and finance initiatives across transversal finance and the broader region finance community. 

• Develop and retain a high performing finance team. 

The Ideal Candidate

Competencies: 

1. Strong financial acumen, including technical accounting, finance systems, operational and financial planning as well as contractual/risk management. 

1. Process and progress driven, based on factual analytics, combined with very transparent skills. 

1. Pro-activity and reactivity, combined with a strong sense of constructive challenge, thereby assisting finance and operational teams in building solutions. 

1. Excellent organizational skills and ability to respect deadlines. 

1. Flexible and pragmatic, able to deal with complexity. 

1. Experience in change management, ability to be a business partner for organisational transformation. 

1. Strong interpersonal, communication and presentation skills (written and verbal), strong partnering capabilities with senior management. 

1. Excellent humility and listening, communication and negotiation skills at all levels with the confidence and ability to influence and gain results at all levels. 

1. Strong culture of team support/team work, collaboration, and business advancement, including across different disciplines, geographies and cultures. 

1. Strong business ethics, and role model the Sodexo values. 

1. Excellent modelling and financial analytics skills, extremely system digital literate. 

1. Great conceptual thinker and quick to grasp new complex commercial situations etc.. 

1. Highly driven with demonstrable success in a high pressure, tight deadline environment. 

1. Ability to navigate through complex situations and matrix organization structure to deliver results in a multi- stakeholder and consultative culture. 

Experience: 

1. Qualified chartered accountant or equivalent with 10+ years PQE. 

1. Experience working in large matrix organization. 

1. Track record of delivering successful results and finding pragmatic solutions in complex situations. 

1. Strong accountant, with great operational experience and a good commercial background. 

Package Description

Competitive salary plus Benefits including pension, bonus, flexible benefits scheme

As part of our commitment to improving the quality of life for our employees, Sodexo offers a flexible benefits scheme, allowing you to tailor a reward package to suit your needs which includes a technology scheme, private dental insurance, travel insurance, gym membership, Gourmet card, private medical insurance and the ability to purchase or sell annual leave.

We also offer Sodexo Discounts site promoting discounted mobile phone tariffs, savings across restaurant chains and days out, where you and your family can save money on everything from your weekly food shop to the latest cinema blockbuster.

Flexible location on a hybrid work model - Manchester or London

About the Company

In the UK and Ireland, Sodexo employs around 30,000 people, and partners with clients in many sectors across business and industry; schools and universities; sports and leisure; energy and resources; government and agencies; healthcare; justice and defence.

Sodexo’s connected; people-centric approach brings together a diverse range of expertise. The breadth of services it offers ranges from food and hospitality; cleaning; reception; concierge (Circles); security; property management and technical services through to data driven workplace strategy and design (Wx); employee engagement and recognition services (Sodexo Engage) and personal home services through Prestige Nursing + Care and the Good Care Group.

Vital Spaces is Sodexo’s value proposition that puts people at the heart of everything we do, bringing together services and solutions and focusing on the productivity and wellbeing of people wherever they are.

Sodexo is committed to being an inclusive employer; we welcome and encourage applications from people with a diverse variety of experiences, backgrounds and identities.

We’re a Disability Confident Leader employer. We’re committed to changing attitudes towards disability, and making sure disabled people have the chance to fulfil their aspirations.

We are building on our support to the Armed Forces community through the development of specific pathways within our recruitment process to  support ex-forces personnel and reservists, those applying for jobs with us who meet the ideal candidate criteria for the role advertised are guaranteed to progress to the selection process