Finance Manager (REF 1260)
- Up to £70,000 bonus
- Hybrid (London 2 days)
We are working with a highly successful and fast-growing lifestyle brand that supplies beautifully designed products to leading retailers around the world. With a global supply base and a creative, entrepreneurial culture, the business is at an exciting stage of growth and is looking for a talented, commercially minded Finance Manager to lead and evolve their finance function.
This is a unique opportunity for someone who enjoys both strategic thinking and hands-on involvement.
Key responsibilities in this role:
- Producing monthly management accounts, including full P&L, balance sheet, and variance analysis.
- Leading annual budgets and rolling forecasts, partnering with department heads.
- Acting as a commercial business partner, supporting decisions on pricing, marketing, promotions, and cost-saving initiatives.
- Driving margin improvement through robust costings and profitability analysis.
- Managing cashflow and forecasting, including multi-currency supplier payments (notably from China).
- Liaising with external accountants for statutory accounts, year-end audit, tax submissions, and compliance.
- Developing standardised business models and ROI-based scenario planning.
- Taking ownership of stock valuations and reconciliations, working closely with operations and supply chain teams.
- Leading the month-end close process and lead your team to efficiently manage all aspects of AR/AP.
- Championing systems improvements from a finance perspective to increase accuracy and efficiency.
- Overseeing VAT, payroll, and import/export compliance.
- Coaching and developing the finance team, supporting professional qualifications and continuous learning.
- Supporting strategic projects through modelling, forecasting and risk analysis.
- Developing KPI dashboards and financial reporting packs for internal use and board-level reporting.
- Reviewing and annotating customer Terms & Conditions with a focus on identifying where terms may be overly weighted in favour of the retailer and ensuring a fair, balanced outcome (guidelines will be provided during training).
- Supporting global operations by understanding international tax structures, tariffs, and reclaim processes, particularly in regions like the USA, Netherlands, Ireland, and the UK.
- Managing escalated HR-related duties with a focus on fairness, good judgment, and balance.
- Driving an analysis-led culture across the business, including customer, competitor, and internal performance insights.
What you’ll bring:
- A professional accounting qualification (ACA / ACCA / CIMA) with at least 3 years post-qualified experience. Qualification through experience also considered.
- Experience in a product-based environment such as retail, wholesale, or FMCG.
- A strong track record in commercial finance and business partnering, ideally within a fast-paced SME or scale-up.
- Experience reviewing and assessing customer Terms & Conditions or legal documents, ensuring they are commercially fair and balanced, in collaboration with legal advisors.
- Excellent communication skills and the confidence to influence senior stakeholders.
- High attention to detail with the ability to see the bigger picture.
- Awareness of international finance and tax considerations, including familiarity with the USA and European tax systems and cross-border trade.
- Strong interpersonal judgement and emotional intelligence; able to handle basic HR matters fairly and sensitively with external support where appropriate.
- Strong Excel skills; experience with NetSuite would be ideal.
- Natural leadership skills and a collaborative, approachable working style.
- Resilience, proactivity, and a positive mindset.
Diversity & Inclusion: ILMJ values diversity, equality and inclusion and encourages applicants from all backgrounds and identities.
