Senior Finance Analyst, Commercial Finance

About the roleWe have an exciting opportunity for you to join our Commercial Finance team as a Senior Finance Analyst working in our Waitrose team. The John Lewis Partnership’s Commercial Finance team has set itself a vision and that is to 'deliver the best possible basis for decision making to our stakeholders'. The role the team performs is to drive business performance by playing an active role in advising, influencing and maximising value from the investments we make, and finding opportunities to manage and reduce our every-day costs.

They do that by applying strong commercial expertise, external market awareness and judgement in order to perform the complex analysis which in turn aids the building of dynamic and slick financial models based on sometimes ambiguous or brief data sets. Our Senior Finance Analysts find themselves actively working with a Commercial Finance Lead or Manager to develop the approach for each outcome. They are empowered to make recommendations to business leaders in order to influence key business decisions based on financial analysis against specific business issues and outcomes.

The areas we are recruiting for are split between Working Capital and Selling Costs.

Working Capital: Supporting our exciting project to deliver a significant cash improvement through a focus on driving working capital benefits. Supply chain is going through a period of significant change with the largest systems investment in 20 years. Whilst we go through this transformation we are reviewing how we support understanding the balance of driving availability, controlling working capital and reducing wastage.

Selling Costs: This role is pivotal in supporting our Waitrose Shops manage their cost base. It will require planning, reporting and analysis to be delivered to the business stakeholders. It will also include support on business cases and benefits tracking on our investments.

• Expected salary - £46,600 - £61,000 

• Contract type - We have permanent and 12 month fixed term contracts available.

• Working pattern - The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach, meaning you'll be able to work a mixture between the office and home based upon your personal needs whilst balancing the needs of the business

• Location - This role is based at our Bracknell Head Office. The team aims for around 2 days a week in the office to connect and on a more ad-hoc basis to attend key meetings but are flexible on this. Please note that for training purposes, you may be required to visit the office more regularly in the first couple of weeks.

Key responsibilities

• Producing and delivering insight for your area of responsibility to time and quality standards. Using strong commercial acumen and as a subject matter expert across multiple functional specialisms, your insight should articulate drivers of current performance and the subsequent implications for future performance, as well as strong commercial analysis that proactively identifies opportunities to improve financial performance. 

• Performing commercial analysis and complex financial modelling in order to inform the likely financial implications of different options or scenarios relating to often complex business issues or decisions. 

• You’ll be working directly with senior business stakeholders and finance colleagues to understand business issues, identify the relevant data inputs and build complex financial models that provide the relevant outputs as per the business ‘exam question’. You’ll apply strong commercial expertise, external market awareness and judgement in order to perform the complex analysis required and you’ll be an expert in building dynamic and slick financial models based on a sometimes ambiguous brief or data set.

• Supporting the central planning team with the development and maintenance of financial plans for your area of responsibility through sharing of business knowledge, performance insight and future risks/opportunities identified.

As you can imagine, there is plenty to get involved in and the Commercial Finance team find themselves at the heart of all the big projects that shape and deliver the Partnership Strategy - from developing retail propositions, and inspirational new services that customers love, to efficiency programmes that will reduce costs and allow us to work in a faster and simpler way. Commercial Finance team members are actively encouraged to be curious and proactive in finding opportunities and solutions, and to work collaboratively towards achieving our goals. As Partners, we all have 'skin in the game' and are 'all in it together' so are empowered to think about customers first, to belong and develop as Partners, and to 'work smarter'.

Why do our Senior Finance Analysts love working for us?

Our Commercial Finance Analysts have the opportunity to make a huge and meaningful contribution to the success of our business. They are deployed on the highest priority projects upon which they can make the most significant contributions - by providing insight to stakeholders which influences big decisions. The nature of our business means they see tangible results from the analysis and recommendations that they provide. They are actively supported to develop new skills and knowledge and apply their expertise across a wide variety of business areas, on high profile projects, in an exciting and fast-paced industry within one of the country's most respected and well-loved brands. You can listen to what some of our Senior Finance Analysts have to say here! What's not to love? 

Essential skills

• Strong financial acumen: an accounting qualification / equivalent experience

• Commercial acumen: demonstrated ability to support commercial decision making by analysing data, provide actionable insights and collaborate with stakeholders to drive informed business strategies

• A curious mindset: a natural drive to dig deeper, ask the right questions, and uncover insights

• Analytical expertise: the ability to confidently interpret and interrogate financial accounts

• Exceptional stakeholder management: outstanding communication skills to build strong relationships with both finance and non-finance stakeholders

Desirable skills

• Retail experience

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About The Partnership

We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.

We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect.

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective.

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.

Important points to note:

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting. If required, you’ll find out more about vetting throughout the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays.

We also recommend that you apply as soon as possible as vacancies can close early if we see a high number of applicants.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.