Finance Business Partner

Location: Spalding (With Hybrid Working)

Contract Type: Permanent

Business Area: Bakkavor Ltd

Working Hours: Monday to Friday

We’re the biggest name you’ve never heard of. You’ve probably eaten our food – you just didn’t realise it. We make innovative fresh products, with around 18,500 colleagues working across the UK, US and China. We’re the market leader in the UK fresh prepared food industry supplying meals, salads, desserts, pizza and bread to leading grocery retailers (including Tesco, M&S, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose). We’re ambitious. We’re full of ideas. And we’re ready for more people who share our values and passion for quality to join us.

Procurement Finance Business Partner

We’re proud to offer you a career with possibilities. To encourage you to work hard, aim high and bring your best to work, every day. To know that as a valued Procurement Finance Business Partner, we will support your ambition, reward your resilience and encourage you to create a career you can be proud of too.

The purpose of this busy and exciting role is to provide accurate and timely reporting and analysis to support the day-to-day operations of the category Procurement function whilst ensuring the integrity of the Procurement financials and systems are maintained.

The role holder will become a subject matter expert for Procurement-related matters including Energy and will be expected to challenge and improve ways of working both within and outside of the function.

Main Duties

• Providing a comprehensive, professional accountancy and general financial advisory service and partner with stakeholders to make financially informed and compliant decisions in a timely manner
• Producing and reviewing the quarterly rolling forecast and monthly pricing trackers, challenging and highlighting any variances, ensuring onward communication is managed in a clear, concise and meaningful way
• Controlling internal processes with regards to customer cost models, ensuring accuracy, integrity and timeliness throughout
• Becoming the expert for bespoke queries from Procurement, Finance and Commercial relating to customer models – Investigating and advising best course of action
• Managing the reporting of financial data (specifically inflation/deflation) and being recognised as a subject matter expert to advise and control integrity across the UK business
• Working with the Senior Finance Business Partner to extend the central management of cost & forecasting beyond Raw Materials & Packaging, into all areas managed centrally by Procurement (energy, distribution, other overheads)
• Ensuring accuracy and validity of master and financial data in internal and supplier-facing systems to perform relevant and meaningful analysis that aids the Group’s responsible sourcing agenda
• Completing month end activities for Procurement general ledger accounts, notably inter-company recharges, balance sheet reconciliations and associated reporting
• Forming an in-depth working knowledge of mains electricity and gas contract forms, hedging processes and billing methods, working with our energy partner to advance the visibility and understanding of mains utilities across the UK sites and leadership teams
• Further developing ways of working and providing reporting/advisory into non-mains energy and other utilities
• Deputising for Senior Finance Business Partner in the Procurement Leadership Team and across the Finance function as required
• Supporting the development of colleagues in the team – sharing knowledge and experience and recommending improvements to existing ways of working
• Being the main point of contact for ad hoc queries relating to Procurement and Finance matters

About you

Ideally you will hold a professional accountancy qualification and have previous experience in a financial planning and analysis / business partnering role.

Excellent communication skills and a passion for identifying / driving continuous improvement will be key – as will sound influencing skills and the ability to act as the lynchpin between our Finance and Procurement departments.

You will have a strong set of ‘soft’ skills, including presentation, relationship building, negotiation and facilitation – alongside a proactive, enthusiastic and enquiring approach to working with stakeholders, including confidence in challenging and scrutinising assumptions.

If you are a commercially astute and driven Finance professional with a solution-oriented style, who is keen to support and drive the development of a positive working culture – this could be the perfect role for you!

What you can expect from us

You can expect a highly competitive rewards package including group pension, bonus, private medical insurance, and other flexible benefits – alongside excellent career progression prospects across the Bakkavor group.

Proud to be Bakkavor

We’re proud to be the leading UK provider of innovative, high-quality, fresh prepared food. We’re proud to be driven by the hard work and passion of our people. And we’re proud to offer a wide range of careers full of support and opportunity. Join our team and we’ll make you proud too.