Finance Director

Our Client:

Head4Talent is delighted to be supporting the recruitment of a Finance Director for our ambitious and dynamic client, a highly respected organisation operating within a commercially demanding and tightly controlled manufacturing environment.

Following significant investment across leadership, systems, products, and business intelligence capability, the business is entering an exciting phase of growth and transformation. As part of a wider group structure, the organisation combines commercial ambition with operational discipline, safety, quality, and strong governance.

The Finance Director role is pivotal to the integrity, resilience, and credibility of the business. This is a high-impact leadership opportunity for an individual who can provide assurance, insight, and commercial challenge at the highest level while helping shape a resilient, forward-looking organisation that continues to lead its sector into the future.

Working closely with Group Finance, external auditors, tax advisors, banking partners, and the Senior Leadership Team, the successful candidate will play a critical role in ensuring sustainable growth is planned, controlled, and delivered with confidence.

The Role:

This is far more than a traditional finance leadership position. The Finance Director will operate as a true business partner to the Managing Director, Sales, Operations, and Sales Planning functions, ensuring commercial ambition is underpinned by robust financial discipline, realistic assumptions, and clear understanding of risk and reward.

Leading a capable but lean finance team within an SME manufacturing environment, the successful candidate will balance strategic leadership with hands-on operational oversight.

Key responsibilities will include:

Commercial Insight & Business Partnering

• Partner closely with Sales and Sales Planning to provide robust financial challenge and commercial insight across forecasting, pricing, margin, and volume assumptions.
• Ensure commercial decisions are aligned to operational capacity, cash flow requirements, and long-term financial sustainability.
• Translate sales plans into meaningful financial scenarios to support Executive and Board-level decision making.
• Challenge optimism bias and unsupported assumptions while constructively enabling growth ambitions.

Forecasting, Budgeting & Decision Support

• Own the integrity of forecasting, budgeting, and wider business planning processes.
• Deliver forward-looking analysis around revenue, margin, working capital, and financial exposure.
• Drive continuous improvement in forecast accuracy through disciplined review and root-cause analysis.

Financial Governance & Control

• Define and lead the financial governance framework, ensuring robust controls, policies, approvals, and reporting standards.
• Maintain effective segregation of duties and accountability across all finance processes.
• Act as the senior escalation point for financial judgement, accounting treatment, control, and compliance matters.

Reporting, Compliance & Assurance

• Lead the preparation and sign-off of monthly management accounts, statutory reporting, and group submissions.
• Manage relationships with external auditors, tax advisors, banks, and Group Finance.
• Ensure all reporting is fully audit-ready and supported by robust evidence and documentation.

Cash Flow & Working Capital Management

• Protect and optimise cash flow and working capital performance across the business.
• Ensure strong alignment between commercial agreements, invoicing, credit control, collections, and revenue recognition.
• Provide clear visibility and escalation of receivables risk, disputes, and working capital exposure.

Leadership & Executive Contribution

• Act as a trusted advisor to the Managing Director and Senior Leadership Team.
• Provide balanced financial and commercial challenge to support strategic decision making.
• Help ensure commercial success is achieved without compromising governance, control, or long-term resilience.

About You:

You will be a commercially astute and technically credible Finance Director who combines analytical rigour with the confidence and curiosity to challenge constructively.

You will be equally comfortable operating strategically at Board level and working close to the operational detail of forecasts, margins, planning assumptions, and financial controls.

You will bring:

Experience

• Senior finance leadership experience within a complex commercial environment, ideally manufacturing, engineering, or similarly regulated sectors.
• Full accountability for financial governance, statutory reporting, audit outcomes, and management accounts.
• Experience overseeing outsourced and automated finance processes while retaining robust internal control ownership.
• Proven ability to manage financial risk, compliance, and governance in demanding operational environments.

Technical Capability

• Strong technical accounting knowledge and sound financial judgement.
• Deep understanding of financial controls, audit requirements, and governance frameworks.
• Experience designing and sustaining practical, effective financial controls and audit-ready processes.

Leadership & Personal Style

• Confident and credible, with the ability to influence and challenge senior stakeholders constructively.
• Naturally inquisitive, with a desire to understand the operational drivers behind the numbers.
• Calm, resilient, and measured under pressure or scrutiny.
• Able to balance strategic thinking with exceptional attention to detail.
• Comfortable acting as the final authority on financial judgement and escalation matters.

Change & Improvement

• Experience leading finance transformation, process improvement, or automation initiatives.
• Committed to continuous improvement while maintaining financial integrity and compliance.
• Proactive, commercially aware, and risk-conscious in approach.