Head of Cost & Strategic Finance

Head of Cost & Strategic Finance

Are you a commercially sharp, qualified finance leader who thrives on turning cost insight into strategic advantage?

We’re looking for a Head of Cost & Strategic Finance to lead best-in-class cost business partnering across Distribution and Group. This is a high-impact, executive-facing role responsible for shaping, challenging and optimising a c.£400m cost base and c.£70m strategic investment portfolio

This isn’t a reporting role. It’s about influence, value creation and delivery.

The Opportunity

You’ll act as a trusted partner to Executive stakeholders, providing clear insight, robust challenge and forward-looking analysis to ensure cost targets are delivered and strategic investments drive real value. You’ll lead budgeting, forecasting and cost planning across Distribution & Group, drive synergy savings, and ensure financial discipline and model governance remain strong as the business evolves. With 9 reports and manager-of-managers responsibility, you’ll build and develop a high-performing team while staying close enough to the detail to ensure quality, integrity and commercial clarity.

What You’ll Be Doing:

Strategic Cost Leadership

• Partnering with Executive stakeholders on cost performance and investment decisions
• Driving cost saving synergies across the business
• Supporting and challenging business cases, validating benefits and tracking delivery
• Leading annual budgets and rolling forecasts (FTE, staff and non-staff costs)

Performance & Insight

• Delivering clear, insightful month-end and variance analysis
• Investigating cost performance issues and providing ad hoc intelligence
• Enhancing forecasting models and strengthening business intelligence capability
• Presenting high-quality financial reporting to Board, ExCo and Group

Governance & Control

• Working closely with Controllership to ensure robust and auditable month/year-end processes
• Maintaining strong model governance and quality control standards
• Ensuring consistency of reporting and planning processes across Finance

Leadership

• Leading and developing a team of 9
• Driving accountability, collaboration and high standards across Finance
• Building strong relationships across functions to become a trusted business partner

What We’re Looking For

Essential

• Qualified Accountant (ACA / ACCA / CIMA)
• Strong cost business partnering and planning experience
• Experience managing significant cost bases
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills
• Advanced Excel and PowerPoint capability
• Ability to distil complex data into clear, actionable insight
• High integrity and credibility with senior leadership

Highly Desirable

• Experience leading cost planning and project reporting
• Exposure to strategic investment governance
• Experience managing managers

Why This Role?

• Executive exposure and genuine strategic influence
• Ownership of a large-scale cost and investment portfolio
• Opportunity to shape financial discipline and value delivery at Group level
• Leadership scope with a manager-of-managers structure
• A role that blends commercial partnering, governance and strategic impact

If you’re a confident finance leader who enjoys challenge, influence and delivering measurable impact -this could be your next step.