Senior Commercial Finance Manager

Purpose of the Role

The Commercial Finance Manager plays a key role in supporting profitable growth, margin optimisation, and effective commercial decision-making across designated client accounts. Reporting to the EMEA Finance Director, this position operates at the intersection of finance, client services, and operations, providing financial insight, governance, and constructive challenge to ensure strong commercial outcomes.

The role requires strong stakeholder engagement skills, commercial awareness, and the ability to translate financial data into actionable insight. The successful candidate will support pricing strategies, contract performance, forecasting, and financial planning within a fast-paced, performance-driven environment.

Key Responsibilities

Commercial

• Ownership of monthly internal management reporting for designated client account(s), including volumes, profitability, cost savings, working capital, cash generation, KPIs, risks and opportunities, trend analysis, variance analysis, and reconciliation to accounting records.

• Partnering with operational teams to identify and implement profit improvement initiatives, supporting delivery against margin targets.

• Supporting the development of annual client account plans and associated financial forecasts; producing monthly reforecasts and performance analysis against plan.

• Assisting with financial modelling and analysis to support contract negotiations, renewals, amendments, and pricing proposals, working alongside commercial and legal teams as required.

Client

• Preparation of external financial reporting for clients, covering spend analysis, working capital, KPIs, trends, and performance commentary.

• Participation in client review meetings, presenting financial performance and providing insight where appropriate.

• Acting as a key contact for credit control matters, supporting timely query resolution and cash collection.

Process & Governance

• Supporting the effective use of operational systems by account teams, ensuring accurate data capture and alignment with financial systems, particularly across sales, cost of goods sold, and working capital reporting.

• Ensuring compliance with group-wide financial processes, controls, and delegated authority limits.

• Contributing to continuous improvement initiatives to enhance reporting accuracy, efficiency, and financial control.

People & Collaboration

• Business Partner to Client Managing Directors and operational teams, providing clear financial insight to support decision-making.

• Working closely with non-finance stakeholders to improve financial understanding and awareness of commercial implications.

• Collaborating with the wider finance team to maintain strong financial control and reporting standards across the business.

Person Specification

• Fully qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent) or qualified by experience.

• Minimum of 5 years experience in finance, commercial finance, or accounting roles.

• Experience within retail and/or outsourced service environments desirable.

• Strong IT skills, including Excel and financial systems (e.g., Sage or similar ERP systems).

• High level of integrity and accountability, with the ability to work effectively under pressure.

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with confidence interacting with operational teams and clients.

• Proactive, collaborative, and solutions-focused mindset.

• Customer-focused, with the ability to challenge constructively and drive performance improvement.