Commercial Finance Manager

Summary

Join the Climate Bonds Initiative as their Commercial Finance Manager and play a crucial role in transforming finance into an outward-facing business partner. You will closely support and deputise for the Director of Finance, providing critical financial information and insight to senior leaders, the board, and funders. This role involves managing the organization's annual budget, creating and maintaining financial models, and ensuring the finance function is fit for purpose. You will need substantial experience in financial planning and modeling, strong presentation skills, and the ability to communicate complex financial information effectively. The ideal candidate will be ambitious, inquisitive, and solution-focused, with a keen interest in the environment and climate change sector. This position offers the opportunity to work in an inspiring and changing environment, contributing to impactful global projects.

Requirements

• ACCA/ACA qualified or equivalent professional accounting qualification with 2 years PQE
• Commercial finance experience and a proven track record of business partnering in a complex environment
• Experience of managing and owning end to end budget and forecasting process
• Managing stakeholders at all levels by building productive relations and making effective change happen
• Credible presenter able to communicate company finances to different audiences
• Ambitious, inquisitive and solution focussed
• Keen eye for detail with strong problem-solving skills
• Creative and passionate about delivering innovative solutions through collaboration and engagement with colleagues and stakeholders
• An adept and inspiring communicator with the ability to present complex financial data and reports to non-finance professionals
• Advanced numeracy and analytical skills complemented by advanced excel modelling skills

Responsibilities

• Acting as the key point of contact of all financial information to contribute to and enable effective strategic and operational planning
• Deliver a comprehensive, collaborative and effective business partnering function, including management and budget holder reporting, analysis and strategic insights to drive a culture of financial literacy across the organisation
• Lead the continual development, improvement and implementation of CBI’s strategic financial planning, including the annual budgeting processes, cashflow and reserves management, project profitability, team and product P&Ls and multi-year forecasting
• Deliver the annual budget from inception, SLT revisions and Board approval to roll-out to budget holders
• Drive and embed the 24 month rolling reforecast of the group Income and Expenditure, and other information as appropriate, modelling the impact of strategic choices to support the Leadership Team and Board with future forecasting and decision making
• Ensure timely reporting of monthly financial accounts, with comprehensive analysis and explanation of variance to forecast, future impact, risks and opportunities
• Monitor and analyse P&L, cash flow and reserves performance against the organisation’s annual budget and KPI dashboard and identify areas of improvement
• Oversee and manage financial reviews of bid applications and provide financial impact advice to ensure that grant applications are fully understood and that the proposed activity is sustainable and represents excellent value, whilst achieving CBI’s impact objectives
• Support and provide expert financial advice on commercial projects to optimise commercial income streams
• Ensure that financial grant reporting is delivered in a timely manner and oversee funder audits when requested
• Deputise for the Director of Finance when necessary, including project budget approvals, leadership team reporting, and bank authorisations

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience managing a team
• Experience in philanthropy, foundation or charity/not for profit environment
• Knowledge and experience in environmental issues, climate change, climate finance and sustainability
• Experience of working with grant funding bodies
• Knowledge of UK GAAP reporting standards and SORP accounting principles
• Knowledge of SQL or Power Query tools
• Knowledge of Xledger

Benefits

• Opportunity to work with a global team on stimulating projects that have a positive impact globally
• Work with Thought Leaders and grow your career
• Opportunity to be creative and innovative
• NGO Competitive salary
• Remote and flexible working
• A family-friendly and inclusive environment
• 25+ days holiday