Commercial Finance Director / Director of FP&A

Location: London (Hybrid, 4 days per week in office)

Department: Finance

Reports to: CFO

Direct Reports: mandate to build and lead a high-performing FP&A & Commercial Finance team as the business scales.

Role Overview

The Commercial Finance Director will be the strategic partner to the CFO, responsible for transforming financial insight into commercial action. You will own the company’s financial planning framework, drive performance management, and elevate decision-making through data, analytics, and forward-looking insight.

You will be comfortable working in a Private Equity environment, leading reporting and analysis to support Investor and Leverage Partner requirements. The businesses is growing swiftly from an M&A strategy; FP&A support is required to execute that strategy and to meet the operational needs of a large business with many commercial opportunities.

This is a hands-on, build-and-scale role: you will initially operate as an individual contributor while shaping the FP&A vision, implementing scalable reporting infrastructure, and establishing best-in-class planning processes. As the business grows, you will recruit, develop, and lead a team across FP&A, commercial finance, and data-driven performance management.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Planning & Performance Management

• Own the annual budgeting, long-range planning, and quarterly reforecasting cycles, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities.
• Partner with the Executive Team to translate strategy into financial outcomes, KPIs, and measurable targets.
• Lead monthly performance reviews, delivering clear, actionable insight on revenue, margins, operating costs, and cash.
• Build and maintain a robust driver-based forecasting model that scales with the business.

2. Commercial Finance Leadership

• Evaluate new business opportunities, partnerships, and strategic initiatives through rigorous financial modelling.
• Drive accountability across the organisation by embedding KPIs, dashboards, and performance frameworks.

3. Data, Reporting & Systems Transformation

• Architect the transition from manual reporting to a centralised, automated, data-driven FP&A environment.
• Oversee the development of a unified finance data model integrating ERP, CRM, and operational systems.
• Champion the adoption of AI-enabled forecasting, anomaly detection, and scenario modelling.

4. Cash, Liquidity & Working Capital

• Oversee group cash forecasting, including the rolling 13-week cash flow.
• Partner with Treasury to optimise liquidity, FX exposure, and cash deployment.
• Drive working capital improvements across AR, AP, and inventory through data-led insight.

5. Team Leadership & Organisational Build-Out

• Define the future structure of the FP&A and Commercial Finance function.
• Recruit, mentor, and develop high-performing analysts and managers as the company scales.
• Establish best-practice processes, documentation, and governance across planning, reporting, and analytics.
• Foster a culture of curiosity, commercial thinking, and data-driven decision-making.

The Ideal Candidate

Experience

• 10+ years in FP&A, Commercial Finance, or Strategic Finance roles, ideally in a scaling or multi-entity environment.
• Demonstrable experience in PE-backed businesses.
• Proven track record of building or transforming an FP&A function.
• Experience partnering with senior leadership and influencing strategic decisions.

Technical Skills

• Deep expertise in financial modelling, forecasting, and scenario planning.
• Strong understanding of data architecture, relational databases, and modern BI tooling.
• Comfortable working with SQL-driven datasets and automated reporting environments.
• Strong command of budgeting, cash flow forecasting, and performance management frameworks.

Leadership & Soft Skills

• Exceptional communicator who can simplify complexity for non-finance stakeholders.
• Builder mentality: enjoys creating structure, process, and capability from the ground up.
• High integrity, resilience, and comfort operating in a fast-paced, evolving environment.