Head of FP&A

A leading, operationally complex organisation is seeking a Head of Financial Planning and Analysis to join their senior leadership team in Watford. This pivotal role offers the opportunity to shape the financial direction of a business that values clarity, collaboration, and impactful decision-making. The successful candidate will work closely with the CFO and other senior leaders, ensuring that financial planning, forecasting, and analysis are delivered with precision and integrity.

What you'll do:

As Head of Financial Planning and Analysis, you will play an instrumental role in shaping both short-term forecasts and long-term strategic plans. Your day-to-day responsibilities will involve collaborating with key stakeholders across multiple departments to ensure that all aspects of financial planning are aligned with organisational objectives. You will be responsible for delivering insightful analysis that supports critical business decisions while maintaining rigorous standards of data quality. By managing a dedicated FP&A team, you will foster an environment focused on continuous improvement through automation and process enhancement. Your ability to translate complex financial information into clear recommendations will be essential in supporting the CFO’s agenda and enabling the wider leadership team to achieve their goals.

• Take full ownership of forecasting, budgeting, and long-range planning processes across profit and loss, cash flow, and balance sheet for the entire organisation.
• Deliver accurate 12-month rolling forecasts as well as comprehensive three-year strategic plans based on clear drivers and robust assumptions.
• Conduct scenario planning exercises that clearly articulate risks and opportunities to inform business strategy.
• Produce high-quality performance analysis and reporting to ensure senior stakeholders have forward-looking insight for effective decision-making.
• Partner closely with Operations, Sales, and central functions to provide actionable support for commercial decisions and resource allocation.
• Contribute expert input into investment appraisals, commercial projects, and resource deployment across the business.
• Work alongside the CFO to craft clear narratives behind financial results for presentation to senior leadership teams.
• Manage and develop a small FP&A team by overseeing forecasting cycles, preparing performance packs, and conducting variance analysis.
• Drive consistency in data quality and automation initiatives to ensure a single trusted version of financial information is maintained throughout the organisation.

What you bring:

In this Head of Financial Planning and Analysis position, your background should reflect significant exposure to complex organisational structures where stakeholder engagement is key. You will bring deep technical knowledge of all aspects of financial planning—from detailed forecasting cycles through to strategic scenario modelling—and demonstrate an aptitude for translating intricate data into meaningful insights. Your interpersonal skills will enable you to build trust-based relationships across departments while guiding your team towards best practice standards. A pragmatic mindset coupled with a supportive leadership approach will help you succeed in fostering collaboration within your function. Experience implementing automation solutions or enhancing data quality frameworks would be highly advantageous as you seek to elevate the impact of the FP&A function.

• Extensive experience operating at Head of FP&A or Senior FP&A level within matrix or multi-stakeholder organisations where clarity is paramount.
• Proven track record in businesses characterised by complex reporting lines or intricate ownership structures requiring advanced stakeholder management skills.
• Demonstrated success in operationally intensive or commercially layered environments where adaptability is crucial.
• Strong technical expertise in planning, forecasting, budgeting, and performance analysis with an emphasis on accuracy and reliability.
• Confidence engaging with senior leadership teams as well as external stakeholders to communicate financial insights effectively.
• Exceptional ability to distil complexity into clear, actionable recommendations that drive business outcomes.
• Pragmatic approach combined with hands-on leadership style that nurtures team development while delivering results under pressure.
• Experience driving consistency in data quality through automation initiatives aimed at streamlining processes across finance functions.

Robert Walters Operations Limited is an employment business and employment agency and welcomes applications from all candidates