Financial Planning & Analysis Manager
Head Hunted Recruitment are proud to be working exclusively with an award winning business who are one of the largest in their sector and boasting a strong market presence. The business is a Norfolk based importer, manufacturer and distributor of branded consumer goods supplying professional trade merchants, and retail partners across the UK
This position requires an individual with a proven track record in a similar role.
The Financial Planning & Analysis Manager will be a qualified accountant responsible for providing rigorous commercial and financial analysis to the CEO/CFO and the wider Senior Leadership Team. The role translates the operational realities of importing, manufacturing and distributing branded product — landed cost, FX exposure, duty and freight, inventory holding, and channel/customer profitability — into clear, decision-useful analysis that supports pricing, purchasing, and investment decisions. This is a hands-on role suited to a qualified accountant (ACA/ACCA/CIMA) who is comfortable operating both strategically and at the transactional/data level in a business of this scale
Key Responsibilities
Budgeting, Forecasting & Business Partnering
- Lead the annual sales and gross margin budget process and rolling forecasts (monthly/quarterly re-forecasts), coordinating input from Sales, Purchasing, Operations and Finance.
- Business partner with Sales and Commercial teams to model customer and product-line profitability, pricing decisions, rebate/discount structures, and promotional investment.
- Business partner with Purchasing/Supply Chain on landed cost modelling, covering FX rates, freight, duty, and supplier terms, and their impact on gross margin.
- Support the FC/CFO with board packs, investor/lender reporting, and ad hoc scenario modelling (e.g. new product launches, new supplier relationships, capex, warehouse investment).
- Take ownership of the accuracy of the master data across products, customers and suppliers, ensuring effective use of all relevant sources of data available to the business (eg EPOS data).
- Own the monthly management accounts commentary and variance analysis to gross profit level (budget/forecast vs. actual), with clear narrative on margin, volume, mix, and FX/duty movements.
- Develop and maintain KPI dashboards covering gross margin by product/brand/customer, stock turn, SKU profitability, and channel performance (trade, retail, export).
- Improve the quality, automation, and timeliness of MI, reducing reliance on manual spreadsheets where practicable (e.g. via AI tools, BI tools, ERP reporting, Power Query).
- Monitor and report on FX exposure arising from overseas purchasing, working with the FC on hedging strategy and rate risk where applicable.
- Analyse and optimise inventory levels, stock cover, and obsolescence risk across the product range, supporting working capital management.
- Track import duty, freight, and landed cost trends, flagging margin erosion risks early.
- Support pricing reviews to protect gross margin against cost inflation, FX movements, and competitor activity.
- Maintain and improve budgeting/forecasting models and reporting templates to GP level, ensuring a robust, auditable, single source of truth.
- Provide support to the Financial Controller/transactional finance team to ensure trial balance data supports accurate and timely FP&A reporting.
- Support system improvements/ERP or BI implementations relevant to reporting and planning.
- Ensure appropriate financial controls are in place around forecasting assumptions and reporting outputs.
- Line manage and develop junior finance/analyst resource as the team grows.
- Act as a key finance contact for non-finance stakeholders, translating financial analysis into commercially actionable insight.
- Accurate, timely monthly management information and variance commentary delivered to agreed deadlines.
- Robust annual budget and rolling forecast, with clear assumptions and sign-off from the FC/CFO.
- Demonstrable improvement in margin visibility by product, brand, and customer.
- Reliable FX/landed cost tracking that informs pricing and purchasing decisions.
- A reporting suite that is progressively automated and less reliant on manual data manipulation.
- Qualified accountant — ACA, ACCA, or CIMA (essential).
- Proven FP&A, commercial finance, or management accounting experience, ideally gained in a product-based business (import/distribution, wholesale, or FMCG background highly relevant).
- Experience of businesses with international/multi-currency purchasing and an understanding of landed cost, duty, and freight dynamics.
- Track record of owning budgeting and forecasting cycles and presenting analysis to senior stakeholders/boards.
- Experience working in a business of comparable scale (£10m–£50m turnover) is preferred, where the role requires both strategic input and hands-on delivery. B2B experience, working closely with a product based business, manufacturer or consumer goods.
- Experience with ERP systems (e.g. Sage, NetSuite, SAP Business One, Microsoft Dynamics) and advanced Excel; experience with BI/reporting tools (Power BI, Power Query) is advantageous.
Strong analytical and financial modelling skills, with the ability to translate data into clear commercial narrative.
Confident communicator, able to business partner effectively with Sales, Purchasing, and Operations as well as senior Finance stakeholders.
Commercially curious, with genuine interest in understanding product, pricing and supply chain economics rather than pure reporting
Highly organised, deadline-driven, and comfortable operating in a smaller finance team where hands-on delivery is required alongside strategic input
Sound judgement and integrity, with a controls-conscious mindset.
This is an office based role although occasional travel to our other local site will be required, it is essential that you have a full driving license
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