Commercial Finance Analyst - Permanent

Job description

Description:

This is a fantastic opportunity to come and work for a company voted Number 7 in the Great Place To Work (Best Large Workplaces) awards 2016, and Number 13 in Europe! We have over 420 stores and over 230 Groom Rooms and are the UK's number one pet care retailer.

We are now recruiting for a Commercial Finance Analyst/ Finance Business Partner to work at our Support Office in Handforth, Cheshire on a permanent basis. As part of the Commercial Finance team you will report directly into the Commercial Finance Manager and work closely with the commercial teams, providing insight and analysis to improve business performance.

Key responsibilities;

Reporting & Interpretation
o Produce the weekly trading report validating and distributing to key internal stakeholders on a timely basis
o Interpreting category sales and margin performance in the week and challenging the trading team on areas of underperformance
o Understanding category stock trends and key drivers of variance to plan to help the business deliver on its working capital commitments

Range Change Analysis
o Provide analytical insight for strategic category reviews. Form part of a project team looking at historical trends and drivers of trading performance, demonstrating an understanding of external market factors to form recommendations on future strategy.
o Sign off new range change forecasts in advance of orders being placed, ensuring that the growth targets are robust and achievable.
o Review the post launch performance 4 & 8 weeks after new range implementation, providing insight into key drivers of sales, margin and stock variances to forecast and YOY.

Planning and Forecasting
o Update and maintain the category level budgeting and forecasting model, ensuring the data is accurate and reliable for the commercial teams to use.
o Review and challenge forecasts submitted, working with the commercial teams to understand assumptions made on sales, margin and stock.
o Produce presentations summarising the key building blocks to YOY growth and variances to previous forecasts.

Trial Analysis and Capital Expenditure Appraisal
o Measure the incremental commercial impact of a trial which has launched in a subset of stores, analysing performance versus a control group.
o Providing insight and understanding on the commercial benefits expected to result from capital expenditure, working out a forecasted return on investment.

Skills required;
• Part qualified CIMA/ACA desirable but not essential if analytical experience is strong.
• Management accountant looking for a move into a commercial finance role, with some experience of variance analysis and liaising with business stakeholders.
• You will have strong A levels (or equivalent), with a degree level qualification being beneficial but not essential
• You will have strong Excel skills with experience of using Vlookups, Sumifs, pivot tables and graphs.
• You will be able to summarise large amounts of data into meaningful summaries and presentations.
• You will have a high attention to detail with strong planning skills and an analytical approach
• You will have the flexibility to adapt to a fast-changing commercial environment
• You will have the ability to manage and prioritise workloads
• You will be a strong team player with the ability to work with other teams to build strong collaborative relationships

The Benefits;
• Salary up to £40,000 plus bonus
• 28 days paid annual leave (including bank holidays)
• Birthday leave – 1 day extra leave to celebrate your birthday
• Pension – You'll have the opportunity to join the Pets Pension from day 1 of joining us and the company will contribute to your pension plan so long as you meet the auto-enrolment criteria
• Colleague Discount – 20% discount for you (plus one family member)
• “Treats” benefits – an online range of offers and discounts which are available exclusively to Pets at Home Colleagues
• Life Assurance
• Charity leave – you are entitled to have one paid day's leave each year to work for your favourite animal related charity
• Celebrating Special Celebrations? You'll get 1 extra week off and a gift to celebrate your wedding or civil partnership, and a gift from us if you are expecting or adopting a baby