Location
Hybrid: 1 to 2 days based in our Support Centre
Why The Works?
We don't just sell products. We inspire reading, learning, creativity and play.
You sell the paint that turns someone into an artist. You provide the book that unleashes an inner author. You supply the games that help bring families together. You give someone the puzzle book that reconnects someone with a late family member's memory.
You never know who someone will become. So with your passion, and our products, you will help ignite the spark in helping people unleash their creativity, find new passions, hobbies, or rekindle fond memories.
The unseen possibilities are limitless, and it all starts with you.
Become a Financial Planning Business Partner
Reporting to the Head of Commercial Finance, you'll be part of our growing team of eight. Your main job is to work closely with the CFO and Heads of Finance, getting to know what drives the business so you can provide valuable insights, offer challenges, and influence strategic decisions. You'll build strong relationships with senior managers and their teams, helping them with financial insights to make better commercial decisions.
Your Mission
- Build strong, collaborative relationships with the CFO, Heads of Finance, and the finance team.
- Lead the month-end reporting process with the finance team to ensure everything is completed on time.
- Prepare, collate, and review the monthly Board report, working with operational board members to get it ready for CEO review and Plc board submission.
- Draft the monthly corporate reporting narrative, looking at P&L results and considering how the month's cashflow and balance sheet impact forecasts, performance, and compliance with financial covenants.
- Update and assess the latest P&L and cashflow each month to inform the full-year outlook, feeding into the forecast process.
- Lead the budget, forecast, and 3-year plan processes from start to finish, including cashflow and balance sheet modelling, while considering financial covenants and investor ratios.
- Regularly review and update the rolling 3-year plan to reflect any significant changes in assumptions or performance, highlighting key implications, especially for external profit and working capital forecasts.
- Review and enhance the existing financial model to create an agile, integrated model for scenario planning, statutory views, and investor ratios. Maintain and update this model as needed.
- Provide analysis and commentary for interim and full-year Plc results, including RNS documents, annual reports, and investor presentations.
Skills/Behaviours That Will Set You Apart
- Motivated and self-sufficient, using initiative to be pro-active
- Experience of budgeting and forecasting processes including reviewing and challenging commercial targets with budget-holders
- Strong organisational skills, flexible and able to adapt quickly to deliver a fast turnaround on ad-hoc tasks
- Confidence to initiate process improvements and the tenacity to see them through to completion
- Commercially astute with a strong desire to understand the key levers in the business, and an ability to interpret numbers into meaningful insight, and communicate to the business
- Naturally inquisitive and confident to challenge both accepted assumptions and processes
- Collaborative approach with excellent communication and interpersonal skills to be able to liaise with and influence colleagues at all levels
- Ability to professionally challenge the business to make improvements to operational and financial performance
- Strong Excel and analytical skills, with attention to detail and able to work at pace under time pressure
Our PERKS really are ‘The Works'
- ?? Car Allowance - Paid Monthly.
- 25% Colleague Discount! - Plus, exclusive Double Discount days!
- MyWorks - Access exclusive online discounts across hundreds of retailers, holidays, utilities deals, tech and more!
- Holiday – 33 days including bank holidays.
- Holiday Purchase - Purchase an additional 5 days
- Can-Do Academy - Grow your skills and career with instant access to further training and development in areas that interest you.
- Wagestream - Claim early access to 50% of your wages as you earn them – for when ‘life' happens!
- Share Scheme - Unleash your inner Monopoly mogul and own a piece of The Works!
- 24/7 support for you and your family - Through our partnership with the Retail Trust who provide an Employee Assistance Programme and so much more!
- Healthcare Cash Plan – To support your everyday healthcare costs
- And loads more! – Long Service Awards, pension, life assurance, Cycle to Work and optional charity giving.
Our Purpose
To inspire reading. learning, creativity and play - making lives more fulfilled.
Our Values
We are Crafty | We are Caring | We are Can-do
We Listen. We Care
Each year, we run an anonymous colleague engagement survey. This is so important for us to hear your feedback and suggestions. We want to know what's going great, and what needs a couple of tweaks to help make The Works the best place you've ever worked! You'll have opportunity to help give us that direction.
Promoting Diversity, Inclusion, and Applying Reasonable Adjustments
At The Works, we are proud to have an inclusive culture where everyone truly feels able to be themselves. Our roles are open to all, including under-represented groups such as ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, carers & members of the LGBTQ+ community (including those who identify as lesbian, gay, bi, trans, non-binary, or use another term).
We are open to discussions around working hours and flexible working. And, where possible, we'll try to support this. If you need reasonable adjustments to apply for this role, please contact and we'll be happy to help!