Our client is one of the most respected international ship operation and management companies in the industry. With teams of maritime experts leading operations and a diversified portfolio of 180 commercial vessels, currently valued at over $10b, they continue to be one of the most successful private businesses in shipping.
Their growing shore-based teams are headquartered in London, and across representative offices in Tokyo, Shanghai, Mumbai, Varna and Constanta. Their London headcount currently sits at over 220, spread over 2-floors of modern, open plan offices in the West End. A further 14 crew recruitment offices are located around the world who work to facilitate their vessels with a crew pool of 6,500 dedicated seafarers.
Their working culture is high performing, results orientated, and forward thinking. They promote a safety-first culture on board and on shore which, along with agile commercial decision making, is the crux of their success. Their collaborative working style emphasises communication and encourages team members to take initiative, voice ideas and challenge each other to ensure operational success every time.
The role
Position Head of Finance Operations
Contract type Fixed term assignment of 12 - 18 months
Reporting to Director of Finance
Location London
Overview of role
This is an exciting time to be joining the finance team as they are in the mature stages of a finance transformation programme, including the imminent decommissioning of their existing finance ERP solution with the implementation of MS Dynamics 365 (Finance and Operations).
The Director of Finance is leading the finance transformation programme. With the growing demand on their time, the business is seeking to appoint a technically strong and experienced Head of Finance Operations to provide support for the Director of Finance and the Accounts Payable Manager in team management, and delivery of efficient and effective financial processing of high volume and high value payments across jurisdictions, including time critical Treasury and Sales and Purchase payments, as well as oversight for the crew payroll activities.
As part of the Finance Leadership team and drawing on your extensive experience of financial systems, you will successfully partner with the Accounts Payable Manager and Finance Systems Lead in optimising procure to pay and transactional accounting processes as part of the finance transformation programme.
The successful candidate will be able to build credibility across the organisation through a hands-on, collaborative approach and by bringing technical and financial systems expertise.
Key responsibilities and primary deliverables
- Rapidly assimilating knowledge of the business, understanding the accounting challenges for such a business, and be able to add value immediately
- Provide support for the Director of Finance in the team management and delivery of efficient and effective financial processing of high volume and high value payments across jurisdictions, including time critical Treasury and Sales and Purchase payments, as well as oversight for the crew payroll activities
- Oversee processes to ensure compliance with all regulatory and sanctions related matters related to payments
- Ensure the accuracy and consistency of data for accounts payable and the general ledger, while directing the preparation and timely delivery of reporting as required
- Ensuring key deadlines are met and the high-quality output of the team is maintained during the transformation programme
- Successfully partnering with the Accounts Payable Manager and other stakeholders in helping to define the requirements for new software being implemented as part of the finance transformation programme, design best practice processes, and prepare the A/P function for implementations
- Highlight any weaknesses in finance systems or processes post implementation and propose solutions and interim workarounds to ensure that best practice processes and controls are in place and instil a continuous approval ethos in the team
- Providing transparent and trusted leadership to your team, as well as supporting their career development
- Leading by example in upholding the highest professional standards and discretion in handling confidential information
- Consistently meeting high standards of quality, performance, and productivity
- Ad hoc support for the wider finance team according to business need
Skills profile
Relevant experience & education
Successful track record working as a 'hands on' Head of Finance Operations / Accounts Payable Manager in organisations with significant revenues and a strong asset base.
- Extensive practical experience in managing a high volume and high value payments function within a fast paced, analytical and entrepreneurial environment
- You will have excellent team management experience and evidence of developing team members, together with, the ability to engage and support team members through significant periods of change
- You will enjoy working within a culturally diverse and flat structured organisation
- Natural ability to understand the wider business context and maintain effective decision making whilst working through periods of intense pressure
- Confident and effective verbal, written and interpersonal skills. Ability to speak to both technical and non-technical stakeholders and prepare written reporting and presentational content with level-appropriate messaging up to executive level
- Experience in change management and system implementations would be an advantage. Proven ability to add value in a transformation programme. Confident and comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity in a project environment
- Experience of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 / AX suite or other well-known ERP software is a requirement for this role
- You will have experience of financial reporting and/or the use of Business Intelligence tools such as Power BI