Portfolio Finance Director, NEC Software Solutions

• Fully qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA or CIMA)
• Significant post-qualification experience in a group or multi-entity finance environment
• Strong revenue recognition judgement on complex contracts (30+ CCNs, project closure, splits)
• Proven experience leading external audit end to end, including walkthroughs, audit calls and responses
• Experience leading a distributed team, including offshore resource
• Comfort working at both consolidated and transactional level
• Excellent written and verbal communication, strong attention to detail, and the ability to challenge constructively
• Candidates must be able to demonstrate a pre-existing right to work and travel within the UK. Documentary evidence will be required
• All offers are subject to satisfactory vetting, references and occupational health checks
• Depending on the nature of the role a Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check may also be required

Desirable

• This is a senior, high-visibility finance role at the centre of our global software business on a 1 year interim basis
• You will be the coordination, control and governance hub for the finance function, making sure reporting is consistent across all units, deadlines are met, controls hold, audits pass, and executives receive a single, reliable view of performance from one source
• Leading a global finance team of around 20 people across the UK and offshore locations, you will own the numbers end to end, from month-end close and consolidation through to Business Review, revenue recognition judgement, audit and M&A integration
• You will work across our Hosting, Health, Digital, Housing and International businesses, and you will be the person the wider organisation turns to as a sounding board and problem solver
• To succeed you will be as comfortable reviewing a consolidated balance sheet as you are approving a credit note, and you will bring the judgement to make complex revenue recognition calls and the leadership to keep a distributed team delivering through peak cycles
• Own monthly, quarterly and annual financial reporting for the global software business
• Lead month-end close and financial governance, including resolution of system anomalies across SAP, TM1 and Kimble
• Review the consolidated P&L, balance sheet and cash flow, plus Risks & Opportunities, ageing and the pre-audit preview
• Sense-check results across all business units, providing the “birds eye view of the whole piece”
• Set reporting standards, materiality thresholds and review expectations for finance outputs
• Provide crisis management and issue resolution when reporting, controls or operational issues arise
• Lead the annual budget, rolling forecast and long-range (MTP) planning processes
• Decide the MTP route and take the final call on the Budget route from execs down to units
• Raise and specify structural change requests in TM1 to align models with business change
• Own the group budget billing forecast for all units and the consolidated monthly billing forecast
• Own the budget and MTP order intake forecast across all business units
• Challenge assumptions and analyse risks, opportunities and variances versus plan
• Coordinate production of the Business Review pack each cycle
• Create and maintain the shared TM1 finance slide template used by all Finance Business Partners
• Review every BR pack before it is issued and proofread for anything needing review
• Produce the revenue cover, debtors, order intake, risks and operations summary slides
• Provide Board and Executive stakeholders with a single point of contact for financial insight
• Lead exec presentations, respond to urgent requests and cover senior leadership analysis
• Oversee revenue recognition, contract accounting and complex commercial arrangements, including CCNs, splits and project closure
• Provide revenue recognition guidance and policy interpretation to the wider business
• Maintain consistent revenue recognition interpretation across all business units
• Engage Legal to review contract templates so they facilitate the revenue recognition process
• Set up catalogue codes and Kimble configurations for complex contracts
• Deliver revenue recognition training to Project Managers and Sales
• Run CREM (Cost and Resource Estimation Model) sign-on / sign-off calls and approve CREMs
• Provide independent review across CREM approvals and OAM sign-on / sign-off, preserving segregation of duties
• Approve credit notes
• Establish controls, standard operating procedures and consistent working practices
• Clear the month-end and year-end authorization bottleneck for billing and order processing
• Act as the single point of contact for internal and external audit
• Lead the UK audit across all units and act as primary contact for the named entity audits
• Coordinate statutory accounts, audit requests, walkthroughs and supporting evidence
• Triage audit questions to the offshore team, sense-check the answers and escalate only when needed
• Lead control walkthroughs
• Act as the business owner and sounding board for TM1 model changes and improvements
• Originate the automations that remove double keying from MTP and budget production
• Review and test systems and processes before implementation
• Hold and apply end-to-end knowledge of how the finance systems integrate and who manages them
• Drive adoption of systems, reporting tools, automation and continuous improvement
• Work with Finance Director - M&A on taking acquired businesses and integrating them into our ‘Business As Usual’ finance reporting activities within your area
• Lead a global finance team of approximately 20 people across UK and offshore locations
• Set objectives, conduct PDRs and career development conversations, and manage development plans
• Coach Finance Controllers, Business Partners and analysts
• Balance workload, deadlines and capability across onshore and offshore resource
• Manage the offshore relationship, including trips to India to represent Finance
• Act as the single point of contact directing and delegating to the Mumbai team
• Act as the escalation point for team issues and review key finance outputs before executive submission
• Partner Sales and Operations on opportunities, pricing, business cases, deal approvals and contract profitability
• Work with operational leaders on delivery margins, efficiency and financial performance
• Maintain visibility across Hosting, Health, Digital, Housing and International
• Interface with Legal, Central Finance and Bids
• Act as the organisation's sounding board and sanity check, with the authority to make the change
• Act as the central coordination, control, governance and communication hub for finance and the wider business