Lead Financial Planning Manager
£60,000 - £70,000 plus excellent benefits (Work Level 5) 
Manchester city centre 
We’re now working in a hybrid way, with colleagues dividing their time between working from home and our Manchester office. You can visit our Hybrid Working Policy for more information https://colleagues.coop.co.uk/hybridworkingpolicy

We’re looking for a lead financial planning manager to join Co-op finance and lead the planning and reporting across our Funerals business. You’ll be working closely with our senior finance leaders and the wider business, making sure that all strategies, initiatives, risks, and opportunities are accurately reflected in our future plans. We’ve got a big job on our hands to transform the way we do business at Co-op. And when we get it right, it’ll have even bigger benefits for our members, customers, and colleagues.

As a lead financial planning manager, you’ll be playing a key part in the team that’s responsible for analysing performance and trends, providing insights from that data and forecasting, budgeting, and planning for the future. We’ll look to you to co-ordinate delivery across the team and act as the glue that binds our planning and reporting activities together in line with our finance strategy. If you can bring us the great people skills and strong technical knowledge that we need, we can offer you the chance to build your career with a business that puts people at the heart of its strategy.

What you’ll do

•    lead the planning and reporting across the Funerals business
•    engage with senior teams across the business to make sure any financial impacts, risks, and opportunities are understood and reflected in the budget and forecast
•    co-ordinate the team delivery of periodic latest views, together with more formal budgets and forecasts, as well as co-ordination of the multi-year plan, making sure that the correct assumptions accurately reflect how we expect to outturn
•    present accurate and meaningful insights into the data, telling the performance story and informing our strategic decision making
•    produce clear planning and reporting communication packs for a range of audiences up to senior level
•    have a focus on continuous improvement and drive innovation in processes and outputs

This role would suit people who have

•    an accountancy qualification (CIMA, ACA, ACCA etc.)
•    experience working as a finance manager in a similar role, with a focus on planning, analysis, and reporting
•    proven experience managing budgets and forecasting
•    strong communication skills with the ability to present to financial and non-financial audiences, challenging and influencing to senior level
•    good knowledge of finance systems and processes, including general ledger and/or BI tools
•    the ability to work in a fast-paced environment with a culture of continuous change
•    a track record of owning key projects and working as a team to deliver them

Why Co-op?

Here you’ll do work that matters. We’re a commercial organisation with a purpose beyond profit, you’ll have an opportunity to help us build a stronger Co-op and stronger communities. You’ll also get a package that includes:
•    competitive salary
•    private healthcare
•    coaching, training and support to help you develop
•    pension with up to 10% employer contributions
•    annual incentive scheme
•    Wagestream - a money management app that gives you access to a percentage of your pay as you earn it
•    28 days holiday (rising to 32 in line with service) plus bank holidays
•    discounts on Co-op products and services

Building an inclusive work environment

We’re actively building diverse teams and we welcome applications from everyone. We want to build inclusive work environments, where our colleagues have equal opportunities to reach their full potential. We celebrate our differences, and recognise the importance of our teams reflecting the communities they serve. 

If you have a disability, we can make reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process according to your needs. We're also part of the Disability Confident scheme, meaning we'll always offer an interview to disabled candidates who apply through the scheme if they meet the minimum criteria for a job.

We'll ask whether you’d like to be considered under the Disability Confident scheme when you apply. 

If we invite you to take part in the recruitment process for any of our jobs, we’ll ask you if you need any reasonable adjustments to enable you to participate.

You can find out more about our recruitment process at jobs.coop.co.uk/apply-process. 

You can find out more about the Disability Confident scheme and all our commitments to diversity and inclusion at colleagues.coop.co.uk/diversity-inclusion-and-wellbeing.

If you’re successful in your application, we’ll perform some background checks as part of our pre-employment screening process. These will include an SRA check, credit checks, and a DBS (disclosure and barring service) check. Please note Co-op does not offer visa sponsorship for this role. 

As part of your application, you'll need to complete an online assessment. This assessment typically takes between 45-60 minutes. If you're a current Co-op colleague, this does not need to be completed.