Financial Planning & Analysis Manager (14 month contract)

at  Hotel Chocolat

CLOSING DATE

21/4/2024
As we continue our mission to make people happy through chocolate, we’re looking for a Senior Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Manager to join our Finance team on a 14-month contract covering maternity leave and a handover beforehand.
We’re looking for someone hands on and enthusiastic, with a knack for explaining complex ideas in a simple way. You’ll be comfortable setting the agenda and holding your stakeholders to account. You’ll have a lot of autonomy from day one and we’d like this role to be solution focused, with a continuous improvement mindset.
Reporting to the Group Financial Controller and owning both the month end reporting and the budgeting and forecasting processes for the Hotel Chocolat Group, you’ll work closely with management accountants and finance business partners to understand the performance of the HC Group and summarise and present this in an insightful way. You’ll be responsible for evolving our budgeting process, work closely with the S&OP process owner to redefine our forecasting cycle and implement this. You’ll also lead on the ongoing integration with Mars, including the submission of results and budgets in to the Mars Group team.
As well as a competitive salary and a range of company benefits, you’ll receive 50% discount on all products, and a 70% discount for you and your guests when you stay at our Rabot Estate hideaway on the paradise island of Saint Lucia.
Here at Hotel Chocolat, we’ve adopted hybrid working This means you’ll join us on site for three days a week, and for the other two days – you can work from wherever you like! The on-site location for this role is our Support Office, ‘Mint House’, in Royston, Hertfordshire. Our home from the very beginning, it’s just off the A505 and 10 minutes’ walk from Royston train station, with direct rail links to London King’s Cross.

What you’ll be doing….

• Responsible for month end process and consolidation of actual results.
• Presenting results to key stakeholders, including monthly CFO review.
• Expertly telling the story of our results; joining the dots between business activities and financial performance.
• Owning the annual budgeting and quarterly reforecasting process.
• Working on our five-year planning process.
• Leading the integration with Mars Group for actual and forecast performance.
• Ad hoc analytical projects to support business decision making.
• Co-ordinating the Group’s investment approval process.
• Managing the chart of accounts and standard reporting templates.

Who you are…
A great collaborator, with excellent communication skills, confident interacting across all levels across the commercial and manufacturing sides of our business. You have excellent attention to detail, are always looking to improve process and have a curious mindset.

Essential

• Qualified finance professional (ACA, ACCA or CIMA).
• Experience running an annual budgeting process.

Desirable

• Retail or Manufacturing experience.
• Exposure to a Group Reporting function within a large corporate an advantage.
• Experience of using Microsoft D365/Power BI.

Who are we?
We’re one of the UK’s favourite premium chocolate brands, with a range of products spanning luxury gifts, alcohol and our pioneering drinking chocolate system, the Velvetiser™.
A cacao pod takes years to grow – it can’t be rushed if it’s going to be just right for our products. The same can be said for Hotel Chocolat, which originally started as a mint production company before we realised it was luxury chocolate that we were really passionate about.
Now, we’re market leaders in the industry. What began as an online-only business grew to over 100 stores across the UK, and we’re still growing… Today, we’re multi-category, multi-channel, and multi-territory, and our customers, colleagues, cacao farmers and suppliers all benefit from the success we make together.
To learn more about us and read about our People Pledge – our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion – click here: hotelchocolat.com/uk/engaged-ethics/our-people.html

• Responsible for month end process and consolidation of actual results.
• Presenting results to key stakeholders, including monthly CFO review.
• Expertly telling the story of our results; joining the dots between business activities and financial performance.
• Owning the annual budgeting and quarterly reforecasting process.
• Working on our five-year planning process.
• Leading the integration with Mars Group for actual and forecast performance.
• Ad hoc analytical projects to support business decision making.
• Co-ordinating the Group’s investment approval process.
• Managing the chart of accounts and standard reporting templates