Job Advert
Job title: Head of Finance
Based at: Cheltenham Racecourse
Contract type: Permanent
Hours: 37.5 hours per week

ABOUT THE JOCKEY CLUB

The Jockey Club stages thrilling sporting occasions and live events nationwide including The Cheltenham Festival, The Grand National & The Derby. Owning & operating 15 courses, millions of people every year enjoy the special experiences we offer through racing, music, food and entertainment on racedays and beyond.
As the largest commercial group in British racing, we are guided by our mission to act for the long term good of the sport. Every penny we make goes back into racing to promote excellence within Britain’s second biggest spectator sport. Our people are what makes this possible
At The Jockey Club people are at the heart of what we do and drive our success. We are inclusive and actively seek to attract people with unique backgrounds and perspectives. Diverse, collaborative teams are pivotal to our success and support the potential and growth of all our people.
The Head of Finance will

Financial Advice and Business Partnering

• Partner, advise and challenge the Cheltenham CEO as part of the senior management team of the racecourse to ensure business performance is understood and financial commitments are achieved.
• Lead and influence the development of the future growth model by proactively identifying opportunities and anticipating potential risk
• Provide insightful analysis on a regular basis to drive action across the cross functional team
• Drive and optimise commercial performance through deep understanding of business drivers
• Lead on the preparation of both long- and short-term financial plans and take responsibility as part of the senior management team for the delivery of the agreed plans
• Ensure business cases are well constructed, rigorous, and demonstrate the overall benefits case capturing all relevant costs. Follow up with post investment analysis to ensure realisation of the benefits and to capture learnings.
• Drive a continuous improvement mindset looking for areas where the business can achieve more value and where analysis, processes and reporting can be enhanced.
• Manage and develop 1 direct report who will own the day-to-day management accounting activity for Cheltenham and work with budget holders to ensure strong focus on cost management
• Support the Finance Director as part of the Racecourse Finance leadership team to drive efficient, consistent accounting practices so time can be focused on business partnering.
• Lead on the development of analytical tools for broadening the understanding of sales performance to drive business objectives such as margin or volume

WHAT WE OFFER IN RETURN

• All colleagues can go along to any of our race day or music events free of charge – along with 3 friends or family with our TeamPass Ticket scheme.
• An award-winning pension scheme provider with a generous employer contribution
• A healthcare cash back plan enabling you to claim money back on health & wellbeing services.
• 25 days annual leave
• Access to a suite of Learning & Development training resources from renowned providers
• A whole host of other benefits including free eyecare vouchers, a ride to work cycle scheme & discounts across varying retailers & services.
  If you think you have everything we’re looking for and more, then we’d love to hear from you. Don’t hang around, our closing date for this vacancy is 31st August but we reserve the right to bring this forward if we have many applications.
  This role may be subject to a criminal record check, standard or enhanced DBS check or BHA Suitability Check. By applying you confirm that you are happy for these checks to be carried out

We’re looking for an experienced Head of Finance to join our Cheltenham Racecourse team partnering with the Cheltenham CEO and senior management team to drive the performance of the racecourse business. This is a high impact role with responsibility for demonstrating high level business partnering skills through working collaboratively cross-functionally.