Financial Controller OME UK

Location: Glasgow, United Kingdom

Thales people architect solutions that are relied upon to deliver operational advantage at every decisive moment throughout the mission. Defence and armed forces customers rely on us to deliver the full range of defensive systems for land, sea, and air. From early warning, to threat neutralisation, our platforms cover all levels from very short-range systems, to extended protection across the entire battle-space including Airspace Mobility Solutions, Vehicles and Tactical Systems and Missile Defence, Optronics, and Radar.

Together we offer fantastic opportunities for committed employees to learn and develop their career with us. At Thales UK, we research, develop, and supply technology and services that impact the lives of millions of people each day to make life better, and keep us safer. We innovate across the major industries of Aerospace, Defence, Security and Space. Your health and well-being matters to us and that's why we offer you the flexibility to do what's important to you; whether that's part time hours, job sharing, home working, or the ability to flex your start and finish times. Where possible, we support a working pattern that suits your lifestyle and helps you reach your ambitions.

Job Title: Financial Controller – OME UK
Location
: Glasgow

Are you a finance professional with broad experience looking to join a growing, profitable business with record orderbook? Do you have a passion for Financial Reporting, Planning and Control? Do you enjoy driving process and control improvements and have high levels of accuracy and diligence in your work? Are you inquisitive and enjoy a challenge? Do you enjoy working on high profile projects and helping the business to achieve the desired results? Are you looking for a progression route to a Finance Director level position? Got your interest.…look no further
Role
What the role has to offer

• Great opportunity with a broad scope in a growing and profitable business.
• Opportunity to influence across the whole OME UK business and gain experience across the full portfolio.
• Opportunity to work in a fast paced, exciting and dynamic environment
• Ability to drive continuous improvement
• Exposure to a wide range of influential Thales stakeholders, within OME UK, the broader Thales UK business and through the OME Business Line into Thales Group.
• A clear progression route to a Finance Director position within a well-positioned and exciting business.
• Shape and direct the various business planning cycles across long and short-term horizons, inform strategy decisions, set budgets, drive business performance.
• Ensure that the high standard of reporting is maintained that messaging is consistent and of a high standard and that forecasts are balanced and robust.
• Broad scope to drive process and control improvements to address short term requirements and position the business appropriately for future growth.
• Work with an experienced finance team with extensive experience of OME UK and Thales.
• Primary point of contact for audit activity, both internal and external.
• Support ad-hoc projects as required, (e.g. investment appraisal, stock buy/build, large capital projects, IFRS15 assessments, etc.)
• The chance to make enhancements to the control environment to ensure the sector is well positioned to execute its growth plan in a controlled fashion.

Our Opportunity:
Thales UK currently have an exciting opportunity for a Financial Controller to join the OME UK Business. OME UK has a varied portfolio of projects, across Air, Land and Sea domains, including complex product development, systems integration, product manufacturing and service support projects. The Business is enjoying a period of high growth that is anticipated to continue across our 5-year planning period (as a minimum). The role will operate across the overall Optronics & Missile Electronics (OME UK) business in a visible role and will form part of the succession plan for the Finance Director role.

Financial and Management Reporting Cycle

• In conjunction with the Finance Director provide financial leadership and oversight to the monthly reporting cycle
• As required provide decision support and analysis to key technical accounting matters
• Critical review and challenge over Business Operational Review (BOR) messaging and risks and opportunity reporting.
• Ensure that all reporting deadlines are adhered to and that deliverables are of a high standard
• Ensure that query resolution from Thales UK or Bl stakeholders is resolved in a timely fashion with clear, consistent messaging.
• Provision of support and critical review to the Finance Director in the Book to Bill review cycle, including the preparation and review of materials.
• Provision of support to the S&OP process and the ongoing review of headcount within the business.
• Provision of senior finance support (as required) to the Operations function, including decision support, driving improvements in inventory levels and oversight of relevant reporting requirements.
• Where required represent the OME UK business at TUKL wide forums, e.g. Capital Expenditure review.
• Where required support the reporting and analysis of cost base and provision of senior finance support to the rates process (MOD/Internal).

Planning/Budgeting Process

• In conjunction with the Finance Director lead the multi-phase planning and budgeting process across OME UK (to include strategic, multi-year and monthly budgeting processes).
• Responsible for preparing the planning timetable to ensure adherence to the BL/TUKL deadlines. Once agreed with key business stakeholders including the Finance Director communicate and implement the timetable, drive deadlines with stakeholders to ensure adherence to deliverable dates. This includes SBP, MYB and MB.
• Responsible for the collation and consolidation of the various submissions ensuring that the consolidation is accurate and that key assumptions are captured and reviewed as part of the internal OME review cycle.
• Responsible for ensuring that the financial modelling is robust, accurate, consistent and fit for purpose. Both for use within OME UK and to support BL and TUKL requirements.
• Work with the Finance Director to ensure that the plan has the correct balance of ambition and achievability, and that the year 1 position in particular is at the right level to set performance targets.
• Ensuring that relevant stakeholders within OME UK are "bought in" to the plan and the key assumptions embedded within it.
• Work closely with the Finance Director on the overall shape of the plan submitted in the various budget phases ensuring that it is reflective of both bottom up and top-down business dynamics.
• Ensure that supporting analysis and query resolution is addressed in a timely fashion and that actions are tracked and closed effectively, both internal to OME UK and with BL and TUKL

Financial Control Environment

• Be the primary point of contact for all financial internal and external audit activity across OME UK.
• Lead a financial controls improvement programme across OME UK to ensure compliance with all internal and external control and reporting requirements.
• The controls improvement programme should contain the following elements: Current state assessment

Gap analysis with prioritisation

Agree required remediations and develop a project plan to close the gaps in an appropriate timescale

Establish metrics and reporting with each work stream and a structure of reviews and reporting to ensure that the plan is on-track

Deliver plan, and establish best practice BAU environment

Run and maintain BAU control environment

• In agreement with the Finance Director co-ordinate the external audit activities and ensure that OME responses are timely and fit for purpose. Closing out any open items quickly and efficiently. Flagging any areas of concern in a timely fashion.
• Support the business in delivering other internal audit requirements and Q&A, e.g. DARCI.
• Support the finance director in ensuring that appropriate governance is applied to business decisions, e.g. WACC, stock buy/build, capex approvals, hiring decisions and headcount monitoring etc.

Other – Ad Hoc

• Support the business on various improvement initiatives as required, including but not limited to any "hangover" items from Unify.
• Lead the roll out of TM1 in OME UK, ensuring that risk around data quality and cut over is mitigated allowing for a low risk, seamless adoption with little or no business disruption.
• Provide appropriate financial decision support to key business initiatives, including but not limited to capital investment, investment appraisal, product strategy and growth options/scenario planning.
• Provision of ad-hoc support to the Finance Director
• Deputise for the Finance Director at bid, project and EAC reviews on an as required basis
• Deputise for the Finance Director during periods of absence, holding his DoA

About You
You will need to be passionate and driven and have the following:

• Clear and demonstrable potential to progress to a Finance Director position in the short term.
• A good understanding of commercial and financial aspects of the business
• Ideally coming from a Defence domain
• Be comfortable working with ambiguity and proposing solutions to complex issues
• Be able to present and explain the implication of complex business issues
• Ability to operate cross functionally and influence a broad range of finance and non-finance stakeholders.
• An understanding of best-in-class financial controls and an ability to drive change / required improvements.
• Prior experience of leading the audit process across an equivalent process and being the primary finance point of contact for internal and external audit activity.
• Prior experience of running an annual, multi-phase planning cycle across an equivalent business.
• FP&A, financial and management reporting experience within and equivalent organisation
• Be flexible to work in a changing environment
• Hold a professional accounting qualification
• Ideally educated to degree level with proven experience of working in a project-based business within a defence/aerospace/engineering/manufacturing organization.
• Some prior experience of Project Accounting is preferred.

Security Clearance statement
In line with Thales' Baseline Security requirements, candidates will be asked to provide evidence of identity, eligibility to work in the UK and employment and/or education history for up to three years. Some vacancies may require full Security Clearance which can require further evidence to be provided. For further details of the evidence required to apply for Baseline and Security Clearance please refer to the Defence Business Services National Security Vetting (DBS NSV) Agency.

What We Can Offer
We're committed to giving you opportunities to be your best. We believe in embracing the passion and potential of our people, and to achieve this we offer market leading training, development and experiences, along with the opportunity to be mentored and coached by some of the smartest minds in the industry. We hire from within as our first priority, so you'll have a myriad of opportunities within our diverse, global organisation.

Flexibility
Your health and well-being matters to us and that's why we offer you the flexibility to do what's important to you; whether that's part time hours, job sharing, home working, or the ability to flex your start and finish times. Where possible, we support a working pattern that suits your lifestyle and helps you reach your ambitions.

Thales is an equal opportunities employer and diversity and inclusion are integral to the success of Thales.

In line with Thales' Baseline Security requirements, candidates will be asked to provide evidence of identity, eligibility to work in the UK and employment and/or education history for up to three years. Some vacancies may require full Security Clearance which can require further evidence to be provided. For further details of the evidence required to apply for Baseline and Security Clearance please refer to the Defence Business Services National Security Vetting (DBS NSV) Agency.

At Thales we provide CAREERS and not only jobs. With Thales employing 80,000 employees in 68 countries our mobility policy enables thousands of employees each year to develop their careers at home and abroad, in their existing areas of expertise or by branching out into new fields. Together we believe that embracing flexibility is a smarter way of working.

Thales UK is committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free recruitment process. We will provide reasonable adjustments and support to ensure neuro-diverse applicants or those with a disability or long-term condition can be their best during the recruitment process. To request an adjustment, if you need this job advert in an alternative format or if you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Resourcing Ops for mid to senior roles, or the Early Careers Team for graduate and apprentice roles.

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