Head of Financial Planning

**About The Role**: A key member of the Operations Finance leadership team providing comprehensive and in depth analysis of the Group performance on a weekly and monthly basis, designing models that connect the actual performance of the business to the wider business strategy and forecasts. Acts as a critical business partner to the Operations Finance teams on both strategic and operational financial issues Lead and develop the team, build capability, maximises performance and support career progression within FP&A and the wider Operations Finance Team Drive continuous improvement and embed transformational change initiatives to deliver results at pace. **Here's What You Can Expect To Be Doing**: - Responsible for creating the cadence of Group reporting from how the Group reports the strategic goals and horizon forecasts, create financial models and packs for the yearly budget to the monthly and weekly consolidation of the Business Unit performance up to Group reporting. - Work with the Business Unit commercial teams to ensure the "sales in" models they are using to monitor our website sales performance reconciles to our actual delivered sales performance ensuring we have "one version of the truth" at Group level - Lead, develop and motivate the team including managing the overall development and promoting a culture of high performance and achievement - Responsible for managing and maintaining the integrity of our reporting data to ensure previous reporting is "locked down" given the use of excel in our reporting cycles. - Involvement in creating the scope for our Group reporting as we embark on implementing ERP Group wide and improve the control environment. Support the Operations Finance Director in designing what our Business Intelligence outputs will look like going forward to ensure our reporting packs drive informed decision making. - Ensure our Group reporting full complies with AO accounting policies as well as AO management and statutory reporting requirements and deadlines. - Strong business partnering with the commercial teams to ensure the right decisions are made and duplication of effort is minimised - Ability to take a high-level approach while also getting into the detail when necessary **A Few Things About You**: - ACA / ACCA/ CIMA qualified - Experienced in Reporting cycles with a heavy use of excel - Very proficient in Excel and the use of complex data inputs with experience of D365 being desirable - Ability to think strategically and innovatively whilst also having a keen eye for detail providing challenge to the operational side of finance and trend analysis - Proven track record in designing and managing a budget and forecasting process, ideally in a Group environment - Highly resilient who thrives in a very fast-paced environment where you can use your skills to make improvements that really do make a difference - Demonstrable and proven track record of people management aligned to the AO values and behaviours. - Demonstrable ability to manage different stakeholders with varieties of demands in a constructive and collaborative way - Ability to coach others to higher levels of performance, offers encouragement and supports and helps others to view change as an opportunity for growth - Ability to provide the role of "critical partner" to ensure that strategic objectives are met exploiting the maximum value while ensuring that robust controls and governance is in place to protect the integrity of our reporting data - Takes ownership of tasks maintaining focus under pressure and able to deliver to deadlines - Highly collaborative understands a common goal, shares information with colleagues, contributes to an atmosphere of trust - Listens for understanding and expresses information clearly and concisely - Demonstrates creative thinking when solving problems, establishes the issue and options available and has confidence in decision making - Demonstrates a positive attitude, focuses on a ‘can do’ way of thinking, and is willing to accept new challenges **A Bit About Us**: At AO, we want to make sure our customers are happy. When they have a smile on their face, we know we’ve done a good job. It’s at the heart of everything we do, and it’s why our logo is always smiling. When it comes to appliances and electricals, we’ve got the lot. Washing machines? Yep. TVs? Check. Laptops? Absolutely. Everything except doorbells (just kidding, we’ve got those too). We’re passionate, relentless and full of beans, determined to make a difference and change the world for the better. From massive changes to tiny tweaks - making a difference is what keeps us driven. It started at a pub in Bolton with a £1 bet and a belief that things could be done better **Why Choose AO?**: Our people are our superpower, and that’s no accident. We’re looking for everyday heroes who want to learn and help other people achieve. Those glass-half-full-types who have an appetite for a better tomo