Finance Business Partner

Finance Business Partner North Manchester | Hybrid £50,000–£60,000 + benefits Forge Talent is partnering with a high-growth, multi-site organisation to recruit a Finance Business Partner into its growing finance team. This is a great opportunity for a commercially minded finance professional who wants to move beyond traditional management reporting and become a genuine partner to the operational side of the business. You'll work closely with senior operational leaders, providing financial insight, challenging performance and helping stakeholders understand the numbers behind their areas of responsibility. The role offers significant exposure across a multi-site environment, with genuine responsibility for performance, budgeting, forecasting and commercial decision-making. The Role You'll take ownership of financial performance reporting across a defined area of the business, working closely with operational leaders to understand performance, identify trends and drive accountability against budget and forecast. The focus is on more than simply producing reports. You'll need to understand the story behind the numbers, challenge assumptions and translate financial information into clear actions for the wider business. You'll also play an important role in improving reporting, financial awareness and the way operational teams use data to make better decisions. Key Responsibilities

• Lead month-end financial reporting and analysis for senior operational stakeholders.
• Analyse monthly results, identifying and explaining key movements against budget, forecast and prior year.
• Partner closely with operational leaders to understand site-level performance and drive accountability against financial targets.
• Track and report key financial and operational KPIs, highlighting trends, risks and areas requiring attention.
• Challenge budget holders constructively and provide clear, objective insight into business performance.
• Support operational leaders in understanding their financial results and the actions required to improve performance.
• Lead and support the budgeting and forecasting process across your area of responsibility.
• Maintain and develop financial models, ensuring consistency across budgets, forecasts and key performance indicators.
• Work closely with the wider FP&A and Business Intelligence teams to improve reporting, automation and management information.
• Develop strong relationships with senior operational stakeholders and become a trusted point of contact for financial queries and support.
• Provide financial guidance and improve financial awareness across non-finance teams.
• Identify opportunities to improve reporting processes, analysis and the overall quality of financial information.
• Present complex financial information clearly, drawing out the key messages and commercial implications. What We're Looking For We're looking for someone who enjoys working closely with the business, getting into the detail and using finance to influence better decisions. You'll ideally have:
• Experience in management accounting, FP&A, commercial finance or a similar business partnering environment.
• Strong Excel skills, including working with large datasets, financial information and detailed analysis.
• Experience analysing financial performance and explaining variances against budget and forecast.
• Proven ability to influence operational stakeholders and improve financial outcomes.
• Strong PowerPoint and wider Microsoft Office skills.
• Power BI or similar reporting/visualisation experience would be beneficial. Why This Role?
• Genuine Finance Business Partner role with significant operational exposure.
• Opportunity to work directly with senior leaders and influence financial performance.
• Broad exposure across budgeting, forecasting, reporting and commercial analysis.
• Multi-site environment with plenty of complexity and variety.
• Opportunity to improve processes, reporting and financial awareness across the business.
• Growing organisation with a strong focus on development and continuous improvement.