Finance Business Partner

This is a Financial Business Partnering role within the Operations Finance team and reports to the Head of Finance for Water. The role will be a business partner to the members of the Water Operations Senior Leadership team and is responsible for performance reporting, forecasting and analysis. The key purpose of the role is to drive optimal performance at the best value for money across both opex and capex investments.

The role covers operations functions, including Water Production, Abstraction, and Transmission, as well as working closely with colleagues across the Water finance team.  In terms of cost stacks, the role will work across the whole P&L, including revenue, employee, power, materials, third party, and capex costs and thus needs to become familiar with activity drivers of value.

What you’ll be doing as a Finance Business Partner

• Ensure that you are sharing and understanding key insights across the financial landscape so that there is one clear understanding of financial performance
• Lead and assist in setting a business plan that achieves all operational and financial objectives
• Prepare and upload budgets and forecasts for operational expenditure, measuring and understanding performance against these metrics
• Identify, monitor and support the business to mitigate key risks and opportunities 
• Support any Investment Committee Papers regarding Budget and Actual Cost analysis and approvals, and agreeing, tracking and driving business improvement initiatives
• Track and monitor business improvement initiatives for your area (for example, efficiencies and transformation initiatives), providing robust assurance of claimed benefits
• Own the modelling for relevant business area activities and fulfil the role as SME in this space 
• Input as required to any other key business requirements (e.g. regulatory returns, analytical reviews) 
• Ensure that key business models are maintained for your business unit that support financial planning and analysis (e.g., production cost analysis, maintenance, event reporting, etc.). 
• Support the business in developing new models as appropriate, ensuring these are robust and aid decision-making

Base Location: Hybrid – Reading

Working Pattern or hours:  36 hours

What you should bring to the role
To thrive in this role, the essential criteria you’ll need are:

• Qualified accountant or QBE
• Business partnering, Management Accounting, 
• Not afraid to challenge and influence decision-making, as well as build strong relationships
• Planning and Organisational skills to work effectively
• Analytical skills
• Presentation skills
• Microsoft products, including Excel
• Information system skills such as HFM

Additional skills and experiences would be great to have/bring:

• Experience in a large/complex organisation
• Experience working with Power BI, SAC and SAP

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary up to £60,000 - £70,000 per annum, depending on experience
• Annual Leave - 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the length of service (plus bank holidays) 
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance

Find out more about our benefits and perks (Please note different T&Cs apply if on secondment)

Who are we?
We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Learn more about our purpose and values.

Working at Thames Water
Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region, and our planet.

Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family. Why choose us? Learn more.

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else, just let us know. We’re here to help and support.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.

Disclaimer: Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.