Head of Finance

Location: West Sussex

This is a career-defining opportunity for a commercially minded finance leader to take full ownership of a growing business’s finance function.

Job Title:

Head of Finance

Job Type: Permanent

Location:

West Sussex (Hybrid – 3 days office-based)

Salary: £70,000 - £80,000

Reference no: 15978

Head of Finance – Benefits

Hybrid working with 3 days per week in the office (minimum)

25 days annual leave with an additional off on your Birthday

Life Assurance

Huge discount off the product portfolio

Ownership of trading, margin, pricing and forecasting insight

Opportunity to shape commercial decision-making and finance capability

Supportive culture with scope for development and progression

Head of Finance – About

The Role

This is a career-defining opportunity for a commercially minded finance leader to take full ownership of a growing business’s finance function.

The Head of Finance will oversee both statutory and commercial aspects of the finance function, managing financial reporting, controls, forecasting, and analysis while partnering with senior leadership to drive profitable growth. You will lead the finance team, ensuring accuracy and efficiency in reporting, while providing insight that shapes business decisions across Product, Retail, Digital, and Operations.

Reporting functionally to the CFO and operationally to the COO, this role offers genuine influence and visibility at board level. It is ideal for someone who enjoys translating data into actionable commercial insight while maintaining statutory compliance and robust governance. What this role offers:

Broad, high-impact role with responsibility for both statutory and commercial finance

Direct exposure to the CEO/COO and senior leadership team

Ownership of trading, margin, pricing, forecasting, and statutory reporting

Opportunity to shape finance strategy, capability, and commercial insight

You will have a headcount responsibility for a team of 5 people and as such you will be someone that has strong leadership experience.  Whilst this role heavily focuses on the commercial elements within  the finance function, you will oversee all aspects that is covered by your finance team.

The successful Head of Finance will have:

ACA / ACCA / CIMA qualification (or equivalent commercial finance experience)

Proven experience leading both statutory and commercial finance in consumer, retail, product-led or multi-channel businesses

Experience managing and developing a finance team, mentoring staff and building capability

Advanced financial modelling skills and strong analytical capability

Confidence providing insight and challenging senior stakeholders constructively

Comfortable working in a fast-paced, hands-on SME environment

Experience with BI tools (Power BI, Looker Studio) and ERP systems desirable

Howett Thorpe are acting as a recruitment agency in relation to this role and comply with all relevant UK legislation and do not discriminate on any protected characteristics. Due to the high volume of applications we currently receive, we are unable to respond to all candidates. If you do not hear from a Consultant within 5 working days, please assume that you have not been successful.

Refer a friend

If this job is not of interest to you, but you know a friend or colleague who may be interested, recommend them to us and receive a minimum of £100 in vouchers if we assist them in securing a permanent role and a minimum of £25 in vouchers if we place them in a temporary assignment. (Terms & conditions apply)