Senior Finance Analyst, Portfolio Finance

Posting End Date:

February 9, 2025

Join John Lewis or Waitrose today

If you've ever stepped through the doors of a John Lewis or Waitrose shop, shopped online, or seen any of our adverts, you'll know there's something unique about us.

That unique proposition is our Partners. As co-owners they have a say in our business and receive a share of the profits, so they put time and effort into making it work. Our Partners are the reason we're the success we are. They're our secret sauce; the opportunity for us to differentiate.

Job Summary:

We have an exciting opportunity for you to join our Commercial Finance team as a Senior Finance Analyst in Portfolio & Investment. The John Lewis Partnership’s Commercial Finance team has set itself a vision and that is to 'deliver the best possible basis for decision making to our stakeholders'. The role the team performs is to drive business performance by playing an active role in advising, influencing and maximising value from the investments we make, and finding opportunities to manage and reduce our every-day costs.

They do that by applying strong commercial expertise, external market awareness and judgement in order to perform the complex analysis which in turn aids the building of dynamic and slick financial models based on sometimes ambiguous or brief data sets. Our Senior Finance Analysts find themselves actively working with a Commercial Finance Lead or Manager to develop the approach for each outcome. They are empowered to make recommendations to business leaders in order to influence key business decisions based on financial analysis against specific business issues and outcomes.

In the P&I team, you will be supporting ~£0.5bn Portfolio investment costs across the P&L and Balance Sheet to track, challenge and escalate risk and ops through analysis of complex data sets. Financial modelling to consolidate and scrutinise Portfolio financial data working closely with the senior finance stakeholders in the FP&A, Commercial Finance and Portfolio Transformation Office. Framing content for Board and Exec papers on Transformation investment in capex, exceptional costs, lease debt and one off cost of change. Reviewing the quality of earnings and returns from the Portfolio being in line with our Budget and Business Plan.

Job Description:

• Expected salary - £46,600 - £61,000. 

• Contract type - We have permanent and fixed term contracts.

• Working pattern/flexible working - The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach, meaning you'll be able to work a mixture between the office and home based upon your personal needs whilst balancing the needs of the business. 

• Location - This role is based at our Bracknell Head Office. The team aims for around 2 days a week in the office to connect and on a more ad-hoc basis to attend key meetings but are flexible on this. Please note that for training purposes, you may be required to visit the office more regularly in the first couple of weeks.

Key responsibilities

• Producing and delivering insight for your area of responsibility to time and quality standards. Using strong commercial acumen and as a subject matter expert across multiple functional specialisms, your insight should articulate drivers of current performance and the subsequent implications for future performance, as well as strong commercial analysis that proactively identifies opportunities to improve financial performance. 

• Performing commercial analysis and complex financial modelling in order to inform the likely financial implications of different options or scenarios relating to often complex business issues or decisions. 

• You’ll be working directly with senior Finance stakeholders and business stakeholders in Portfolio Transformation to understand business issues, identify the relevant data inputs and build complex financial models that provide the relevant outputs as per the business ‘exam question’. You’ll apply strong commercial expertise, external market awareness and judgement in order to perform the complex analysis required and you’ll be an expert in building dynamic and slick financial models based on a sometimes ambiguous brief or data set.

• Supporting the central planning team with the development and maintenance of financial plans for your area of responsibility through sharing of business knowledge, performance insight and future risks/opportunities identified.

As you can imagine, there is plenty to get involved in and the Commercial Finance team find themselves at the heart of all the big projects that shape and deliver the Partnership Strategy - from developing retail propositions, and inspirational new services that customers love, to efficiency programmes that will reduce costs and allow us to work in a faster and simpler way. Commercial Finance team members are actively encouraged to be curious and proactive in finding opportunities and solutions, and to work collaboratively towards achieving our goals. As Partners, we all have 'skin in the game' and are 'all in it together' so are empowered to think about customers first, to belong and develop as Partners, and to 'work smarter'.

Why do our Senior Finance Analysts love working for us?

Our Commercial Finance Analysts have the opportunity to make a huge and meaningful contribution to the success of our business. They are deployed on the highest priority projects upon which they can make the most significant contributions - by providing insight to stakeholders which influences big decisions. The nature of our business means they see tangible results from the analysis and recommendations that they provide. They are actively supported to develop new skills and knowledge and apply their expertise across a wide variety of business areas, on high profile projects, in an exciting and fast-paced industry within one of the country's most respected and well-loved brands. You can listen to what some of our Senior Finance Analysts have to say here! What's not to love? 

Essential skills

• Strong financial acumen: an accounting qualification / equivalent experience.

• A curious mindset: a natural drive to dig deeper, ask the right questions, and uncover insights

• Analytical expertise: the ability to confidently interpret and interrogate financial accounts

• Exceptional stakeholder management: outstanding communication skills to build strong relationships with both finance and non-finance stakeholders

Desirable skills

• Retail experience

 

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Pay:

£46,600.00 - £70,000.00 Annual

Scheduled Weekly hours:

35

Worker Type:

Permanent Partner

Job Level:

Partnership Level 7

Hours of Work:

35

At the John Lewis Partnership, we embrace our differences. We want you to be you. Because, well, we know you're at your best when you're free to be yourself.

Being a truly inclusive employer to us means creating an environment which celebrates your contribution, regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, social background, religion or belief. It's why we've set our own aim to become the UK’s most inclusive business - for our Partners (employees) and our customers.

We firmly believe that our future success lies in diversity of thought from all Partners and it's integral in our mission to build a happier world. 🌍 💚

We welcome applications from everyone interested in working for us. And, once you're a Partner, your differences will make all the difference.

Find out more about D&I in the Partnership here.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where it is possible to do so. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.

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