Finance Controller - FMCG Food

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a commercially minded Head of Finance to join a fast-growing, private equity-backed food business at a pivotal stage of its UK development.

With an ambitious growth strategy and further acquisitions on the agenda, the business is looking for a senior finance leader who can combine strong financial control with genuine commercial business partnering.

This is not a traditional reporting-focused Head of Finance role. You'll work closely with the UK leadership team and Group CFO, taking ownership of UK financial performance while playing a central role in acquisition integration, profitability improvement, cash generation and commercial decision-making.

The Opportunity

You'll become the senior finance partner for the UK business, providing the financial insight, challenge and discipline required to support its next phase of growth.

A key part of the mandate will be supporting the integration of acquired businesses, bringing them onto consistent financial reporting, controls and performance measures while identifying and tracking commercial and operational synergies.

Alongside this, you'll take ownership of the UK P&L and help leadership understand exactly where value is being created - and where it's being lost - across customers, products, supply chain and the wider operating model.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the UK P&L, budget, forecasting and financial reporting
• Partner senior leadership on commercial and strategic decision-making
• Drive improvements in profitability, EBITDA, cash flow and working capital
• Build robust customer and product profitability reporting
• Develop clear visibility of product costs and margins across the full supply chain
• Analyse freight, chilled/frozen warehousing, logistics, inventory and customer-specific costs
• Challenge commercial investment, promotional spend and retailer deductions
• Lead the finance workstream for acquisitions and post-deal integration
• Integrate acquired businesses into Group reporting, controls and financial processes
• Identify, quantify and track acquisition synergies
• Support due diligence and integration planning for future transactions
• Deliver the reporting, forecasting and cash discipline expected within a PE-backed environment
• Manage relationships with external accountants, auditors and outsourced service providers

The role is deliberately hands-on. Transactional accounting and elements of compliance are outsourced, so your focus will be on owning, understanding and commercially using the numbers, rather than simply producing them.

About You

We're looking for a qualified or suitably experienced senior finance professional with a strong grounding in food manufacturing or FMCG.

Experience across chilled or frozen food, contract manufacturing/co-manufacturing, outsourced supply chains or third-party logistics would be particularly relevant.

You'll ideally bring:

• ACA, ACCA or CIMA qualification, or equivalent experience
• Strong P&L ownership and commercial finance experience
• Food/FMCG experience supplying major UK grocery customers
• Excellent understanding of product costing and margin management
• Experience managing budgets, forecasts, cash flow and working capital
• Exposure to complex supply chains and cost-to-serve analysis
• Previous post-acquisition integration experience
• The confidence to challenge senior commercial and operational stakeholders
• Strong financial modelling and analytical capability
• Experience operating successfully in a lean, hands-on finance structure

Previous experience within a private equity-backed business would be highly advantageous, as would experience of business acquisitions, due diligence or integrating acquired companies into a wider Group structure.

Why Join?

This is a rare opportunity to combine commercial finance leadership with genuine M&A and integration exposure.

The UK business is at an important stage of its development, meaning you'll have the opportunity to build rather than simply inherit - improving financial visibility, challenging the operating model, integrating acquisitions and helping shape how the business grows.

For someone looking for a strategic Head of Finance position within a PE-backed growth environment, with significant exposure to both UK leadership and Group finance, this offers an exceptionally broad remit.

Salary: Dependant on Experience + Bonus + benefits

Based: Central London (hybrid working)