Location:Greater Manchester area/hybrid
Reports to:Chief Financial Officer
Benefits package: competitive base salary plus car/allowance and annual bonus
Business Type:Private EquityBacked, Multi-Site Buy & Build Platform
Capital Structure:Leveraged (Senior Debt + Potential Mezzanine/Unitranche)
The Vella Group is seeking a highly capable FP&A Manager to play a pivotal role at a transformative point in the companys journey. Reporting directly to the CFO, this newly created position sits at the heart of a PE-backed organisationthat has recently secured significant investment and is entering an accelerated phase of growth through strategic acquisition and continued organic expansion. As a key member of the finance leadership team, the FP&A Manager will help shape the groups financial futurebringing rigour to planning and reporting, providing insightful analysis to drive decision-making, and partnering closely with senior stakeholders as the business scales at pace.
1. Role Summary
The FP&A Manager will play a critical role in supporting a high growth, private equity backed buy and build platform. The business is scaling rapidly through acquisitions and organic expansion, and the role requires a commercially minded finance professional who can operate effectively in a leveraged environment, deliver robust financial analysis, strengthen reporting disciplines, and support value creation initiatives.
This position will act as a key business partner to the CFO, senior leadership team, and PE investors, providing insight, challenge, and decision support across the group.
2. Key Responsibilities
Financial Planning & Forecasting
* Lead the annual budget cycle, quarterly reforecasts, and long-range plan modelling.
* Build and maintain integrated financial models incorporating multi-site P&Ls, acquisitions, pipeline scenarios, and leverage/covenant metrics.
* Model acquisition cases, synergy opportunities, and post-integration performance trajectories.
Performance Reporting & Insight
* Deliver monthly FP&A packs, including variance analysis, operational KPIs, trend insights, and actionable commentary.
* Consolidate multi-site performance to provide group level visibility and benchmarking.
* Develop dashboards/support cadence for real time performance monitoring (e.g., labour productivity, unit economics, site maturity curves).
Private Equity & Lender Reporting
* Prepare board and investor materials including trading performance, covenant headroom, cash flow trends, and value creation metrics.
* Support monthly and quarterly lender reporting requirements.
* Monitor liquidity, headroom, and leverage ratios; highlight risks early and support mitigation strategies.
Acquisition Support & Integration
* Build financial models for new acquisitions, including quality of earnings adjustments, normalised EBITDA, working capital needs, and integration impact.
* Provide finance workstreams support during due diligence (commercial, financial, and operational).
* Track integration KPIs and synergy realisation across acquired businesses.
Commercial Finance & Decision Support
* Partner with operations leaders across the multi-site network to improve profitability and performance.
* Evaluate ROI for capex, new site openings, and strategic initiatives.
* Conduct pricing, margin, and cost-to-serve analysis to support commercial decisions.
Systems, Controls & Process Improvement
* Strengthen FP&A processes, data governance, and reporting infrastructure as the business scales.
* Work closely with BI/IT teams to enhance data accuracy and automate reporting.
* Implement discipline and structure typical of PE-backed environments, aiming for best-in-class reporting.
3. Skills & Experience Required
* Qualified accountant (ACA/ACCA/CIMA) or equivalent, with 25+ years in FP&A, corporate finance, transaction services, or PE-backed business finance.
* Experience in multi-site, operationally intensive businesses strongly preferred.
* Strong financial modelling capability able to build and maintain robust, flexible Excel models from scratch.
* Exposure to leveraged environments, lender reporting, or covenant monitoring desirable.
* Experience supporting M&A or integration activities highly beneficial.
* Excellent communication skills, able to translate financial data into clear insight for senior leaders and investors.
* Strong commercial awareness and ability to challenge assumptions constructively.
* Comfortable operating in fast paced, high growth, ambiguous environments.
4. Personal Characteristics
* Highly analytical, detail oriented, and intellectually curious.
* Pragmatic, proactive, and solutions oriented.
* High level of ownership and accountability.
* Comfortable engaging with both finance and non-finance stakeholders.
* Thrives in PE-backed cultures: fast pace, high expectations, data driven decision making.
5. Package
* Competitive base salary + performance-related bonus.
* Potential participation in LTIP/management incentive plan (subject to level).
* Standard benefits + opportunities for growth as the group scales.
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