Description The Head of Finance – Financial Reporting and Control centres on leading a high-performing finance team to ensure robust financial governance at Heathrow. Key responsibilities include delivering insightful and technically sound external financial reporting, designing and evaluating the effectiveness of core financial controls, and overseeing Heathrow's accounting policies. The person will demonstrate strong leadership and act as a trusted strategic partner, fostering a culture of technical financial awareness and providing clear, relevant advice that supports Heathrow's value objectives. The ability to simplify and communicate complex financial matters to diverse stakeholders is essential, as is the capacity to challenge constructively. The role also requires a forward-thinking approach, driving ongoing change by transforming financial reporting and control processes through further automation and systematisation. This position is ideal for someone with a clear strategic vision for the future of financial reporting and control, who can build on recent simplification achievements and support Heathrow’s continued financial and operational growth. Responsibilities The role is responsible for leading a team to deliver comprehensive external financial and regulatory reporting, providing technical accounting support, managing key judgements and internal controls, driving climate-related financial disclosures, and overseeing the relationship with external auditors. Supporting the Finance Director, Financial Control in overseeing the Group’s core finance processes—Service to Cash, Record to Report, Source to Pay, and Project to Retire—ensuring they are effective, manage risk, and comply with policies. These processes are managed and delivered through a separate directorate based in Glasgow. Communicating complex accounting concepts to stakeholders, including Finance Business Partners, and presenting key accounting judgements to the Audit Committee, the Executive Committee and the Finance Leadership team, with support from the Director of Finance, Financial Control. Early identification of key accounting process issues, in collaboration with the Business Services team (process owners and service delivery). The role holder has ownership for ensuring all such issues are prioritised and ultimately resolved. Taking the lead on distributable reserves strategy and management to ensure there are sufficient distributable reserves for the payment of dividends in the short, medium and long term. Leading and developing a high performing finance team, fostering effective communication, ongoing professional development, and a culture of meritocracy, inclusivity, and adaptability, all aligned with Heathrow’s values. Qualifications Qualified accountant (ACA) with extensive experience most recently in a senior Finance role involved in Statutory Reporting, internal financial controls and technical accounting. A background in external auditing is preferable. Demonstrable experience of acting as a strong influencer with the ability to structure and deliver persuasive arguments at a senior level. Reflective with the demonstrable ability to learn from and adapt to an environment to deliver results. Strong leadership skills with a demonstrable track record of a leading high-performance team toward the successful attainment of challenging goals. Experience in driving effective change, and proven delivery in complex, operational environments. LI-Hybrid