Finance Business Partner (Sales)
£80,000
Shoreham-by-Sea or Manchester
Hybrid (2 days in office)
(Internal reference: Senior Manager / Head Of)
* PE-backed Technology business (MSP) $1bn valuation
* 1,300+ employees and scaling with M&A activity
* Inclusive, collaborative, high-performing culture
Established in 2003, Focus Group is proud to be one of the UK’s fastest growing independent providers of essential business technology, providing digital workplace solutions to over 30,000 customers across the UK
Job Purpose
The Finance Business Partner is a commercially focused finance professional who acts as a trusted advisor to business unit leadership.
This is not a traditional finance reporting role: the successful candidate will be embedded in the business, driving commercial outcomes, challenging decisions with financial insight, and proactively shaping strategy through rigorous analysis and modelling.
The role requires someone who is commercially astute, technically strong in financial modelling, and capable of creating tangible, measurable impact in the areas of the business they support.
Principle Responsibilities / Duties
Commercial partnering
* Act as a trusted commercial advisor to business unit leaders, embedding finance thinking into decisions at the point they are made, not after the fact
* Challenge and shape business strategy with a commercial lens, contributing to leadership discussions as an equal voice rather than a back-office function
* Identify and quantify opportunities for revenue growth, margin improvement, and cost optimisation across the business unit
* Own the business case process end-to-end, from shaping the initial ask through to post-investment review
Financial modelling and snowballs
* Build and maintain dynamic financial ARR models that explain variance and forecast outcomes across multiple periods
* Produce rolling reforecasts that reflect real trading conditions, not simply adjusted budgets
* Model the full P&L and cash flow impact of commercial initiatives from revenue to cash, stress-testing assumptions and presenting sensitivity ranges rather than point estimates
* Translate complex model outputs into clear, accessible narratives for non-finance stakeholders
* Continuously improve modelling tools and approaches, bringing creative solutions to analytical challenges
Planning and performance management
* Lead the annual budgeting and quarterly forecasting cycle for the business unit, working collaboratively across functions
* Design and maintain management information packs that actively drive decision-making, not just report on historical performance
* Track KPIs against plan, flag underperformance early, and recommend credible corrective actions
* Ensure financial plans are tightly linked to commercial and operational activity, with clear accountability for delivery
Insight and proactive support
* Proactively surface insights from financial and operational data; bringing forward analysis before being asked, and flagging risks before they crystallise
* Drive commercial awareness across the business unit through coaching, clear communication, and making financial data accessible
* Collaborate with central finance on month-end close, consolidation, and audit requirements as needed
Essential Skills
* 3–5+ years of experience in FP&A, commercial finance, or business partnering roles
* Demonstrable track record of commercial impact — able to cite specific examples where financial input changed a business decision, improved a margin, grew revenue, or avoided a material cost, with quantified outcomes
* Highly proficient in financial ARR “snowball” / “corkscrew” / “bridge” modelling; experienced in building multi-period models that layer volume, price, mix, and efficiency movements to explain variance and inform decisions
* Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with experience operating at senior leadership level and presenting complex financial analysis in a clear, compelling way
* Proven ability to work proactively — identifying issues and opportunities without being directed, and driving initiatives forward independently
* Commercially curious with a genuine interest in how the business makes money, and the ability to connect financial data to operational reality
* Advanced Excel skills; experience with planning tools and BI platforms (e.g. Anaplan, Adaptive, Power BI, Tableau, or similar)
Desirable Skills
* Experience in a commercially driven or fast-paced sector (e.g. technology, professional services, or financial services), and/or a under private equity ownership
* Previous exposure to P&L ownership or advisory responsibility at a business unit level
* Experience leading or contributing to business case development and post-investment reviews
* Familiarity with ERP systems and data extraction for analysis
* Professional accountancy qualification (ACA, CIMA, ACCA or equivalent)