Senior Finance Manager

SUMMARY:
The Senior Finance Manager will lead the finance function for key operational business units, providing strategic financial leadership, commercial insight, and operational support within a fast-paced contact centre environment.

POSITION INFO:
This role goes beyond traditional finance and requires a commercially astute leader who can partner closely with Operations, Workforce Planning, HR, and Client Services to influence decision-making, improve profitability, and drive operational performance. The successful candidate will combine strong technical finance capability with proven people management and stakeholder engagement experience.

The ideal candidate is a confident and influential finance professional with strong leadership capability and approximately 2–3 years of management experience leading finance teams or direct reports.

Key Responsibilities:

• Financial Leadership & Management:
  • Lead and oversee the full finance function for the designated operational business units
  • Manage month-end reporting processes, reconciliations, journals, and financial controls
  • Review and present monthly management accounts with meaningful commercial commentary
  • Ensure compliance with internal controls, governance standards, and financial policies
  • Oversee operational expenditure, cost centre management, and cash flow planning
  • Drive continuous improvement within finance processes and reporting
• Budgeting, Forecasting & Strategic Planning:
  • Lead the annual budgeting and forecasting process across multiple operational divisions
  • Prepare rolling forecasts, including revenue, staffing costs, productivity metrics, and overhead analysis
  • Partner with Operations and Workforce Planning to model staffing requirements, shrinkage, overtime, attrition, and capacity planning
  • Provide strategic recommendations based on forecast trends, risks, and opportunities
  • Support long-term planning and commercial decision-making initiatives
• Commercial Business Partnering:
  • Act as a trusted finance business partner to senior operational stakeholders
  • Translate complex financial information into clear and actionable business insight
  • Influence operational decision-making through data-driven recommendations
  • Challenge assumptions constructively while maintaining strong stakeholder relationships
  • Support key business decisions relating to staffing models, pricing, service delivery, and operational efficiency
  • Provide insight into operational KPIs, including:
    • FTE cost per seat
    • Occupancy and AHT variance
    • Attrition and absenteeism cost impact
    • Campaign and client profitability
    • Productivity and utilisation metrics
• Commercial Finance & Analysis:
  • Analyse client contracts and various billing models (per seat, per call, and fixed vs variable)
  • Evaluate commercial performance across campaigns and business units
  • Support pricing reviews, contract renewals, and new business proposals
  • Lead scenario modelling and profitability analysis for operational initiatives
  • Identify opportunities to improve margins, efficiencies, and financial performance
• Leadership & Stakeholder Management:
  • Lead, mentor, and develop junior finance team members
  • Manage and support finance staff performance, development, and delivery
  • Build strong cross-functional relationships across Finance, Operations, HR, Workforce Management, and Client Services
  • Present financial performance, forecasts, and strategic recommendations to senior leadership
  • Communicate financial concepts confidently to both finance and non-finance stakeholders

• Technical Skills:
  • Strong background in financial management, FP&A, and management accounting
  • Advanced budgeting, forecasting, and commercial analysis capability
  • Strong financial modelling and analytical skills
  • Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, SUMIFS, XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP, and modelling)
  • Experience with ERP/financial systems, such as SAP, Oracle, Sage, or similar
• Leadership & Business Partnering Skills:
  • Proven leadership capability with approximately 2–3 years’ people management experience
  • Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing skills
  • Ability to operate strategically while remaining hands-on
  • Strong commercial acumen and operational understanding
  • Excellent communication and presentation skills
  • Ability to simplify complex financial information for operational teams
• Industry Experience:
  • Previous experience within a contact centre, BPO, shared services, or operationally intensive environment strongly preferred
  • Strong understanding of operational metrics, such as occupancy, AHT, shrinkage, productivity, and workforce planning advantageous
• Qualifications:
  • CA(SA) / CIMA preferred
  • 6–8 years' relevant finance experience in commercial finance, FP&A, or management accounting
  • Minimum 2–3 years’ management or team leadership experience