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.
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.

POSITION INFO:
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

1. Financial Leadership & Management

• Lead and oversee the full finance function for 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 cashflow planning
• Drive continuous improvement within finance processes and reporting

2. 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

3. 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

4. Commercial Finance & Analysis

• Analyse client contracts and various billing models (per seat, per call, 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

5. 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

Required Skills & Experience

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, 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