Hawthorn One
Finance Manager
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The Business
Hawthorn One is proud to be working with a growing, ambitious Manufacturing business based in East Lancashire on the appointment of a Finance Manager. Our client is a well-established, owner-managed business that has built a strong reputation over a number of years and is now entering an exciting phase of growth and commercial development.
The business operates across multiple channels and is investing in its systems, its people and its infrastructure to support the next chapter. Finance is increasingly central to how the business is run, and the incoming Finance Manager will join at a moment where the function has a genuine opportunity to add real value, bringing structure, visibility and commercial insight to a leadership team that is ready to use it.
The culture is hands-on, collaborative and unpretentious. This is a business where people roll their sleeves up and work collaboratively. The Finance Manager will have real access to the leadership team. If you want to be close to the commercial heart of a growing business rather than working in a back-office function, this is the kind of opportunity where that is possible.
The Role
This is a full-time Finance Manager position reporting into the Finance Director. The Finance Manager will take full ownership of the month-end close process, producing the complete management accounts pack through to board-level commentary, and will be supported by a small, capable transactional finance team.
The business is looking for someone who brings genuine commercial curiosity alongside their technical capability, someone who can look at the numbers, ask the right questions and translate what they find into insight that operations, commercial and the leadership team can act on. Visibility through data, a strong understanding of margin and profitability, and the confidence to have commercial conversations are as important as the ability to close Management Accounts.
The Finance Manager will work closely with the Finance Director and the wider leadership team, supporting pricing decisions, commercial modelling and what-if scenario analysis. There is a clear development path here, for the right person this role has a natural trajectory toward a Head of Finance position as the business and the function continue to grow.
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Key Responsibilities
- Own the full month-end close process from trial balance through to management accounts, board pack and commentary, delivered accurately and to a consistent timetable
- Produce financial KPI reporting and analysis that gives the business clear visibility of performance across channels, revenue streams and cost lines
- Act as a genuine commercial business partner to operational and commercial teams, challenging assumptions, supporting decisions and bringing financial rigour to day-to-day conversations
- Support pricing strategy and margin analysis, building the financial models that underpin commercial decisions and help the business understand the profitability of its activities
- Develop and maintain financial models to support what-if scenario analysis and business planning
- Take ownership of cost management analysis, identifying opportunities to improve margin and communicating findings clearly to non-finance stakeholders
- Lead, manage and develop a small transactional finance team of two, ensuring the day-to-day finance function runs smoothly and that team members are supported and developed
- Support the Finance Director on budgeting, forecasting and the broader financial planning cycle
- Play an active role in ongoing systems development as the business continues to invest in and improve its finance infrastructure
The Candidate Requirements
The right person is a strong, technically grounded management accountant who is ready to do more than produce the month end. They are analytically driven, commercially curious and able to hold their own in a conversation with operational and commercial leaders about what the numbers mean and what to do about them. They are ambitious, hands-on and excited by the opportunity to grow with a business that has real momentum.
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Experience and Skills
- Strong management accounts experience, able to own the full month-end close independently and produce a high-quality management accounts pack to board standard
- Analytical and data-driven, comfortable building models, working with data and translating complex information into clear, actionable insight
- Commercial mindset, understands margin, costing, pricing and profitability, and is confident discussing these topics with operational and commercial colleagues
- Confident with financial modelling, scenario planning and what-if analysis, able to build models that help the business make better decisions
- Experience managing or supporting the development of junior finance team members
- Systems literate and comfortable working through a period of change and systems improvement
- Newly to recently qualified (ACA, ACCA or CIMA) or qualified by experience with a strong and demonstrable background at this level, someone at the top end of a management accountant profile who is looking for their next step
The Person
- Hands-on and not precious about the detail, gets stuck in and does what needs to be done
- Analytically curious, always asking what the numbers mean, not just what they are
- Confident and articulate, able to present financial information clearly to non-finance people and hold their own in a commercial conversation
- Collaborative and collegiate, builds relationships with operational and commercial colleagues based on credibility and trust rather than hierarchy
- Ambitious, looking for a role with a clear development path and genuinely excited by the opportunity to grow
- Comfortable working at pace in a dynamic, evolving environment
This search is being managed by Hawthorn One on a confidential basis.
If this sounds like the right next step for you, please get in touch with the team at Hawthorn One. We would love to hear from you and all conversations are handled with complete confidentiality.
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