Loungers ltd
Operational Finance Manager
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Operational Finance Manager
The Operational Finance Manager is responsible for both the operational excellence of our Finance Operations team and delivering key elements of our Finance Transformation plan.
Loungers already has strong and reliable finance processes and controls in place. The opportunity now is to build on those foundations and take them to the next level allowing Loungers to grow effectively, by leveraging technology, automation, data, and smarter ways of working.
This role offers genuine scope to influence how finance operates across the business and will manage a significant proportion of the overall finance function. You will work collaboratively with other leaders in Group Finance, the finance team, and operational stakeholders to continuously improve and evolve operational finance.
This position gives the successful applicant the chance to be part of this exciting, dynamic company based from its HQ in Central Bristol.
Getting into the Detail
Finance Operations Leadership
As a leadership role, this position will have direct management responsibility for the Accounts Payable and Cash teams, providing strategic direction and hands-on leadership to each team. This role is as much about building people and capability as it is about evolving better processes. Success will come from creating a confident, empowered team equipped to deliver reliably and improve over time by embracing continuous progress.
You will:
- Lead and develop a team of finance professionals, continuing to strengthen performance, deepen expertise, and build future leaders across Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, and Cash.
- Ensure operational excellence from day one, maintaining robust processes, controls, that ensure that all financial transactions are processed efficiently within agreed timelines.
- Safeguard governance and compliance, ensuring finance policies, VAT principles, and control standards are consistently understood and applied across Loungers. Own key control accounts and reconciliations for AP, AR, and Cash.
- Be customer focused, helping to resolve issues, find solutions, and ensure that the department delivers on behalf of the needs of our Head Office and Site-Based Teams. This includes high quality, precise, and proactive communication.
- Strengthen resilience and scalability, building capability and processes that support business growth without increasing risk or complexity.
- Build strong partnerships with senior finance and operational leaders, providing thoughtful insight and constructive challenge, and stepping in to resolve complex issues in a pragmatic way that maintains trust and momentum.
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Finance Transformation Delivery
- Drive the delivery of the Group Finance transformation plan for Operational Finance, work collaboratively across Group Finance and the wider business delivering initiatives effectively and ensuring measurable benefits are realized.
- Act as the business lead/SME on selecting and implementing a new system, equipping the team with the knowledge and support they need to deliver a successful transformation, and owning the training and embedding of the new ways of working it brings.
- Identify and eliminate manual repetitive processes in the team, embedding automation and workflow improvements that reduce risk and free up capacity.
- Maximise the value of existing finance systems and tools, driving stronger adoption and better utilisation before considering new investment. Where new solutions are justified, you will be the lead for Operational Finance in gathering requirements, product selection, and implementation.
- Embed a mindset of continuous optimisation, where teams proactively challenge inefficiencies and seek better, simpler ways of working.
What you’ll bring
- A proven track record of leading operational finance teams within a multi-site, high-volume environment, improving processes, controls, and data through automation and smarter ways of working.
- A real drive to understand the detail of everyday processes and really get hands-on in helping to make sure the department operates smoothly day-to-day.
- Advanced systems capability including hands-on experience with ERP/finance systems, workflow tools, or reporting platforms; advanced Excel skills are essential.
- Comfortable operating in a role that blends maintaining operational excellence while progressively enhancing efficiency and resilience.
- Strong, hands-on leadership background, with clear evidence of developing high-performing teams, building capability, and owning operational outcomes over the long term.
- Commercially astute and confident operating cross-functionally, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders, navigate complexity, and build credible relationships internally and externally.
- ACA / ACCA / CIMA qualified, or equivalent experience gained in similar senior-level operational finance roles.
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What’s in it for you?
- 25 days holiday (plus bank holidays)
- Up to 10% bonus
- Private healthcare for yourself & your family after 2 years service
- A culture that appreciates ideas and celebrates individuality
- Founder-led business - we might have 300 sites, but we still maintain an entrepreneurial spirit through everything we do
- 50% off food at all Lounges, Cosy Clubs, and Brightsides
- 3% company pension contribution on qualifying salary
- 24/7 mental health support
- Amazing events including LoungeFest – our annual company festival - Christmas parties and more
We want to work with kind people so if you want to work hard, have fun, and be part of the Loungers ride, we’d love to have you.
About Us
Loungers is a substantial and growing operator in the UK hospitality sector, operating over 300 sites in England and Wales across three distinct but complementary brands, Lounges, Cosy Club, and Brightside. Founded in 2002 by three friends who wanted to create a neighbourhood café-bar that they would want to go to, the Group is now the only growing all-day operator of scale in the UK and has consistently outperformed the wider UK hospitality sector over the past three years. Despite being the fastest growing café/restaurant group in the Country, Loungers has retained its entrepreneurial spirit and quirky ‘Loungey’ local community atmosphere.
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