Dunelm
Senior Finance Business Partner (10 months FTC)
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Home. There’s no place like it.
And there’s no feeling like helping people create the joy of feeling truly at home. At Dunelm, that’s what we do. We’re the UK's number one choice for homewares because we make home life lovelier for our customers. And we’ve crafted a workplace that feels just as welcoming – where you can bring your ideas, be yourself, and feel right at home.
At Dunelm, our Finance team isn’t just about numbers, we’re the powerhouse behind smart decisions, smooth operations, and spotting golden opportunities for growth. We balance the books and manage procurement like pros, but we also dive deep into financial data to uncover patterns, trends, and hidden gems that help steer our business forward.
With an approximately 85-strong team, we’re just the right size - agile enough that no one gets lost in the crowd (or stuck doing the same thing every day), but big enough to offer real opportunities to grow, explore new areas, and really challenge yourself. If you think finance is all grey suits and spreadsheets - think again. Here, we're making numbers exciting, decisions smarter, and opportunities bigger.
Work your way, together
We’re a hybrid business, which means you’ll have flexibility alongside time together with your team. In this role, you can expect 3 days a week in the office or on-site, helping you stay connected, collaborate, and do your best work for our customers.
The Business Finance Team is a team of roughly thirty finance professionals, who deliver key outcomes that support Dunelm’s operations, to:
- Produce timely and accurate weekly and monthly reports and insights to inform trading and operational control and decision making
- Set targets (in conjunction with business) and provide an independent view of forecasts and trends
- Hold business to account to deliver to targets and manage risks and opportunities
- Support and challenge tactical and strategic decision making, including financial appraisal (and post investment appraisal)
- Agitate for optimising profitability and return on investment, and for the best use of our resources
- Use our unique viewpoint to join things up, ‘unblock’ issues, and put simple structure around priorities and actions
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There are many opportunities for development in the team, both:
- Progression through Analyst, Business Partner, Finance Manager, Senior Finance Manager, and Head of; and
- Partnering with the varied parts of Dunelm’s business, including Stores, Supply Chain, Digital, Marketing, Tech, Commercial, and many more!
About the role:
As Senior Finance Business Partner for the business functions you partner, you will lead the support and challenge to your business partners in line with the Business Finance purpose, whilst also ensuring that all requirements for the Dunelm Finance function are delivered.
You will directly partner business stakeholders, have strategic influence, and take the finance lead on specific projects, initiatives, and focus areas, as well as supporting in all ‘business as usual’ activities.
Specifically, this role sits within the Costs and Operations Finance team and is responsible for partnering a portfolio of corporate functions. The role will provide financial leadership, challenge, and support to senior stakeholders to ensure effective cost management, robust forecasting, and informed investment decision-making. A key focus will be driving accountability for expenditure, identifying opportunities to optimize costs, and supporting delivery of business objectives while maintaining strong financial control and governance.
What the role requires of you:
- Partner senior leaders across corporate functions, acting as a trusted adviser and critical friend to support effective decision-making and cost control
- Direct finance ownership and presentation of forecasts
- Ensuring the month-end is closed accurately, timely, and in accordance with policies as set by Financial Reporting (P&L and balance sheet)
- Decision support, from tactical decisions up to investment appraisal
- Monitor investments to identify deviations from plans and support with the identification and delivery of corrective actions
- Insight and analysis to better inform decision-making, working closely with other teams such as Insight and Analytics
- Embed recently implemented changes in ways of working within finance, identifying and removing blockers
- Challenge and support to business functions and, where relevant, to third-party suppliers
- Continuously improve the way things are done to create more capacity for value-added tasks.
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Essential Skills:
- Commercially minded, with a genuine drive to make a difference and support Dunelm to achieve its growth and profitability targets. Strong commercial judgment and able to make trade-offs where there is uncertainty
- Good verbal and written communication skills, able to condense complex information into clear messages that deliver insight and recommendations
- A good relationship builder, building trust with key stakeholders and able to influence at senior level
- Investment appraisals and post-investment reviews
- Strong financial control and governance mindset
- Finance qualified
- Strong Excel skills, able to use various sources of information to draw trends, highlight risks, or areas of focus
Desirable Skills:
- Process improvement within finance activities
- Ability to coach/mentor other members of the finance team
Behaviors we look for:
- Communicating – Presenting reliable information and providing clear, simple, and succinct messages that engage others
- Curiosity – A desire to truly understand the business operations and to question why things are done the way they are. Exploring other areas of the business and joining the dots
- Adapting – Respond and commit positively to changing needs; encourage others to have a go and be prepared to fail fast and learn from successes and mistakes
- Thinking Big – Having a balance between delivering business as usual and focusing on future growth; using data and insight to help forward planning
- Challenging – Being a leading voice in your area of expertise. Being bold and confident to provide constructive challenge.
- Making It Happen – Controlling what can be controlled and escalating rapidly issues outside of your control. Recognizing when something is ‘good enough’.
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