Regional Finance Business Partner

Recruiter: Daniel Colbert

Hiring Manager: Stuart Slement

Career Grade: D

Internal Closing Date: Friday 25th March 2024

Locations: Bristol, London or Birmingham 

Regional Finance Business Partner

• Are you adept at stakeholder management, possessing strong commercial acumen?
• Are you a fully qualified accountant with strong analytical skills?
• Are you questioning and inquisitive by nature?

If so, we have an exciting opportunity for you to become our Regional Finance Business Partner, based in either Birmingham, Bristol, or London.

The Finance business partner provides financial and commercial support to key stakeholders, driving optimal business decisions and improving the financial and commercial performance. The Chief Engineer team leads the delivery of the Fibre First Rural build, providing support to our other operational teams with expert advice on network policy and industry-leading innovation. They also oversee the completion of complex, difficult, or high-priority network build and fix activities.

This role is within a team at the centre of BT Group's largest strategic investment: delivering Full Fibre across the country, including rural areas. You'll work closely with the business to deliver innovative solutions enabling fibre deployment in often remote locations.

This role offers an exciting opportunity to have a direct influence, working with two Regional Directors and their teams, allowing the role holder to understand the dynamics of the business at the heart of the Group's strategy. You'll have the chance to influence key business decisions and gain experience as part of one of the biggest infrastructure programs in the UK, working within the wider Openreach Chief Engineer Finance Team.

If you are interested in this great opportunity, we encourage you to apply today or reach out for a confidential discussion. We look forward to hearing from you!

You'll have the following responsibilities

• Provide commercial and financial support for business cases within the Chief Engineer organisation, focusing on two regional director patches. Influence financial decisions within the team by offering comprehensive financial and commercial insights.
• Engage in effective communication and stakeholder management. This involves interacting with stakeholders in operational teams responsible for the build, as well as other key stakeholders across various teams, including FND and multiple capital programs. Collaborate with commercial, operational, and transformation/innovation teams to comprehend and model the long-term delivery plan, offering financial insights for decision-making processes.
• Responsible for monthly reporting, outlook, and the MTP (Medium-Term Plan) for the regional directors. This encompasses a comprehensive range of financial responsibilities, linking operational metrics such as productivity and volume delivery to financial performance.
• Regular face-to-face engagement with operational teams is essential. This includes identifying risks and opportunities and driving actionable improvement plans.
• Provide supportive reporting and analysis to facilitate evaluation processes and enable the team to effectively utilise and balance direct labor (DL) and subcontractor capacity.
• Support teams managing a combined gross cost of approximately £90-100 million, overseeing between 1500-2000 direct labour FTEs along with subcontractors.

You'll have the following skills & experience

• Full qualification as an accountant with strong analytical abilities.
• Proficiency in clear and concise communication. Capable of presenting the regional business performance to diverse finance and non-finance audiences, both internally and externally. Able to provide supporting data and analysis at appropriate levels of detail.
• A pragmatic team player who effectively holds others accountable through a supportive yet challenging approach, while consistently meeting personal commitments.
• Capability to manage numerous stakeholders and projects efficiently, operating within tight deadlines.
• Proficiency in handling ambiguity, coupled with the ability to support, advise and coach others within your team and beyond. Able to create operational guidelines based on specialised knowledge and provide advice in specific areas.
• A leader who champions and manages conflicting priorities.

Benefits

• 25 days annual leave (plus bank holidays)
• 10% on target bonus
• Pension scheme, if you contribute 5%, BT contribute 10%
• Flexible benefits: cycle to work, healthcare, etc.
• Discounted BT products, retail vouchers and other great benefits

About Openreach

Openreach Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT Group. We look after the copper wires and fibre cables that connect homes and businesses to phone and broadband. Our customers are the 650+ communications providers who sell phone and broadband services to these households and businesses. 

About Openreach
We employ more than 35,091 people who install, support and maintain the wiring, fibres and connections which link tens of millions of homes and businesses in the UK to our customers’ networks.

A FEW POINTS TO NOTE:

Although these roles are listed as full-time, if you’re a job share partnership, work reduced hours, or any other way of working flexibly, please still get in touch.

DON'T MEET EVERY SINGLE REQUIREMENT?

Studies have shown that women and people who are disabled, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse or from ethnic minority backgrounds are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification and criteria. We're committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace where everyone can be their best, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every requirement on the Job Description, please apply anyway - you may just be the right candidate for this or other roles in our wider team.