Commercial Finance Analyst in Norwich - Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited

Your new company

A market-leading online and store-based retail business with a revenue in excess of £100M requires a commercially minded Commercial Finance Analyst to primarily be the commercial finance contact for the business giving pricing insight and financial business performance. This is an excellent opportunity for an analytically strong finance professional who thrives in a fast-paced, growth environment and who combines exceptional commercial awareness with advanced data skills.

Your new role

The successful candidate will be central to shaping trading performance and strategic decision-making. You will translate consumer trends and commercial plans into robust financial insight, use technology to democratise data, and deliver financial models and business cases that materially improve margins and drive growth. Your key responsibilities will involve:

• Business partnering: Act as the primary commercial finance contact for trading and commercial teams, delivering regular and ad-hoc analysis, margin diagnostics, pricing insight and performance commentary to support optimised decision-making
• Data analysis & reporting: Create, maintain and enhance management information, KPI dashboards and deep-dive analysis using Power BI and advanced Excel to provide timely, actionable insight.
• Systems & automation: Evaluate, develop and deploy reporting solutions and automation across ERP and BI platforms to remove manual processes, improve data quality and accelerate decision cycles.
• Planning & forecasting: Build budgets, rolling forecasts and scenario models that capture commercial levers and provide clear visibility on forward performance.
• Commercial projects & BAU improvement; Lead cross-functional projects to capture margin uplift, operational efficiencies and new revenue opportunities; produce business cases and board papers for strategic initiatives including M&A and new market entry.
• Stakeholder engagement: Present findings and influence senior leadership, finance teams, trading and commercial functions, and external advisers with clear, concise and commercially focused insight.

What you'll need to succeed

You will be a commercially astute finance professional (part-qualified or qualified accountant or QBE) who lives in Excel and Power BI, understands consumer dynamics, and can translate analysis into margin improvements and strategic outcomes. Ideally, you will have a background in consumer-driven business or demonstrate your confidence in providing accurate and relevant financial performance in a fast-paced business. An overview of your skills would look like:-

• Expert user of advanced Excel (power query, pivot modelling, VBA or equivalent), with demonstrable financial modelling skills.
• Strong experience with Power BI or equivalent BI tools; able to build dashboards and translate data into narrative insight.
• Hands-on experience with ERP systems; Epicor experience is highly desirable.
• Demonstrable track record of identifying and delivering margin improvement and cost-to-serve optimisation.
• Deep commercial and consumer trend awareness - able to connect market/consumer signals to financial outcomes.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication and presentation skills; comfortable preparing board-level papers and financial cases.
• Strong project management skills and the ability to drive change end-to-end.

What you'll get in return

This is a high-visibility commercial finance role offering direct exposure to senior leadership and the chance to influence strategic decisions. You will have a real opportunity to shape systems, reporting and commercial strategy at a pivotal moment for a fast-growing retail business, working in a collaborative, fast-moving environment where analytical rigour and clear commercial impact are recognised and rewarded.

They offer a salary package of circa £45,000, 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, 4 days in the office and 1 day working at home.

What you need to do now
If you're interested in this role, click 'apply now' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV, or call us now.
If this job isn't quite right for you, but you are looking for a new position, please contact us for a confidential discussion about your career.

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