Strategic Finance Business Partner

Strategic Finance Business Partner Location: Southampton Rate: £42.70 per hour Are you a qualified accountant who enjoys influencing strategic decisions rather than simply reporting on them? We're recruiting for an experienced Strategic Finance Business Partner to join a large, complex organisation undergoing significant transformation. This is an opportunity to become a trusted advisor to senior leadership, helping shape financial strategy, influence major investment decisions and support the delivery of high-profile programmes. This is far more than a traditional business partnering role. You'll operate as the senior finance lead for a significant operational area, providing commercial insight, challenging decision-making and ensuring strong financial governance across both revenue and capital budgets. Responsibilities: The Role Working as part of the senior finance leadership team, you will: Act as the lead finance partner for senior operational directors and executive stakeholders. Provide strategic financial advice, challenge and commercial support to aid key business decisions. Lead financial planning across revenue, capital expenditure and long-term financial forecasting. Support the development of medium-term financial plans and major transformation programmes. Produce high-quality financial modelling, business cases and investment appraisals. Analyse financial performance, identify trends and provide meaningful recommendations to improve outcomes. Drive value for money initiatives, cost improvement programmes and commercial opportunities. Lead and develop a high-performing finance team, providing coaching, mentoring and professional development. Work collaboratively with wider corporate functions including HR, Procurement, IT and Legal to deliver joined-up business support. About You We're looking for someone who can combine technical accounting expertise with strong commercial judgement and exceptional stakeholder management. You'll ideally have: A recognised CCAB professional accounting qualification (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, CIPFA or equivalent). Experience leading finance business partnering within a large, complex organisation. A proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and challenge constructively. Strong experience of budgeting, forecasting, financial planning and management reporting. Experience producing financial models, business cases and investment appraisals. Previous management experience, with a passion for developing and mentoring finance teams. Excellent communication skills with the confidence to work alongside executive leadership. Why Apply? This is an opportunity to join an organisation where finance plays a genuine strategic role. You'll have significant exposure to senior decision-makers, work on complex financial challenges and help shape the future direction of a large organisation. If you're looking for a role where your commercial insight can genuinely influence business outcomes while leading a talented finance team, we'd love to hear from you.