Lead Finance Business Partner

We are Two Circles. We grow audiences and revenues. We do that by knowing fans best. We work with clients to help them understand & influence what their fans are doing – the way fans spend their money, the events that fans attend, the channels fans respond to, the content fans watch and more. And we use the understanding this gives us to help our clients grow. Grow their audiences and grow their revenues - both direct to consumer and business to business revenues. Our platforms and services are trusted by over 900 clients globally, including the English Premier League, Red Bull, UEFA, VISA, the NFL, Nike and Amazon. We are almost 1000 people, based out of 14 offices, and we deliver work for sports and entertainment businesses of all shapes and sizes all over the world.

Reporting to the FP&A Director, this role is a senior finance partner to business leadership, responsible for driving financial planning, performance management and enabling commercial decision-making across our EMEA MCT (Marketing, Consulting and Technology) capability, while also supporting and helping to co-ordinate the wider Global MCT finance agenda. 

We’re looking for an experienced, hands on, commercially minded finance leader who thrives in a fast-paced, evolving environment. They will bring strong ownership and judgement, confidently supporting, challenging and influencing senior stakeholders to drive profitable growth, anticipate risks and opportunities, and translate complex financial and operational information into clear insight and action. They will continually raise the quality of planning, forecasting and reporting while driving improvements in processes and ways of working. 

As a key member of the FP&A leadership team, you will lead and develop a small team while playing an active leadership role across the wider FP&A team. You will create clarity and accountability, align priorities to business and Finance goals, and lead by example to foster a collaborative, high-performing culture focused on commercial insight and continuous improvement. 

Business Partnering & Planning 

• →Act as a trusted finance partner to senior business leaders, providing commercial insight, constructive challenge and clear recommendations to support decision-making. 

• →Lead and support budgeting, forecasting and longer-term planning, translating business strategy and operational plans into robust financial plans and targets. 

• →Identify risks and opportunities early, assess their potential impact and work with leadership to determine their validity and appropriate actions. 

• →Improve forecasting accuracy and visibility through stronger assumptions, engagement and alignment with business stakeholders and flexibility of scenario analysis where relevant. 

• →Support cash forecasting and working capital performance where relevant. 

Performance Reporting & Insight 

• →Deliver accurate management reporting, ensuring leadership has timely, and decision-useful visibility of business performance which is also aligned at a group level. 

• →Translate complex financial and operational data into clear commercial insight, highlighting the key drivers behind performance. 

• →Provide meaningful analysis of actuals, forecasts and variances, identifying trends, risks and opportunities and recommending appropriate actions. 

• →Develop reporting that provides greater visibility of revenue, margin and profitability across relevant dimensions such as clients, projects, segments or product level 

Systems & Continuous Improvement 

• →Drive improvements in planning and forecasting processes, reducing manual activity and increasing consistency, accuracy and accountability. 

• →Lead or contribute to finance transformation initiatives, working across Finance and the wider business to embed sustainable improvements. 

• →Champion effective use of data, technology and automation (including the use of AI) to improve financial analysis and reporting. 

• →Foster a continuous-improvement mindset, challenging existing ways of working and identifying opportunities to simplify and strengthen finance operations. 

Collaboration & Leadership 

• →Build strong, trusted relationships across Finance and the wider business, creating alignment around priorities, performance and financial outcomes. 

• →Work effectively across functions, teams and regions to resolve issues, improve ways of working and deliver shared objectives. 

• →Lead, coach and develop team members, setting clear expectations and creating opportunities for growth and increased ownership. 

• →Contribute to a high-performance culture centred on commercial insight, accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement. 

Essential 

• Qualified accountant (CIMA/ACCA/ACA) with 8+ years relevant financial experience gained in in FP&A and/or commercial finance roles  

• Strong understanding of financial management & business processes 

• Significant experience in forecasting and budgeting cycles with ability to identify and then act on improvement to processes and outcomes 

• Ability to work at pace and be flexible in approach to still deliver results in an entrepreneurial/high growth company environment 

• Strong, confident communicator, with a proven track record of being able to influence senior stakeholders 

• Direct line management experience resulting in high performance 

• A proactive, hands-on approach with a willingness to roll up your sleeves and take ownership  

• Continuous improvement mindset 

Highly Desirable 

• Experience working for a SME 

• Experience working for global business 

• Experience in sports or a related entertainment industry  

• Experience in a people-led agency environment  

• Experience working with revenue pipelines through CRM tools such as Salesforce 

• Comfortable with a change environment and driving automation and process change 

• Experience using a financial planning system (such as Planful, Anaplan) 

• Personal empathy with sports