Divisional Head of Finance

The Organisation

Part of global conglomerate BayWa Group, Cefetra Limited is one of the major traders of grains and animal feed raw materials in the UK and Ireland.

With long-term arrangements at strategically selected import facilities with a specialised network of suppliers, objective market analysis and a trusted approach to quality and sustainability, it is ideally positioned to meet customer requirements whilst reducing risk and increasing efficiency.

With 700,000 tonnes of storage capacity supported by state-of-the-art processing technology, the business dispatches between 85,000 – 90,000 tonnes of raw materials to industry partners every week and delivers up to 600 lorry loads per day. Its products are used for animal feed and throughout the food and drink sector, supplying product to some of the largest food producers in sectors such as dairy, beef, lamb, poultry, pork, salmon, beer, bread, biscuits, breakfast cereals and pet food.

Parent organisation ‘BayWa’ is a group with worldwide operations in the agriculture, energy and building materials, and innovation & digitalisation development sectors.

The Opportunity & Role

Cefetra Limited has been rapidly growing in recent years and for a considerable period of time has shown double digit annual growth, a trend that is expected to continue.

As the business grows, so does the complexity of our operating model and fulfilment solutions, and as a result of this we now have the requirement to appoint a new Divisional Head of Finance to lead financial operations, control and accounting for a key part of our UK business.

This is a fantastic opportunity for an experience commercial finance leader, finance business partner or financial controller who wants to be involved in a global and growing business, which is a major player in its sector.

The individual will play a key part in working closely with our commodity trading teams to analyse performance, margin and improvement areas from a financial and commercial perspective and provide meaningful reporting and intelligence to our Board around this.

Cefetra operates in a dynamic environment with a volatile cost and supplier base, and the individual will need to have the flexibility and intelligence to navigate these challenges and understand operational trading challenges that may impact cost including issues associated with seasonality.

This role will encompass the following;

• Commercial Finance: overall provision of financial support and input to the UK business, including financial control and management accounting duties, interacting with the commercial team to follow market changes and assess financial impact of these
• Operational Finance: involvement and ownership of the day-to-day financial operations within the business, providing management information analysis and commentary to support decision making
• Reporting: working with the business to report on weekly/monthly commodity results (to Gross Profit level) for selected commodities with contracts measured against market values and standards costs/variances and market movements
• Continuous Improvement: taking ownership for driving process improvement both in the finance function and the departments across the UK & Irish business
• Forecasting & Budgeting: preparation of short- and long-term forecasts for the division on a regular basis
• People Management & Leadership: managing the performance and development of people within the finance function to provide a proactive, diligent and valuable finance function to the business

Candidate Requirements

We are seeking to appoint an experienced Finance leader with a natural flair for numbers, and the ability to get under the skin of a complex global trading business in a collaborative an inquisitive manner.

Specifically the individual will possess most of the following experience & skills;

• Qualified Chartered Accountant with post qualified experience in a financial management / leadership position
• Experience of providing commercially focused management information in a complex operating environment – ideally within a high-volume global trading/supply chain or related business, although consideration will be given to other backgrounds
• Experience of process ownership and evidence of this impacting the bottom line
• Experience engaging at senior management/executive level and the ability to communicate effectively
• Experience in treasury & risk management (desired)
• Experience with setting and monitoring performance against budgets
• A strong analytical approach and attention to detail
• A proactive approach with the ability to work independently
• Comfortable in a complex fast paced environment with a high degree of change
• Advanced knowledge of excel and various accounting package software

For more information and to apply, please send your CV and covering letter to Jamie Brown at applications@fwbparkbrown.com. For an initial confidential discussion, please contact our Edinburgh office on 0131 539 7087.