Who are we?
Howden is a collective – a group of talented and passionate people all around the world. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 18,000 employees spanning over 100 countries.
People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work / life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.
What are we looking for someone to do?
* Group Head Office (HGS) expense management – manage the head office cost base to the agreed budget, partnering effectively with the Group Functional leads to manage funding and costs. Provide high quality management reporting on cost base for the Group Finance Director, including to meet investor demands, and proactively manage issues arising. Work closely with HR on annual bottom-up people budget, and IT on technology investments. Manage delegated authorities and expense approval process. Manage, design solutions and monitor any HGS cost challenges. Provide effective oversight of any outsourced processes.
* Allocations – ensure that allocation of HGS costs to Divisions are managed in an agreed, transparent and predictable way via service level agreements, such that issues are limited with the Divisions. Work with tax to ensure international allocations are robust and transfer pricing compliant.
* Groupwide cost base oversight & challenge – Partner with the Divisional finance teams to ensure that the groupwide cost base and ‘below the (EBITDA) line’ items are being managed in accordance with the direction from the Business Management Team (BMT). Provide clear reporting to Operating Leverage, OpCo and other committees, and lead best practices by example. Provides decision support to the Group Finance Director / Group CFO / Group COO on actions that need to be taken with Divisions / functions, for example on cost challenges (e.g. reporting by cost type Group-wide and identifying areas for improvement). Drive the required actions arising from the operating leverage project to successful completion. Contribute to the strategic discussions on Howden’s business services strategy and performance as part of the annual MTFP (working closely with Group FP&A) as a senior member of the Group finance team.
* Capex/material opex management – manage the finance process for Project Investment Committee. This should include implementing standard, transparent approval process, giving robust business cases with appropriate and justifiable returns on investment made. Ensure appropriate signoffs from other functions (e.g. risk, legal) before cases are taken to the PIC. Perform post investment monitoring against the investment case to identify and share areas of success and improvement.
* Work closely with the procurement function for Group and groupwide services, including identification of where commercial agreements need to be revised for optimising significant supplier arrangements to ensure value for money (e.g. reporting by supplier and benchmarking).
* Strong leadership & team management – lead by example to ensure HGS has high standard of financial control, governance, relationship and risk management. Identifies and builds the capabilities needed within their own team to deliver on their accountabilities, developing a high performing team through coaching and development. Set the standard / best practice by which other financial controllers should follow, by driving clear accountability to ensure value for shareholders.
* Process efficiency / ERICCA 2 – ensure all processes and controls are lean, leveraging automation and effective ways of working where possible. Reduce hand offs and intra-finance inefficiency. Drive for process excellence. Ensure all processes are ultimately documented and performed to a “SOX” standard.
* Relationships – Develops and improves relationships with key stakeholders, including but not limited to, Group CFO & Finance Director, Director of FP&A, Divisional CFO’s (and their teams), Group Functional Owners and Group Chief Operating Officer and his team leads.
* Change – Drive a continuous improvement culture in your team and be an active contributor / role model for the change agenda. Support change projects by providing project accounting services where required for large change projects, and demonstrate best practices through the cost management of these project.
* Other responsibilities may be added to this role as the operating model changes. This may include oversight or management of finance operations.
What do we need from you?
* Qualified accountant with 15+ years PQE.
* Strong leader with proven track record of adding commercial value / managing cost base in a large and complex financial services organisation.
* Excellent stakeholder management skills to influence, guide and manage senior stakeholders.
* Ability to see the big picture as well as leading by example to ensure robust operational processes and controls are followed.
What do we offer in return?
A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us:
* Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new.
* We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges.
* We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond.
Reasonable adjustments
We're committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs. Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours* or hybrid working*.
If you're excited by this role but have some doubts about whether it’s the right fit for you, send us your application – if your profile fits the role’s criteria, we will be in touch to assist in helping to get you set up with any reasonable adjustments you may require.
*Not all positions can accommodate changes to working hours or locations. Reach out to your Recruitment Partner if you want to know more.
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