We are working with a young and expanding hospitality brand with a fresh take on the industry.

They pride themselves on creating a friendly, intimate, and unpretentious environment for both their guests and their tight-knit team.

As they continue to grow, they are looking for a hands-on, strategic Finance Director to step in as maternity cover and lead the finance function through an exciting phase of development.

As Finance Director (Maternity Cover), you will take full ownership of the finance function, ensuring continuity and stability across all financial operations – including budgeting, forecasting, reporting, funding, payroll, and tronc compliance.

You will lead and develop a small finance team, build scalable systems, and work cross-functionally to support commercial priorities such as new site openings, cost control, and operational excellence.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic & Financial Leadership

• Lead the development and delivery of financial strategy aligned with business growth plans and commercial objectives, including new site openings, partnerships, and change projects.
• Provide clear financial insight and guidance to support high-quality decision-making across all departments.
• Translate data into action, ensuring financial performance supports revenue growth, profit improvement, and operational excellence.
• Balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution, supporting both head office and site-level initiatives.
• Prepare and present regular commercial summaries and board-style packs that translate performance into actionable insights.
• Develop scenario and sensitivity analysis to stress-test key assumptions and support strategic decision-making.

Financial Control & Governance

• Own all internal financial reporting processes, including monthly management accounts, flash reporting, and performance reviews.
• Maintain compliance with all financial, legal, and statutory requirements (including audit, VAT, tax, Companies House, and accounting standards).
• Lead preparation of year-end accounts and manage relationships with external advisors including auditors and tax consultants.
• Implement and maintain scalable systems, controls, and policies that enable accuracy, transparency, and good governance.
• Continuously improve reporting systems and processes to drive better financial visibility and informed decision-making.
• Ensure timely and accurate delivery of reporting packs tailored for different stakeholder needs (e.g., internal leadership, funders, external advisors).

Payroll, Tronc & Compliance

• Oversee the end-to-end payroll process, ensuring accurate, timely payments in line with internal policies and external regulations.
• Maintain the relationship with the appointed Troncmaster, ensuring the tronc scheme is fair, transparent, and compliant with current legislation.
• Regularly review and audit payroll and tronc processes, with strong documentation and accountability in place.
• Support the People function with guidance on pay-related compliance and operational improvement.

Budgeting, Forecasting & Planning

• Lead the annual budgeting process, working cross-functionally to ensure clarity and accountability at every level.
• Develop rolling forecasts and long-term financial plans to support growth and investment strategies.
• Manage cashflow forecasting and treasury oversight, ensuring liquidity and planning agility.
• Build and maintain financial models for scenario planning, site investment, and risk assessment.

Banking, Funding & Investor Relations

• Own relationships with banks and funding partners, ensuring appropriate facilities are in place and well-managed.
• Lead financial planning for capex and site rollout, including financing, return on investment analysis, and covenant monitoring.
• Coordinate financial updates, investment reporting, and performance insight required for external stakeholders.
• Ensure funding structures align with business priorities and growth objectives.
• Build and maintain detailed scenario-based models and sensitivity analyses to assess investment risk, business resilience, and growth planning.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to embed financial understanding and ownership into local site and departmental planning.

Operational & Commercial Support

• Act as a senior business partner to Operations, People, Marketing, and Commercial teams, supporting initiatives across labour, sales, and cost of goods.
• Work with Operations and site management to drive financial accountability and identify margin improvement opportunities.
• Analyse commercial performance and contract effectiveness (e.g., suppliers, utilities), helping departments make value-led decisions.
• Provide financial insight and challenge in project scoping, business casing, and commercial reviews.
• Develop and roll out automated Power BI dashboards and tools to empower teams with real-time, self-serve insight.

Systems, Controls & Team Leadership

• Lead, develop, and structure the finance team to deliver a high-performing, service-oriented function during the maternity cover period.
• Maintain a high standard of internal controls, ensuring productivity, accuracy, and compliance.
• Support succession planning and upskilling within the team, in line with the business’s value of developing the best people.
• Encourage continuous improvement by leveraging technology and team capability to streamline finance workflows.

Other Responsibilities

• Stay up to date with regulatory, tax, and sector-specific developments, advising on any necessary changes or risks.
• Champion a values-led, commercially focused culture within and beyond the finance team.

Experience & Qualities Criteria

• Minimum of 10 years experience at senior level finance (Head of Finance, FD)
• Proven success leading finance in a fast-paced, multi-site environment – ideally hospitality, leisure, or retail.
• Strong technical expertise across financial reporting, payroll, compliance, and controls.
• Hands-on experience managing payroll operations and third-party tronc schemes.
• Track record of building effective relationships with banks, investors, and funding partners.
• Highly analytical, with experience developing and interpreting financial models and business intelligence dashboards (Power BI or equivalent).
• Confident presenting strategic financial insights to senior stakeholders and investors.
• Available to commit to a 12–14 month maternity cover contract.