Job Description

Financial Planning and Data Manager

Location: Stoke-on-Trent
Working Pattern: 37.5 hours between 8am and 5.30pm
Salary: £45000 - £48000

This is an exciting opportunity for a commercially minded Financial Planning and Data Manager to join a growing business where insight, collaboration, and strategic thinking are highly valued. If you enjoy turning financial data into meaningful business insight and working closely with operational teams to drive performance, this role offers the chance to make a real impact.

This Financial Planning and Data Manager position is ideal for someone with strong analytical skills, excellent attention to detail, and the ability to communicate financial information clearly to both financial and non-financial stakeholders.

The Role – Financial Planning and Data Manager

As a Financial Planning and Data Manager, you will support strategic decision-making through insightful financial analysis, reporting, and forecasting. You will work closely with finance and operational teams to monitor performance, identify cost efficiencies, and enhance financial reporting processes.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Providing insightful financial analysis and commentary, including financial modelling and consolidation of manufacturing business data

• Managing the preparation and presentation of commercial and operational reports, including KPIs, for senior stakeholders

• Designing and developing dashboards to present financial insights clearly and effectively

• Supporting month-end procedures for group reporting in collaboration with Financial Reporting and Transactional Finance teams

• Partnering with operations, commercial, and procurement teams to analyse manufacturing costs and commercial performance

• Monitoring and challenging costs across the business while identifying opportunities for savings and efficiency

• Preparing and analysing cost accounting reports, including labour costs, standard cost variances, and utilities analysis

• Conducting detailed variance analysis to identify performance drivers and provide clear commentary to operational teams

• Supporting the budgeting and forecasting processes, ensuring cost projections align with production and business objectives

• Developing and monitoring KPIs for manufacturing performance and reporting regularly against targets

• Identifying and implementing process improvements and cost reduction initiatives alongside operations and procurement teams

• Building financial models to support decision making, including ROI analysis for new projects and evaluation of key cost drivers

• Supporting the compilation of data for corporate sustainability reporting

• Communicating financial insights clearly to both financial and non-financial stakeholders

This is a high-impact Financial Planning and Data Manager role offering excellent exposure to strategic planning, financial analysis, and operational decision-making.

About You – Financial Planning and Data Manager

To be successful in this Financial Planning and Data Manager role, you will ideally have:

• Qualified or part-qualified accountant status (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, or equivalent)

• Experience in financial planning and analysis within a commercial or manufacturing environment

• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret large and complex datasets

• Advanced Excel skills (Google Sheets knowledge would be beneficial)

• Excellent attention to detail with strong organisational skills

• The ability to communicate complex financial information clearly to non-financial stakeholders

• A proactive and commercially minded approach to identifying performance improvements

Experience with AI tools or data automation would be advantageous but is not essential.

This opportunity would suit a driven finance professional who enjoys combining financial expertise with data analysis to support strategic business growth.

What You’ll Get in Return

As a Financial Planning and Data Manager, you can expect:

• Competitive salary depending on experience

• The opportunity to play a key role in financial planning and strategic decision-making

• A collaborative and supportive working environment

• Exposure to senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams

• Opportunities to contribute to business improvement and cost optimisation initiatives

• The chance to be part of a stable and growing organisation

If you are interested in this role and feel you have the necessary skills and experience, we would love to hear from you. Please apply today to be considered for this opportunity.

This vacancy is being advertised on behalf of Appointments Personnel, who are acting as an employment agency.