Head of Shared Service Centre - Finance

Established in 1981 with a single store in the Northwest of England, the JD Group is a leading omni-channel retailer of Sports Fashion, Outdoors and Gyms with over 60,000 colleagues and over 3,400 stores across several retail fascias in over 30 markets around the world.

JD Sports Fashion Plc was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1996 and has been a FTSE100 publicly quoted company since 2019 and continues to grow in the UK and internationally.

We want to be the leading global omnichannel retailer in the sports and outdoor industry. To be a part of this successful company and help us to achieve this you will have the desire to ingrain our strategic goals of being a people-led, innovative and customer-focused organisation which provides operational excellence whilst identifying new areas of growth as part of our day to day objectives.

Responsible To: Director of UK Finance

Department: Finance

Location: Bury Head Office

Role Overview:

Reporting to the Director of UK Finance, this is a key role within the organisation and will oversee Purchase Ledger, Sales Ledger, Central Operations and Banking / Expenses. We are looking for an experienced manager who is able to review and improve processes whilst also implementing new systems and controls to ensure the department runs as efficiently as possible. The role will manage a team of 6 direct reports and a wider team of c. 40 people.

Key Duties/Responsibilities:

• Operate the Shared Service Centre function within a strong control environment
• Develop and report KPI's to demonstrate the performance of the department and identify areas of improvement
• Motivate and inspire the team with a positive working attitude and consistently look for ways to improve the way the team operates

Purchase Ledger

• Oversee Payment Practice reporting, director review and submission
• Support the business on the rollout of the P2P system and continued improvement on the non-stock AP process
• Continue development of DIDOS reporting (stock matching tool) to improve visibility to the Management Accounting team
• Monthly review of supplier statement reconciliations
• Manage weekly supplier payment runs, performing checks and loading payments for initial review

Sales Ledger

• Review current AR process and support the team in making improvements
• Regular review of aged debtors with AR team and accounting teams

Banking / Expenses

• Support the team on ensuring policy is applied across expenses, corporate cards and foreign petty cash
• Development of management reporting to highlight spend to Department heads and Management Accounting team

Central Operations

• Work with the team to ensure processes and controls are working effectively
• Regularly review the health of the ledger for aged items
• Ensure the supplier master data process (including bank account details) is managed in a robust way

Skills/Experience/Knowledge needed:

• Qualified and experienced CIMA / ACA / ACCA accountant
• Experience of managing within a Shared Service Centre environment
• Experience with working alongside and influencing senior stakeholders; both financial and non-financial
• Strong analytical skills required in order to identify and remediate risks
• Ability to investigate, understand and explain variances and overall business performance
• Strong communication skills both written and verbal required
• Ability to prioritise workloads to meet tight deadlines
• Ability to work under own initiative
• Proficient in Microsoft Office – Excel, Word and Powerpoint
• Attention to detail and accuracy
• Retail industry experience desirable
• Experience of Oracle Financials / Coupa / DIDOS would be useful
• A positive, flexible, enthusiastic and driven attitude.

We know our employees work tirelessly to make JD Sports the success it is today and in turn, we offer them some amazing benefits:

• Free parking
• Holiday Allowance
• Staff Discount on JD Group and other brands within the organisation, depending on level of role
• Pension Scheme
• Personal development opportunities to learn and develop at work.

Due to the high volumes of applications our opportunities attract, it takes time to review them all. If you don't hear back within two weeks of you applying, please consider your application to have been unsuccessful on this occasion

Applications that meet the skills criteria will be contacted for a 1st stage meeting with the talent team. Shortlisted candidates will then be invited to interview with the hiring manager.

Thank you again for your time.