Reports to: Managing Director | Location: Agusta House, Commerce Way, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 6ED
About Nationwide Air Conditioning
Nationwide Air Conditioning is a national HVAC contractor with annual turnover of approximately £24 million, targeting £30 million by 2030 under our ‘30 by 30’ growth strategy. We are employee owned through an Employee Ownership Trust, so the people who deliver our work share directly in the value we create.
- National scale: 10 regions, over 150 PAYE staff including 100+ directly employed engineers, serving 2,400+ sites
- Blue-chip client base: long-term relationships with David Lloyd Leisure, Hilton, Radisson Hotel Group, TJX Europe (TK Maxx), JD Sports, Frasers Group and British Land
- Industry recognition: RAC Cooling Industry Awards Contractor of the Year, 2022, 2023 and 2024, ACR Award 2025 and CIBSE Awards 2026
- Clear growth trajectory: the ‘30 by 30’ plan targets £30 million turnover with set margins.
Purpose of the Role
The Senior Finance Manager is the most senior finance professional in the business, reporting directly to the Managing Director and leading the performance of the Finance function.
The role safeguards financial control and reporting accuracy, while providing the commercial insight and financial challenge needed to support effective decision making across the business, with particular focus on profitability, margins, work in progress, project and job performance, working capital, cash flow and forecasting.
Finance is expected to operate as a business partner rather than purely a reporting function, using financial and operational information to identify trends, highlight areas requiring attention, and provide clear analysis and recommendations that improve business performance.
The role combines financial control, management accounting and commercial finance, with the ability to work across large volumes of financial and operational data in a project and service led environment. It also carries responsibility for developing the Finance team and improving systems, processes, reporting and the use of technology and automation.
The role additionally provides financial and commercial oversight of the Purchasing function, working closely with the Strategic Purchasing Manager to support cost management, supplier performance and wider margin and cash objectives.
Overall, the role gives the Managing Director and leadership team confidence that the financial position is well controlled, clearly understood and appropriately challenged, while Finance continues to develop in line with the growth of the business.
Key Responsibilities
Financial Reporting and Control
- Own the monthly management accounts and reporting process
- Maintain strong profit and loss and balance sheet control, including accruals, prepayments and reconciliations
- Oversee revenue recognition, work in progress and job costing
- Oversee debtors, creditors and payroll reconciliations
- Lead year-end preparation and external audit requirements
- Maintain appropriate accounting policies and financial controls
Commercial Finance
- Provide commercial financial support to the Managing Director and operational leadership team
- Analyse regional, divisional, job, contract and client profitability
- Monitor gross margin and key cost drivers, including labour, materials and subcontract expenditure
- Review project and job performance, including work in progress and unbilled revenue
- Identify financial risks, opportunities and areas of cost leakage
- Provide financial analysis to support significant commercial and operational decisions
Budgeting, Forecasting and Cash
- Lead the annual budgeting process
- Maintain regular financial forecasts and scenario modelling
- Monitor performance against budget and forecast
- Own cash flow forecasting and working capital management
- Oversee credit control, aged debt and customer and supplier payment profiles
- Oversee banking, treasury and surplus cash management
- Review project and contract cash requirements
Finance Team Leadership
- Lead, manage and develop the Finance team
- Establish clear responsibilities and accountability
- Develop team capability through coaching, training, cross-training and effective delegation
- Maintain appropriate process documentation
- Support succession planning and departmental resilience
Systems and Process Improvement
- Drive continuous improvement across Finance systems and processes
- Improve ERP utilisation and financial data quality
- Develop management dashboards and reporting
- Automate repetitive Finance processes and reduce reliance on manual spreadsheets
- Improve integration between financial and operational information
Purchasing Oversight
- Provide financial and commercial oversight of the Purchasing function
- Support supplier spend and cost analysis to identify savings and cost-reduction opportunities
- Support improvements in supplier and payment terms
- Monitor purchasing performance and key expenditure trends
- Support significant supplier negotiations where required
Day-to-day procurement activity and supplier relationships remain the responsibility of the Strategic Purchasing Manager.
Governance and Compliance
- Oversee statutory accounts and external audit
- Maintain oversight of Corporation Tax, VAT and PAYE obligations
- Maintain appropriate banking and financial controls
- Oversee financial authorities and risk management
- Maintain relationships with auditors, tax advisers, banks and other professional advisers
Experience and Skills
- Qualified, part-qualified or qualified by experience, with a strong track record in a senior finance role
- Strong management accounting and commercial finance experience
- Experience producing and interpreting monthly management accounts, budgets and forecasts
- Strong understanding of balance sheet control, cash flow and working capital
- Experience analysing large and complex financial and operational datasets
- Strong Excel and financial systems capability
- Ability to translate financial information into clear commercial recommendations
- Experience leading and developing a Finance team
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to challenge and influence operational management
- Experience within construction, facilities management, engineering, maintenance or another project or service-led environment
- Strong project accounting and work-in-progress experience, including revenue and cost recognition, job costing and contract profitability analysis
- Experience working with high-volume transactional and operational data across a multi-site or regional operating structure
- Experience of ERP systems, dashboard development and BI tools such as Power BI
- Experience supporting procurement or purchasing functions
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