Head of Commercial Finance

Full -Time Perm Role: Head of Commercial Finance

Sector: Event Services

Location: Southwark, London or Hertfordshire Office

Hybrid: 3 days in the office, 2 days WFH

Salary: £70,000 -£80,000

Reports to: Finance Director

Ref: VFR3268

VisionFR is working with a growing international events agency to find a Head of Commercial Finance. You will be responsible for the smooth running of all the agencies financial projects, providing commercial, governance and insight across the lifecycle of the projects.

Responsibilities of the Head of Commercial Finance

• Take ownership of financial oversight across a portfolio of projects and live experiences
• Establish, review and sign off budgets, cost trackers and margin expectations
• Track financial performance throughout delivery, flagging risks and opportunities early
• Ensure accurate cost capture, accruals and work-in-progress (WIP) across all activity
• Collaborate closely with commercial, delivery and client-facing teams on pricing and proposals
• Review project scopes to confirm commercial soundness and margin protection
• Proactively challenge assumptions, costs and approaches to improve profitability
• Support the financial elements of contracts, including deposits and payment schedules
• Prepare project-level forecasts, revenue recognition and margin analysis
• Deliver clear, actionable reporting on profitability, variances and financial risk
• Lead post-delivery financial reviews, capturing insights and lessons learned
• Provide meaningful financial insight to senior stakeholders on overall performance
• Ensure appropriate billing structures, milestones and cash collection processes
• Work alongside finance and delivery teams to manage supplier commitments and spend
• Identify cash exposure across the forward project pipeline
• Support accurate cash flow forecasting aligned to delivery timelines
• Design, implement and maintain robust project finance controls and approvals
• Promote consistent use of project accounting systems, tools and templates
• Drive continuous improvement in job costing, WIP and margin reporting processes
• Ensure compliance with relevant VAT treatment and revenue recognition standards
• Lead, mentor and develop a specialist project finance team
• Act as a trusted commercial partner to delivery, operations and leadership teams
• Help bridge the gap between finance and project delivery
• Support the Finance Director with both strategic insight and day-to-day operational input

Key Requirements for Head of Commercial Finance

• Qualified or part-qualified accountant (CIMA, ACCA, ACA)
• Proven track record in senior project finance, commercial finance or programme-level accounting roles
• Paprika would be a bonus
• Experience operating in complex, delivery-led or project-based environments
• Deep understanding of job costing, margin optimisation and work-in-progress at scale
• Advanced financial modelling and data analysis capability, with strong systems literacy
• Commercially astute, able to balance risk, opportunity and delivery pressures
• Confident influencing and constructively challenging senior non-finance stakeholders
• Highly organised, comfortable leading multiple workstreams and priorities
• Pragmatic, resilient and solutions-focused in fast-moving environments
• Strong leadership presence with experience building, mentoring and developing teams
• Excellent communicator, able to translate complex financial information into clear strategic insight
• Experience overseeing large, complex/multi-location projects
• Strong awareness of indirect tax, revenue recognition and multi-currency considerations

VisionFR is committed to encouraging equality, diversity, inclusion and eliminating unlawful discrimination within our workforce and whilst fulfilling our Clients recruitment needs. Due to the high level of applications being received if you do not hear from us within 5 working days, please assume your application has not been successful on this occasion, usually due to other candidates having more relevant sector exposure, qualifications or required skills. We thank you for your interest.