Data/Finance Analyst

Manchester - Hybrid

£45,000 - £55,000

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who is highly systems-driven and analytically minded. Beyond consolidating information, you will be expected to translate complex data into clear, compelling insight - telling a story that drives meaningful action.

You will lead analytical support to optimise personnel and operational expenditure (c.£140m), owning end-to-end reporting, forecasting, and performance analysis. Through robust MI and strong stakeholder engagement, you will enable cost control and informed decision-making across the business.

Key Responsibilities

Data & Reporting

• Act as the primary contact for personnel MI, transforming high-volume data into actionable insight.

• Deliver accurate weekly and monthly reporting, including store contribution analysis.

• Ensure data integrity, adherence to governance, and resolution of data issues.

• Respond promptly to ad-hoc stakeholder requests.

Business Partnering

• Work closely with finance and operations leaders to interpret and challenge monthly performance.

• Build strong relationships across teams to support decision-making and continuous improvement.

Budgeting & Forecasting

• Support preparation of personnel budgets and forecasts.

• Maintain and enhance resource planning models, collaborating with internal and external stakeholders.

Month-End Support

• Assist in management accounts preparation.

• Track performance against budget and deliver insightful variance analysis, explaining cost drivers.

Additional Responsibilities

• Contribute to broader business initiatives as required.

Skills & Experience

• Part-qualified accountant and/or experience with payroll or personnel cost analysis.

• Advanced Excel; experience with Power BI or other visualisation tools.

• Experience with resource planning models.

• Strong communication skills; able to present insights clearly to non-technical stakeholders.

• Proven ability to analyse complex datasets.

• Strong relationship builder with a proactive, problem-solving mindset.