This is a very special opportunity to join the management team of Octopus Energy’s UK Retail energy supply business as Finance Director. Although part of Octopus Energy Group, the UK Retail business is in its own right a large (>£10bn turnover and 6.5m household customers), well loved (4.7 Trustpilot) business with complex financial dynamics.
In this role, you will report to the Group Chief Financial Officer and be responsible for leading the Finance team dedicated to the UK Retail business.
Part of the Octopus Energy Group, Octopus Energy’s UK Retail business supplies gas and electricity to domestic and commercial customers in the UK, via our own brand and the London Power and Co-op Energy brands. We’ve recently welcomed 680,000 Avro Energy and 1.5m Bulb customers and employees into our OctoFamily and, subject to regulatory approval, expect to also welcome Shell Energy customers and staff.
Led by our non-negotiable founding principles of customer centricity, low-cost energy and rapid transition to renewables through cutting-edge technology, we’re transcending outdated legacy models to accelerate to net zero faster and cheaper - backed by long-term shareholders who share our vision.
In under 8 years, we’ve leapt from seed-venture to becoming the UK’s second largest energy supplier by customer numbers and across the Group employ over 5,000 people in 15 countries. Demonstrating the highest levels of customer and employee happiness, we’re the ONLY UK energy supplier recommended by Which? For six years in a row and voted The Sunday Times 2023 ‘Best Company to Work For.’
What you’ll do
- Financial Oversight: Lead the business unit financial operations
- Planning: Ownership of business unit budget, periodic updates and stress tests
- Reporting: Own and lead preparation of regular management account and statutory reporting for the business unit, providing thoughtful challenge to test quality. Managing audits for the business unit to ensure timely delivery of accounts with appropriate commentary.
- Cash Flow Management: Working closely with the Group Strategic Finance Team, develop and monitor cash flow forecasts, optimise daily and intra-month cash management as well as annual cash flow patterns to ensure adequate cash across the seasons. As part of this you will work with the operations team and tech team to balance financial and operational considerations.
- Credit and Debt Management: Monitor performance of key balance sheet accounts and ensure that provisioning methodology continues to be fit for purpose.
- Data Analytics: Leverage data analytics to identify trends, customer behaviours, and financial insights that inform business decisions.
- Risk Mitigation: Identify and mitigate financial risks, implement internal controls. Working with the Energy Markets team and the Strategic Finance team, monitor exposures and stress test positions vs liquidity headroom
- Team Leadership: Lead, mentor, and cultivate a high-performing finance team.
What you’ll need
- Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree from a top tier university and accounting qualification.
- Expertise: Strong financial knowledge, including analysis, budgeting, and risk management.
- Experience: You are likely to have spent time in Audit and will have worked in a variety of Finance roles in a corporate and, ideally, scale-up environment. It will be important that you have worked in a very commercial environment and can engage skillfully with functions across the business to balance risk / customer experience / financial performance.
- Leadership: Effective leadership and team management skills.
- Strategic Thinker: Able to “sweat the big stuff” but be comfortable with some ambiguity amid our fast changing industry
- Curiosity: Natural curiosity and ability to get into details to really understand things as a basis to solve problems and challenge thinking.
- Effective team player: Enjoy working collaboratively across the organisation to generate well rounded solutions quickly that the organisation can get behind.
- Adaptability: Thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.
Why else you’ll love it here
- Wondering what the salary for this role is? Just ask us! On a call with one of our recruiters it’s something we always cover as we genuinely want to match your experience with the correct salary. The reason why we don’t advertise is because we honestly have a degree of flexibility and would never want salary to be a reason why someone doesn’t apply to Octopus - what’s more important to us is finding the right octofit!
- Octopus Energy is a unique culture. An organisation where people learn, decide, and build quicker. Where people work with autonomy, alongside a wide range of amazing co-owners, on projects that break new ground. We want your hard work to be rewarded with perks you actually care about! We won best company to work for in 2022, on Glassdoor we were voted 50 best places to work in 2022 and our Group CEO, Greg has recorded a podcast about our culture and how we empower our people. We’ve also been placed in the top 10 companies for senior leadership
- Visit our UK perks hub - Octopus Employee Benefits
