UK Head of Cost Control

About the job

MBDA is a leading defence organisation.  We are proud of the role we play in supporting the Armed Forces who protect our nations. We partner with governments to work together towards a common goal, defending our freedom.

Salary: Circa £80,000 depending on experience 

What we can offer you:

• Bonus of up to 35.5% of base salary
• Car allowance of £510 per calendar month
• Pension of maximum total (employer and employee) contribution of up to 14%
• Our enhanced parental leave offers up to 26 weeks for maternity, adoption and shared parental leave. Enhancements are available for paternity leave, neonatal leave and fertility testing and treatments.
• Fantastic site facilities, including subsidised meals, free car parking and subsidised gym on site at Stevenage
• Excellent career progression and development opportunities
• We may be able to offer a relocation package for this role

Dynamic (hybrid) working: We trust our people to agree, within their teams, where and when they can be most effective. Our Dynamic Working policy allows individuals flexibility around the hours they work and where they work. Typically for this role you will work 3 days per week on-site at Stevenage.

The Opportunity:

This role will lead the UK Central Cost Control team to support the business across a diverse set of activities. You will directly manage a team of seven people, providing the team with leadership, support and mentoring to ensure personal development and a high team performance. In addition you will also have responsibility for ensuring the coherence of planning assumptions and cost control mechanisms deployed across the Greater Engineering cost control teams who are part of a separate reporting line. As such this role is responsible for ensuring the ability of the business to understand and manage its cost base in a coherent and consistent manner across the entirety of the MBDA UK perimeter.

The role interfaces with all departments in the business ensuring effective cost control and providing guidance on financial matters concerning the MBDA UK cost base, particularly headcount, capital investment, hourly rates, overheads and the associated "recovery package". (Note: The UK business is circa 6,000 people, with a cost base of ~£700m.)

You will act as the lead MoD Customer interface and be responsible for the agreement of annual and pricing rates (hourly rates, G&A, Profit rate).

You will lead all elements of the cost base 5 year business planning and annual budget setting process. You will also own the central planning, consistency of assumptions, challenging the business on requirements and consolidating data for presentation and agreement by the management.

Additional duties:

• Control the monthly closing process for the UK cost base / recovery package
• Provides timely data to the UK management team and finance community to facilitate decision making.
• For monthly reporting ensure the cost base team provide value added, qualitative analysis of performance against budget.
• Manage the year end forecast process, assessing business risks and opportunities with the aim to ensure no surprises to year end closing.
• Support the business workload (headcount) planning process and co-ordinate the process for setting headcount budgets
• Represent the Cost Control Team (and wider involvement) within the SAP S4/Hana implementation programme, ensuring harmonised processes and reporting is embedded in the UK team. In particular you will be responsible for the training of the whole cost base team of the new tools and methods coming out of the SAP S4/Hana programme
• Ensure successful implementation of improvement initiatives within the cost Control function.
• Apply timely and effective financial control to Capital Expenditures, being responsible for completing the financial planning process, managing the authorisation flow, reporting actual spending against budget. For significant capital projects, provide financial analysis and assessment of key KPI's to build and evolve business cases and  reviewing the project Cost at completions.

What we're looking for

• Fully qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent).
• Strong knowledge of IFRS accounting
• An inquisitive mind, a person who is curious, who is able to identify issues that require investigation and explanation
• Experience in leading and developing a high performing team
• Proven ability in running multiple activities and driving projects and tasks to completion
• Solid communication skills with awareness of communication styles required for all levels of the business
• Expertise is building and maintaining robust financial models and analysing data
• Experience of systems implementations is desirable

What's in it for you?

The chance to learn, develop and shine in a role which really touches all parts of the business. This will enable you to gain experiences that could accelerate your career path as the scope of this role can expand to the drive of the successful candidate.

Join a great team!

We are a team that are committed to providing high quality and professional financial control to the wider business. We act as business partners and build strong relationships to help the business achieve its objectives

Our Business:

We respect new perspectives and experiences, and we value our collaborative ways of working. We are committed to growing and supporting diversity in our workforce and ensuring everyone has an equal opportunity to reach their potential.   MBDA is proud of our employee-led networks, examples include: Gender Equality, Pride, Menopause Matters, Parents and Carers, Armed Forces, Ethnic Diversity, Neurodiversity and more…

We recognise that everyone is unique, and we encourage you to speak to us should you require any advice, support or adjustments throughout our recruitment process. We also welcome applicants who are looking for flexible working arrangements.

Follow us on LinkedIn (MBDA), Twitter (@MBDAcareers), Instagram (lifeatMBDA_UK) and Glassdoor or visit our MBDA Careers website for more information. 

Please Note: MBDA UK Limited requires all employees to achieve the required medical and national security clearance for their role. Further restrictions and/or limitations relating to nationality and/or rights to work may also apply. As a minimum and after offer stage, all successful candidates will need to undergo HMG Basic Personnel Security Standard checks (BPSS), which are managed by the MBDA Personnel Security Team.

Due to the nature of our business, this particular vacancy requires the applicant as a minimum to be a British Citizen or a Dual UK national with British citizenship and capable of achieving the clearance levels mentioned above.