Finance Business Partner

Citadel Source is delighted to be working on an exclusive basis with Loungers to appoint a Finance Business Partner (Property). This is an excellent opportunity for someone looking to make their mark within a true ‘value-add’ position, supporting an ambitious growth plan over the next 5 years.

A bit about Loungers….

Loungers is a substantial and growing operator in the UK hospitality sector. As of October 2024, Loungers operates 276 sites in England and Wales across three distinct but complementary brands, Lounge, Cosy Club and Brightside. Founded in 2002 by three friends who wanted to create a neighbourhood café-bar that they would want to go to, the Group is now the only growing all-day operator of scale in the UK and has consistently outperformed the wider UK hospitality sector over the past three years.

About you

You are a commercially focused business partner, driven by a passion for excellence and improvement. You likely have experience working within a retail or multi-site environment with significant exposure to CAPEX or fixed asset capital accounting.

As a Finance Business Partner, you have likely chosen a career within a ‘value-adding’ finance pathway and enjoy building relationships with non-finance stakeholders.

As a Finance Business Partner, your responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Assisting the Commercial Finance Director in reviewing and challenging property-related pre-opening and maintenance costs. You will also implement policies and reporting to drive cost efficiencies and clarify spending
• Providing business partner support to the Property team on a day-to-day basis, including developing financial models to assist with decision-making and drive cost efficiencies
• Assisting in creating new operational processes to ensure a thorough and continuous review of capital expenditure costs while maintaining compliance with relevant accounting standards
• Developing a deep understanding of the entire property process, leveraging this knowledge to question existing assumptions and identify opportunities
• Ensuring that ongoing build projects and associated budgets are sufficiently reviewed and tracked, and that completed projects are closed off and capitalized in a timely manner
• Working with the Financial Accountant to review actual monthly expenses against the budget to promptly identify and address any overspending
• Collaborating with the Property team to develop the annual CAPEX budget, including providing financial support and reforecasting
• Performing any other ad-hoc project requirements as requested by the FD or CFO

What the client has to offer

• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays;
• A 3% company pension contribution by the Company;
• The opportunity to earn a bonus of between 0% up to a maximum of 10% salary each year, the details of which would be communicated to you at the beginning of each financial year;
• 50% off food at Loungers’ restaurants
• An annual invitation to the Industry’s biggest shindig: Loungefest

If you're interested in discussing this role, please contact Dan Morris at Citadel Source.