Head of Finance Shared Services

Management Level

EQ Retirement Solutions is transforming the retirement and pensions markets with leading administration and technology solutions. With over 1200 employees globally, 189 years of knowledge and 11 million pension scheme members and policyholders, we are here to help people plan for a confident financial future by delivering innovative, reliable and customer-focused retirement services. Our teams are driven by a shared commitment to excellence, collaboration and making a real impact on the lives of our clients and customers.

Role Overview

The Head of Finance Shared Services is responsible for leading and transforming the Finance Shared Services organisation, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, scalable, efficient, and controlled finance operations across multiple geographies. The role drives operational excellence, automation, continuous improvement, governance, compliance, and service delivery while acting as a strategic partner to senior finance and business leaders.

The role requires strong commercial acumen, stakeholder management, and change leadership skills to deliver sustainable business value, develop talent, and support the organisation's strategic growth objectives.

Why Join Us?

This is an opportunity to lead a critical function at the heart of the organisation, shape the future of Finance Shared Services, and drive meaningful transformation across people, processes, and technology. You'll have the autonomy to influence strategy, deliver sustainable business value, and build a best-in-class finance operation while developing and leading a talented team.

Core Duties/Responsibilities

• The successful candidate will be responsible for the following:

Strategic Leadership

• Lead the Finance Shared Services strategy, operating model, and organisational development to support business growth and transformation.
• Provide strategic leadership across people, processes, technology, and service delivery.
Own the Shared Services budget, resource planning, and productivity agenda.

Service Delivery & Operation Excellence

• Own end-to-end delivery of Shared Services operations across Procure-to-Pay (PTP), Record-to-Report (RTR), Order-to-Cash (OTC), Payroll, Treasury Support, and Finance Controls.
• Ensure achievement of SLAs, KPIs, customer satisfaction targets, and operational excellence standards.
• Drive operational excellence through workload optimisation, process standardisation, automation, and continuous improvement initiatives
Ensure the successful delivery of Month-End, quarter-end, and year-end financial close activities.

Financial Controls, Governance & Compliance

• Maintain a strong governance and control environment across all Shared Services activities.
• Ensure compliance with accounting standards, company policies, regulatory requirements, and internal control frameworks.
Manage operational risk, business continuity, and compliance programmes across the function.

People Leadership

• Build and develop a high-performing global Finance Shared Services team.
• Create succession plans and talent development frameworks.
Drive colleague engagement, capability building, cross-skilling, and leadership development.

Stakeholder Management

• Partner with senior stakeholders and business leaders to provide insights, resolve operational issues, and support strategic decision-making.
• Provide insightful analysis and challenge to support planning, forecasting, budgeting, and performance reviews.
Develop strong relationships with Finance Directors, Controllers, Treasury, Tax, Procurement, HR, and business leadership teams.

Skills, Knowledge & Experience

The successful candidate will demonstrate the following experience skills and behaviours:

EXPERIENCE & SKILLS:

• Significant experience leading Finance Shared Services or Global Business Services organisations.
• Overall, 12 - 15 years of progressive finance experience.
• Strong understanding of end-to-end finance processes including PTP, RTR, OTC, Payroll, Treasury, Controls, and Compliance.
• Proven track record in transformation, automation, ERP implementations, and process improvement.
• Strong commercial acumen with experience managing budgets, operational performance, and service delivery.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the ability to build credibility at senior leadership level.
A people-focused leader with a passion for developing talent and creating high-performing teams.

EDUCATION/QUALIFICATIONS:

• Qualified Accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, CPA or equivalent).
• Financial accountancy experience including UK GAAP within multi-national organisation will be an advantage.

We are committed to equality of opportunity for all staff and applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships. Please note any offer of employment is subject to satisfactory pre-employment screening checks.