Senior Finance Analyst - Safeguarding

About the role:

This role sits within ZEPZ’s Financial Control function, as a Finance Analyst (Safeguarding), and requires a diligent and inquisitive individual with an eye for detail who will proactively contribute towards enhancing the Group’s global safeguarding framework, establishing globally consistent standards, ensuring ongoing compliance with local regulations and implementation of best-in-class processes, procedures and controls to ensure that our Safeguarding-related obligations across the Group are met and hold up to auditor and regulator scrutiny.

Good communication will be particularly important given the close interaction with stakeholders across other functions, including but not limited to Compliance; Risk; Financial Operations; Regulatory Reporting; SOX/Internal Control; Engineering, Business Insights, Internal Audit; and External Audit. A passion for transformation and proactively driving improvement across the function and wider business will also be key. 

As a member of ZEPZ Financial Control team you will aim high, embrace challenges and always do what’s right; acting with integrity and building trust as you contribute to the Group’s Safeguarding reporting and long-term decision making. 

What you will own:

Reporting to the Safeguarding Manager, you will: 

• Prepare daily global safeguarding calculations ensuring that they are in line with the FCA/NBB/national regulator guidelines and submitted accurately and timely;
• Support in ensuring all safeguarding breaches (and “near misses”) are escalated, remediated and that any recommendations are implemented;
• Help ensure ongoing compliance with safeguarding controls (as well as implementation of any new internal controls identified);
• Assist in ensuring all recommendations from Internal Audit, External Audit, regulator inspections and wider process improvement initiatives, are remediated and implemented on a timely basis;
• Prepare insightful commentary and analysis to explain movements in safeguarding balances (e.g. day-to-day; month-on-month; quarter-on-quarter; year-on-year), and deep dive anomalies;
• Support in the assessment of current best practice and horizon scanning for new regulations and compliance requirements that might impact safeguarding calculations;
• Support in the preparation and/or maintenance of safeguarding procedure documents / manuals and safeguarding policies, ensuring jurisdiction-specific requirements are also adequately addressed and monitored;
• Research and make proposals as to where reporting developments, including the issue of new standards, regulations and best practice reporting, can be used to enhance the Group’s safeguarding calculations and reporting without exposing the Group to ill-thought-out analysis;
• Work with stakeholders across the business to make safeguarding processes more efficient;
• Support financial and safeguarding audits by providing accurate and timely information to auditors;
• Apply a challenger mindset to help drive improvements and contribute towards creating a high-performing, best-in-class function;
• Be a doer that seeks to constantly improve and implement best practice within the function, driving improvement in performance through your own ways of working, and delivering work of a high standard whilst demonstrating “what good looks like”;
• Deliver ad hoc analysis to support the wider business, and perform other ad hoc tasks as required.

What you bring to the table: 

• Strong interest in a career in accountancy and/or regulatory reporting, with background in Safeguarding / Internal Audit / External Audit / Controls implementation;
• High quality numeracy, with good attention to detail and a passion for transformation and resolving issues;
• Diligent with an attitude of “right first time” and emphasis on self-review;
• Excellent communications skills; both written and verbal;
• Good knowledge and some experience of IT (documents, presentations, spreadsheets);
• Knowledge of NetSuite or comparable general ledger system beneficial;
• Knowledge of accounting and business concepts, with some experience;
• Deadline driven with a focus on “no surprises”.
• Team player that is collaborative, proactive and able to work across teams in Compliance, Internal Audit, Engineering (and beyond) to drive deliverables and process improvement;
• Passionate about developing new skills and expertise, and comfortable working in a constantly changing environment;
• Experience working in a regulated environment is beneficial;
• Experience of SOX/Internal controls is beneficial.