Austin Fraser is the exclusive Consultancy to appoint a Director of Finance to work for a cutting edge composites manufacturer on the south coast. The company has a substantial composites design department taking composites technology from prototyping and pre-production through to full production. They are currently expanding their team and developing better, faster, more capable and agile composites manufacturing techniques for tomorrow’s technology.

The company are extremely people orientated with immaculate, purpose built facilities and a relaxed, but professional atmosphere. They have a refreshing approach to their staff, encouraging open communication across the company and ensuring their people have the appropriate training, tools and support to progress their career.

The Department

The main responsibility of the department, Finance and Business Support, is to secure continuous business development within R&D in alignment with the overall company strategy. Our client is looking for a Director for Finance & Business Support for an interesting and challenging position. This position will be very central in their large and rapidly growing organisation, and include a growing number and variety of tasks. The F&BS department includes a number of sub-departments supporting the development of the projects, including Quality/Safety/Environment, Facilities, Finance, Administration, Grant Controlling and Project Controlling.
Responsibilities and challenges
Heading up the Finance & Business Support department in UK
Being a dynamic and pro-active part of the management team in UK
Playing a strong role in the development of business plans and controlling of time, cost and value capture in our portfolio of R&D projects
Continuously improving the service output from the project organization and developing the maturity of our business models with special focus on cross-BU alignment and business focus
Developing and challenging the commercial aspects of Technology projects and securing alignment across the value chain
Driving the continuous improvement of our business processes e.g. stage-gate-models, general project governance and regular management reporting
Facilitating resource management and allocation
Securing global alignment and compliance regarding our process framework
Taking a proactive part in regular project update meetings with Management
Influencing and driving business-oriented knowledge development within the field, e.g. revising solutions/processes
Knowledge-sharing within the department as well as across the organisation
Keeping up to date with international developments of standards, solutions and processes within the company as well as the wind industry

Qualifications & work experience

The ideal candidate will have a financial Masters degree of financial and engineering degree and have more then 5 years of managerial experience
Proven leadership abilities
Knowledge of portfolio and resource management
Knowledge of lean implementation on administrative procedures
Strong personality with cross functional leadership skills that secures commitment and trustworthy relationships with internal and external partners
Thorough business insight as well as the ability to promote customer focus
Strong end experienced achiever within your area of business
Project-controlling experience, preferably from R&D environment
The ability to work undependably in cross-organisational projects
A positive attitude towards Change and to new assignments in a global and dynamic company
Good communication and networking skills, as you will be working both with internal and external colleagues and partners in a global multi-cultural environment
A proactive, persistent and results-oriented personality that carries out assignments in a systematic and structured manner

What we offer

We offer an exciting job with excellent opportunities for professional and personal development in an inspiring environment at the world’s leading manufacture of composite materials. We value initiative, responsibility and the right balance between creativity and quality in all solutions. You will become part of a highly professional environment with a strong technical commitment. As you will have colleagues at different locations you will be expected to travel internationally, (within Europe)

The position is for an immediate start and relocation assistance will be provided where appropriate. The benefits package can also be discussed on application. The short listing for this role is currently taking place so please apply at your earliest availability and either I or one of the team will call you to discuss