Retail Finance Manager, London UK

Urban Outfitters started out as a single boutique in 1970s Philadelphia with creativity and uniqueness at its core. 50 years on, and over 60 stores across Europe later, we’ve become a destination for emerging design, unexpected styling, One-Of-A-Kind vintage and homeware that makes you want to hit the share button.  

We speak to a social community of over 10 million forward-thinking individuals, bringing together a nostalgia for the past with an enthusiasm to shape the future. The UO community are culturally aware, they shape the music scene, they live a digitally native life and they wear style trends before anyone else. At our core, we empower our customers and staff to express themselves, unapologetically, living life in a way that's truly authentic to them. 

We are always excited to bring new talent into the room, especially if you share our values: 

Progressive — we move with the mood 
Creative — we champion limitless minds 
Inclusive — we open our platforms to all communities 
Responsible — we work to reduce our impact on the environment 
Compassionate — we care for each other beyond the 9 to 5 

Sound like you, why not join us? 

This role has a hugely varied scope and is an active partner in championing financial and business discipline. Delivering the right information, at the right time, to the right people, so they can make the right business decisions is the key concept to this department - all with a profit-centric mindset.

This role interacts across multiple departments & seniority, so would suit a driven individual who has excellent interpersonal skills and gravitas. The individual must have a pro-active and naturally inquisitive nature, who can work independently to support the needs of the business. A keen & quick eye – both to detail / data integrity, as well as an ability to spot the story is vital – thus must be at ease with large volumes of complex data, across multiple systems and still be able to summarise coherently and accurately to a wide audience. The role does involve basic elements, such as modelling and reporting, so the individual must be willing to work in detail, accurately and efficiently.

The role currently has no direct reports, however there is potential for this in future, and one more junior member of the team that can be used for support on an adhoc basis.

1) Business Partnering

• Supporting Retail Director with weekly TB (with Finance Director/SFM) to ensure we are supporting project workload, approvals, ideas generation and providing general business advisory counsel.  
• Being the finance representative for the retail field – attending District Manager meetings and weekly retail calls to be point person for all queries and to encourage a profit centric mindset.
• Working with branch merch partners / logistics/ retail ops on adhoc projects  
• Deputising for Finance Director/SFM when required
• Ad hoc projects such as promotion analysis, interruption of trade impact and new initiative business cases 

2) Retail reporting and P&L management

• Weekly and monthly reporting - involving KPI reporting & analysis & challenge, new store performance, 4-wall report (store portfolio pack). 
• Track and analyse store performance metrics, such as sales; density, footfall conversion, and staffing efficiency to support tactical and strategic decision-making
• Payroll management, dealing with retail team to support the business to trade with the right payroll number
• Partnering with WFM (work force management team) to align on inputs into the payroll model and align on the resulting hours
• New store proforma insight as well as input into store renewals process
• Pre and post analysis of various initiatives and capex spend
• Bonus target setting and results

3) Budgeting

• Preparing Retail sales budget process including modelling up scenarios, liaising with senior stakeholders to agree on a budget and working flexibly to update as and when required 
• Owning budget for Store payroll working alongside WFM team to get to view everyone aligns on
• Owning capex budget for Retail including all refreshes and retail ops requests.
• Involvement in Long Range Plan (3-5 years) from a retail point of view, offering insight and a data led approach to where we should open stores in the future and support in modelling comp assumptions and other P&L levers.

• Good level of post qualification experience of commercial, FP&A, business partnering finance experience, ideally in a Retail environment. 
• Experience of working in a fast-paced, dynamic business. 
• Willingness and ability to do the detailed tasks accurately and efficiently, whilst able to balance with the senior elements of the role.
• A confident communicator, who can flex communication styles to build strong working relationships. 
• Ability to drive own workload, work autonomously and lead cross-functional workload in a considered, timely manner in line with the business requirements and needs.
• Proactive and curious nature, with a ‘can do’ attitude.
• Highly proficient in Excel and confident working across multiple systems, proactively evolving learning and best practices to develop experience.

Work-life balance:

•  Flexible start and finish times
•  Bring your dog to work

Wellbeing:

•  Employees Assistance program to support with mental, physical and financial health
•  Fully equipped free gym and on-site wellness room in Brick Lane and 50% discount of external gym memberships
•  Private Medical Insurance

Employee Discount:

•  Up to 40% off at all URBN Brands

Pension

3% contributions

Community:

•  One paid day to either volunteer or fundraise for a charity of your choice

 Travel:

•  Cycle to work scheme, season ticket loan

Continued Development:

•  We offer structured support within the business alongside continued learning and development

#LI-GH1 #URBN

URBN is an Equal Opportunities Employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We provide equal employment opportunities regardless of age, sexual orientation, sex, gender reassignment, pregnancy, marital status, religion, race, or disability. We base all our employment decisions on merit, job requirements and business needs.