Rutherford Cross is delighted to be retained by our key client Loch Lomond Group to recruit a newly created Finance Business Partner role.

The Loch Lomond Group is an independent distiller and blender of some of the finest and rarest Scotch Whiskies in the world. Its heritage is amongst the oldest in the industry. The Group has gone through a significant period of growth since 2014 and following the recent acquisition by Hillhouse Capital Management, a global investment firm with a focus on innovative businesses in growth industries, the business has ambitious plans.

 The company has invested significantly in growing its portfolio of brands, distillery and bottling infrastructure, global distribution platform, and management team. The business now generates about 70% of its revenue from more than 100 international markets, versus less than 10% in 2014.

 Position Overview:

 The Finance Business Partner position has been created to strengthen the company’s financial performance and controls around the operational elements of the business as it continues to grow. The post-holder will work as part of a small but highly performing finance team, and will be working closely with the operation teams across both Alexandria and Catrine sites. This position will require an individual who is hungry to learn and take on additional responsibility.

 The organisation represents an excellent opportunity for a motivated accountant who wants to work in a high growth, drinks business. In addition, the business will provide a firm career platform with good opportunity for personal and professional development as well as the mandate to shape and define how the role evolves. The company is agile in its approach and is very receptive to recommendations, resulting in great autonomy for the post-holder.

The main duties and responsibilities will involve:

• Working with procurement, logistics and manufacturing to appraise, improve, design and build accurate standard costing & overhead recovery models.
• Working with the new product development (NPD) team to ensure the impact on costs of any new products or product changes are fully understood, including working up estimated costs based on recipes and post-project evaluation.
• Providing in depth analysis of trends in production, stock and other operational variances, and providing solutions to minimize cost or maximise efficiencies where possible.
• Supporting the production/supply chain management team by providing financial analysis to enable informed decision making on anything involving costs or efficiency
• Aid in the development of systems, controls and processes, ensuring a robust environment as the business continues to grow
• Support the development and on-going maintenance of the Group Finance Controls, ensuring documentation remains up to date and reflects the changing business needs and regulatory environment
• Assisting with year-end and month end processes as required
• Ad-hoc project work as and when required

Reporting to:  Director of HR & Corporate Services

Location:       Split between Glen Catrine (Ayrshire) and Alexandria

A summary of the key candidate requirements are as follows:

• Qualified accountant, ICAS, ACCA or CIMA
• Strong operational foundation in accounting
• Previous FMCG/manufacturing experience preferred but not essential
• Confidence and strong interpersonal skills, especially when interfacing with senior management and internal/external stakeholders
• High level of accuracy and attention to detail
• Ability to work under pressure, manage deadlines and prioritise effectively
• Energy, drive, tenacity, professionalism and commitment
• Strong IT skills, excellent MS Excel skills are essential.
• Ability to work well in a team, but also capable of taking ownership for the delivery of specific tasks
• Strong written and verbal communication skills