Strategic Finance Director

Collinson is the global, privately-owned company dedicated to helping the world to travel with ease and confidence. The group offers a unique blend of industry and sector specialists who together provide market-leading airport experiences, loyalty and customer engagement, and insurance solutions for over 400 million consumers.

Collinson is the operator of Priority Pass, the world’s original and leading airport experiences programme. Travellers can access a network of 1,500+ lounges and travel experiences, including dining, retail, sleep and spa, in over 650 airports in 148 countries, helping to elevate the journey into something special. We work with the world’s leading payment networks, over 1,400 banks, 90 airlines and 20 hotel groups worldwide.

We have been bringing innovation to the market since inception – from launching the first independent global VIP lounge access Programme, Priority Pass to being the first to sell direct travel insurance in the UK through Columbus Direct and creating the first loyalty agency of its kind in the travel sector with ICLP. Today we still invest heavily in innovation to ensure that we continue to deliver superior customer experiences.

Key clients include Mastercard, American Express, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, LATAM, Flying Blue, Accor, EasyJet, HSBC, Chase, HDFC.

Our mission is focused on doing good beyond profit, which for us means we seek out opportunities for our people to share in our success and that we give back to the communities and people within which we work.

Never short of ambition, the success of our business is delivered through the diverse and talented team of over 2,200 global colleagues.

Purpose of the job

Reporting to the VP Group FP&A, the Strategic Finance Director is responsible for leading the Group's Strategic Finance activities, including investment governance, capital planning, financing support and strategic transaction analysis.

The role acts as a key finance partner on capital allocation, capital planning and strategic investment decisions, supporting the CFO, Investment Committee and Board through robust financial analysis, investment appraisal, challenge and governance. Working closely with Group Strategy, Treasury and business leadership teams, the role helps ensure investment and financing decisions are supported by consistent evaluation of risk, return, funding requirements and value creation outcomes.

The role leads and develops a small Strategic Finance team, ensuring delivery of high-quality strategic financial analysis, effective Investment Committee support and robust investment governance processes.

The Strategic Finance Director is accountable for:

· Defining and embedding the Group's capital allocation framework

· Leading the Group's capital planning process, including assessment of funding requirements, investment capacity and capital deployment priorities

· Supporting M&A and strategic transactions from a financial perspective

· Leading financial analysis and governance activities underpinning financing, refinancing and capital structure decisions, including engagement with lenders and funding stakeholders

· Establishing and overseeing effective investment governance, including Investment Committee processes, appraisal standards, approval tracking and value realisation

Key Responsibilities

Capital Allocation & Investment Strategy

· Define and embed the Group's capital allocation framework, ensuring consistent evaluation of investment opportunities across business units and initiatives.

· Support the Investment Committee and senior leadership through clear, comparable financial analysis and recommendations on capital deployment opportunities.

· Assess trade-offs across competing uses of capital, including organic investment, acquisitions, strategic partnerships and debt reduction.

· Develop financial recommendations that balance strategic priorities, expected returns, risk and funding constraints.

· Ensure proposed investments are evaluated against agreed strategic objectives, return thresholds and risk appetite.

Investment Governance & Investment Committee Support

· Define and embed investment appraisal methodologies and decision-making standards across the Group.

· Establish standards for business case development, review and approval to support robust and consistent investment decisions.

· Oversee the effective operation of the Investment Committee from a finance and governance perspective.

· Ensure investment proposals are subject to appropriate financial challenge and governance prior to Committee review, with approvals, delegated authorities and funding utilisation monitored appropriately.

· Oversee post-investment reviews and value realisation tracking to improve future capital allocation decisions and capital allocation outcomes.

Capital Planning & Funding Strategy

· Lead the Group's capital planning process, aligning funding capacity with strategic priorities and investment requirements.

· Assess capital deployment opportunities and provide recommendations on funding requirements and capital allocation implications across competing priorities.

· Evaluate funding requirements and the implications of investment decisions on leverage, liquidity and financing strategy.

Capital Structure, Financing & Lender Relations

· Lead financial analysis of capital structure, leverage, liquidity and covenant capacity.

· Support refinancing, funding activities and lender relationship management through development of lender-facing analysis, presentations and reporting.

· Support long-term debt, covenant and funding planning, ensuring financing capacity remains aligned to the Group's strategy and investment priorities.

· Provide recommendations on financing options, funding requirements and capital structure trade-offs, partnering with Treasury and Legal on execution.

· Provide Board, Executive and lender stakeholders with clear insight on funding strategy, covenant compliance and financial flexibility.

M&A, Partnerships & Strategic Transactions

· Partner with the Group Strategy team to assess acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures and strategic partnerships from a financial, capital allocation and value creation perspective.

· Lead financial evaluation and challenge of transaction business cases, valuation outputs and financial assumptions.

· Coordinate financial due diligence and assess the implications of transactions on capital structure, liquidity and financing requirements.

· Establish frameworks for post-transaction value tracking and performance measurement to ensure investments deliver against approved objectives and expected returns.

Strategic Performance Insight

· Develop Group-level measures of value creation, including ROIC, ROCE and capital efficiency metrics.

· Establish approaches to measure investment performance and value realisation across the Group's portfolio of investments.

· Produce insight linking capital deployment decisions to returns, cash generation and value creation.

· Support senior stakeholders in assessing the effectiveness of capital allocation decisions and opportunities to improve investment returns.

Knowledge, skills and experience

Knowledge and skills required

· Strong understanding of capital allocation, investment appraisal and value creation frameworks, including NPV, IRR, ROIC and ROCE.

· Strong knowledge of corporate finance principles, including capital structure, leverage, liquidity, covenant management and funding strategy.

· Advanced financial modelling and analytical skills, with the ability to assess investment opportunities, financing decisions and strategic initiatives.

· Strong commercial acumen, with the ability to evaluate financial performance and translate strategic decisions into financial outcomes.

· Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to develop clear and compelling materials for Executive, Board, Investment Committee and lender audiences.

· Ability to translate complex financial analysis into clear, concise and decision-useful recommendations.

· High levels of judgement, analytical rigour and attention to detail, balanced with a pragmatic and commercially focused approach.

· Proven leadership capability, including the ability to develop teams, establish governance frameworks, influence senior stakeholders and embed new ways of working.

Experience required

· Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA or CIMA) or equivalent; MBA and/or CFA advantageous.

· Significant experience in Strategic Finance, Corporate Finance, Transaction Services or senior FP&A leadership roles within a complex organisation.

· Proven track record of leading investment appraisal, capital planning and strategic financial decision-support activities within complex organisations.

· Experience supporting financing, refinancing or capital structure decisions, including development of lender-facing analysis, presentations and reporting.

· Experience operating within Investment Committee, transaction approval or equivalent governance environments.

· Experience supporting acquisitions, disposals, strategic partnerships or other strategic investments from a financial perspective.

· Experience establishing investment appraisal, governance and value realisation frameworks.

· Experience working closely with CFOs, Treasury, Strategy and senior leadership teams to support strategic, investment and financing decisions.

Collinson is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes differences in all their forms including: colour, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, neurodivergence, family status, age, individuals with disabilities and people from all backgrounds, cultures and experiences as we strongly believe this contributes to our on-going success.

We are focused on continually evolving our purpose driven, high performing culture, providing an environment where our people have the opportunity to achieve their full potential and do interesting and meaningful work. Our company values are: Take Action, Do the right thing, One team and Be insight led. These help guide everything we do internally in terms of how we think, act and interact, right through to how we deliver value to our customers and clients.

In your application, please feel free to note which pronouns you use (For example - she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/theirs, etc).

If you need any extra support throughout the interview process, then please email us at ukrecruitment@collinsongroup.com