Finance Business Partner

About the company

Food waste is a $1 trillion problem – costing the world over 1% of global GDP. We’re dead set on solving the problem and looking for people to help us achieve our mission. We, at Winnow, believe that food is far too valuable to waste, and that technology can transform the way we produce food. Our team is made of people who all share a passion for food and technology.

Winnow was founded in London in 2013 to help the hospitality industry prevent food waste through internet of things tools in the kitchen. We have worked with hundreds of sites and are operating in over 40 countries around the world supported by our offices in London, Dubai, Shanghai, Singapore, Romania and North America. We are a rapidly growing company with a strong base of clients who are rolling out our system globally. We have blue-chip customers including Accor Hotels, IKEA, IHG, Marriott, Compass Group and many others.

Winnow’s clients on average reduce waste by over 50% by value and sustain savings. Winnow has now worked with hundreds of sites to reduce food waste, including hotels, universities and schools, staff restaurants, event/hospitality kitchens, buffets, pubs, and high street restaurants. Where the system is permanently adopted, pre-consumer waste value is reduced by 40% - 70% with no detrimental impact to the perceived quality or value of the offer to their customers. This represents a typical improvement of food cost savings of 3% to 8%, commonly a 40%+ increase in profitability for operations.

As the global leader in addressing food waste, we are committed to continue pushing the envelope on what technology can do to solve this problem. Winnow Vision, our new artificial intelligence-based technology, is trained to automatically track all food waste thrown away. It has won awards at the World Economic Forum and has been received tremendous enthusiasm from our clients and the industry. You can read more about it on our website and this article in Forbes.

We are passionate about living our values and place them at the centre of everything we do. We are excited about like minded talent who share these values, joining us in our mission:

Equal parts head and heart. We’re both passionate and measured. We carefully balance the need for quick solutions and pragmatism with the ability to step back, take in the bigger picture and build for the long term.

Bravely honest. With each other, that means we’re a transparent organisation where healthy, respectful debate is encouraged. With our customers, we challenge them if we don’t think they’re achieving their goals, whether they be environmental or financial.

People of action. Done is better than perfect, and we learn by boldly doing then rapidly improving. We’re breaking new ground, so we know things might go wrong. But we judge ourselves and each other on our reaction and our resilience.

Bound by food. We’re a diverse bunch, but our belief in the value of food is the common thread in everything we do. With each other, we celebrate through our love and respect for food. With our customers, it means we work hard to develop creative tools to make it easy for chefs to value food.

Hungry and humble. Our product is revolutionary, our people are impressive, and we’re hungry for change. But, we’re just the catalyst for a bigger movement. We stay humble regardless of our success, and make chefs the heroes in this journey.

People and Planet Positive. We’re caretakers of the planet, helping to preserve and support it for now and the future. Our work already minimises the impact that the hospitality industry has on the planet, and we’re also committed to actively reducing our own footprint while doing so. We’re leaving the planet and its people better off than we found them.

This is an opportunity to join a rapidly growing start-up (ranked 78th fastest growing European start-up by the FT) and help us propel our growth at what is truly the most exciting and dynamic points in time in our business. You will work alongside a driven team who are motivated by building an exciting business and leaving the world a better place than we found it.

About the role

Reporting to the Financial Controller and working closely with the Business Development and operations team, including frequently supporting the CEO directly, the Finance Business Partner will play a key role in analysing the sales pipeline, projected forecasts and KPIs to help ensure we are maximising our revenue and tracking to targets.

Key responsibilities:

• Manage the accounting functions of 2/3 entities of the Winnow Group including; managing accounts receivables, credit control, accounts payable, and monthly balance sheet reconciliations.
• Support the financial controller with the monthly reporting and management presentations.
• Support the financial controller with reviewing financial systems and processes and taking a lead in implementing improvements as the business grows
• Manage the production of the sales forecast using data from the CRM system, and subsequently analyse, challenge and follow up as appropriate where data seems incomplete or inaccurate
• Regular walk-throughs with all global sales team members to confirm and challenge sales opportunities in the CRM
• Support the Financial Controller with the annual budgeting process
• Develop and maintain dashboards, KPIs and metrics which drive business decision making
• Produce ad-hoc reports as requested by the Financial Controller / Global MDs
• Once established in the role, provide support and analysis on data and performance to all areas of the business

Requirements

Education and experience

• You will be part / fully qualified accountant
• You will have 2+ years experience in working in a finance team (start-up experience is a benefit)
• You will have significant experience in manipulating and analysing data, ideally gained within a finance / sales capacity
• You are likely to be degree educated
• You'll have advanced Excel / Google sheet skills and will be extremely comfortable working with numbers on a daily basis
• Experience using Xero is a benefit

Personal attributes

• You have excellent attention to detail and a meticulous eye for identifying inconsistencies or inaccuracies in data. You take your time to get things right first time
• You are able to organise yourself, including effective scheduling, prioritisation and time management skills, managing multiple tasks in parallel and completing tasks to tight deadlines
• You have the communication skills, confidence, and maturity to regularly discuss with stakeholders at all levels and constructively challenge their inputs to the CRM, budgets, etc.
• You have a track record of identifying problems, analysing options and deploying sound decision making skills
• You are comfortable identifying trends, risks and opportunities and making recommendations to drive the business forward
• You are results driven and can demonstrate how you have delivered effective solutions in a timely manner
• You are comfortable taking ownership and accountability for your work whilst working effectively as part of a larger team
• You are able to stay focused when dealing with repetitive tasks and retain your motivation throughout to get the job completed
• You are transparent and act with integrity at all times

Our shared attributes

• You are both passionate and measured. You carefully balance the need for quick solutions and pragmatism with the ability to step back, take in the bigger picture and build for the long term
• You are transparent in approach and enjoy healthy, respectful debate. You work hard to build open and honest collaborative relationships
• You get things done and seek to continually improve. Your customers want you on their team
• You are passionate about the value of food and are committed to the fight against food waste
• You are humble in approach and quick to pitch in if you see someone struggling

Benefits

• Competitive base salary
• Company stock options package
• Eligible for discretionary annual bonus
• Meal tickets - 20 Ron per working day
• 2 Wellness hours per month, plus 114 RON monthly wellness allowance
• Employee Assistance Programme - 24/7 helpline for your wellbeing
• Company part-funded health insurance
• 25 days of paid vacation time in addition to national holidays
• Our own office space with a great working environment, and a flexible approach to work (work-from-home policy and flexible hours)
• You will love what you do – waking up every day solving one of the biggest social problems of our generation
• Committed team members with broad experience who share a common passion to build a world class business