Finance Business partner (investment assessment)

This role will be working for Places Leisure part of the Places for People group. As the UK's leading Social Enterprise, we move lives forward every day by building, managing and supporting thriving Communities. From new homes, social housing and student accommodation to leisure, education and Community initiatives, our work makes a positive difference to millions of People across the UK. And that takes People who care about doing the right thing. People who are ambitious, ready to grow and motivated to make a difference through the work they do.

We're looking for Colleagues who bring energy, curiosity and ownership. People who enjoy being challenged, support those around them and want to keep raising the bar. Because when we perform at our best, we create more opportunities to invest in our Customers, our Communities and each other.

Experience matters, but it's only part of the story. If you share our values and want to build a career where your work has real impact, we'd love to hear from you.

More about your role

This role forms part of the Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) team within Places Leisure and plays a key role in supporting strategic decision-making across the business. With a primary focus on investment appraisal, you will evaluate capital investments, growth initiatives, partnerships and new business opportunities, providing clear financial insight to support commercial decision-making.

You will develop robust financial models, assess investment returns and risks, and prepare business cases that demonstrate the commercial viability and strategic fit of proposed opportunities. Working closely with operational, commercial and finance teams, you will translate complex financial information into clear recommendations for senior stakeholders, while ensuring investment decisions are supported by appropriate governance and controls throughout the investment lifecycle.

In addition, you will monitor investment performance, enhance financial modelling and reporting tools, support the automation of reporting processes, and help align the investment pipeline with Places Leisure's long-term growth strategy and business objectives.

Essential criteria

• Proven experience of investment appraisal, financial modelling and business-case evaluation, including ROI, NPV, IRR and payback calculations.
• Advanced Excel modelling skills, including scenario planning, sensitivity analysis and risk quantification.
• Experience assessing the commercial viability and strategic fit of investments, new ventures or business-development opportunities.
• Experience presenting complex financial analysis and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Working knowledge of financial standards, investment governance and capital-allocation frameworks. 

More about you

You combine strong commercial judgement with detailed financial analysis and can explain your findings in a clear, practical way. You are comfortable partnering with finance, commercial and operational teams, constructively challenging assumptions and helping stakeholders make informed decisions. Experience using Power BI, planning tools such as Anaplan or reporting automation would help you make an early impact, although these are not essential. 

 What you'll get

You'll receive:

• Salary £65,000
• Pension with matched contributions up to 7%
  • Bonus scheme for colleagues at 2%
  • Option to buy or sell days
  • Healthcare cashback plan for everyday medical costs, with private GP and health support services available
  • Comprehensive wellbeing support including counselling, flu jabs, our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and access to our Wellbeing Hub, supporting your mental, physical and financial wellbeing
  • Access to Our Place Rewards, offering discounts and savings on groceries, travel, shopping, home products and other lifestyle purchases
  • Ongoing training, professional qualifications, internal development programmes and career progression opportunities
  • Recognition programmes including Star Awards and Colleague Awards, celebrating achievements and recognising great work
  • Strong focus on inclusion, wellbeing and colleague engagement
  • Free membership to Places Gyms
  • Life Assurance to provide financial security for your loved ones, alongside access to will writing services to help you plan for the future with confidence

What's next?

If you meet the criteria and are ready to make the next step in your career then click apply. You will be redirected to our careers site where you can discover more about the role, read a full job description and apply directly to us.

As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we offer a guaranteed interview to candidates who are disabled, neurodiverse, or have served in the Armed Forces, provided they meet the essential criteria for the role. If you would like to be considered under this scheme, please indicate this in your application. We are dedicated to creating a supportive and accessible recruitment process for all.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application or interview experience, please let us know. We're happy to work with you to ensure you have the opportunity to perform at your best.

If you are a Places for People customer and you're looking for support with your application, please contact our skills and employment team on skillsemployment@placesforpeople.co.uk.

We understand the importance of a supportive and inclusive work culture so please talk to us at interview about flexibility you may need. We can't promise to give you exactly what you want, but we promise not to judge you for asking. For this role we are open to discussing the possibility of reduced hours, flexible start and finish times or compressed hours.  

If you are a recruitment agency please note we operate a PSL and do not take cold calls 

Safeguarding

At Places for People, safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. We are committed to creating safe communities for our customers and colleagues by protecting children, young people, and adults at risk from harm, abuse, and neglect. 

We follow robust safeguarding policies and procedures, ensuring all employees, volunteers, and contractors uphold the highest standards of safeguarding and accountability. Our recruitment process includes pre-employment checks, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks where applicable, to promote a safe and secure working environment. 

By joining Places for People, you are expected to contribute to our safeguarding culture, following our policies and reporting concerns to protect those in our communities