Business Controller (Management Accountant) - Belfast (Hybrid)
Contract: 12 months, inside IR35
Rate: £35.00 per hour (PAYE) or £46.82 per hour (Umbrella), dependent on experience
Clearance: BPSS+
Working pattern: 35 hours per week over 4.5 days (between 07:00-19:00)
Location: Belfast with up to 2 days' homeworking per week once fully trained; occasional travel to Broughton as required
Make an impact where it matters.
Guidant Global is proud to be partnering with Airbus, a world-class manufacturer, on a key finance role within their operations in Belfast. This is a fantastic opportunity for a commercially minded Business Controller / Management Accountant to support budgeting, forecasting and performance improvement across a complex, high-profile business. You'll collaborate with local and central teams, bring clarity to financial performance, and help shape better, faster decisions.
What you'll be doing
- Own budgeting & forecasting: Support the annual budget and quarterly forecasts across business units, ensuring robust planning and alignment to company objectives.
- Drive improvement initiatives: Partner with operational managers to scope and validate improvement projects, building business cases and ROI to inform decisions.
- Deliver timely reporting: Provide relevant, up-to-date financial reporting to operational and controlling teams, highlighting variances and surfacing early risk indicators.
- Challenge and support performance: Act as a proactive business partner, recommending mitigation actions and improvement measures on all financial topics.
- Evaluate investments: Assess business cases for operational investments and performance projects, challenging assumptions and validating financials.
- Control key cost categories: Oversee activities spanning Recurring Cost, Inventory, Non-Recurring Cost and Capex (e.g., jigs/tools as required).
What you'll bring
- You're a qualified accountant (CIMA preferred) with 2+ years' PQE in a manufacturing or commercial environment.
- Practical experience with SAP or similar financial reporting tools.
- A continuous-improvement mindset, strong analytical capability and the confidence to engage and influence stakeholders at multiple levels (often across countries).
Why this role?
- Scale & variety: Join a £4bn-turnover operation where your work spans recurring cycles and project-based opportunities - ideal for learning, impact and career stretch.
- Hybrid working: After training, work up to 2 days per week from home to support balance and flexibility.
- Fair reward for extra effort: Paid overtime is available over 35 hours at standard rate (role-dependent).
- Cross-site exposure: Occasional travel to the Broughton site to collaborate with wider teams and broaden your network.
How to apply
If you're excited by the chance to combine sharp commercial thinking with hands-on delivery in a complex, international environment, we'd love to hear from you. Please apply with your CV. If you don't meet every single requirement but have relevant experience and potential, do apply - we'll consider your application fairly.
We're an inclusive recruiter. If you need reasonable adjustments at any stage, just let us know and we'll make it work.
