Group Manager - Finance and Accounting

The Group Manager – Finance and Accounting will be responsible for leading and managing operations within the Automotive Vertical, ensuring operational excellence, financial governance and the successful delivery of client objectives. The role requires strong people leadership, performance management capabilities and the ability to build and maintain effective client relationships.

The successful candidate will drive a high-performance culture while ensuring operational efficiency, service excellence and client satisfaction.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Leadership:

• Lead, manage and develop a team to ensure consistent operational performance and service delivery.
• Drive operational excellence by ensuring client objectives, service levels and business targets are consistently achieved.
• Monitor operational processes and performance metrics, identifying opportunities for improvement and efficiency gains.
• Implement continuous improvement initiatives to enhance operational effectiveness and customer outcomes.
• Ensure adherence to operational controls, policies and established business processes.

Financial Administration:

• Oversee accounts receivable and accounts payable functions.
• Manage basic banking-related activities and ensure financial processes are executed accurately and timeously.
• Monitor financial controls and support initiatives that improve financial efficiency and compliance.

Client & Stakeholder Management:

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with client stakeholders through regular engagement and effective communication.
• Demonstrate strong client-facing capabilities, ensuring business requirements are clearly understood and delivered against.
• Support the growth, retention and sustainability of the client partnership through proactive engagement and operational leadership.
• Act as the primary escalation point for operational matters impacting client service delivery.

People Management:

• Foster a high-performance culture through coaching, mentoring and employee development.
• Drive accountability and performance management across the team.
• Support succession planning, talent development and employee engagement initiatives.
• Ensure effective resource planning and workforce management to meet operational demands.

Minimum Requirements:

• Matric (essential)
• Diploma qualification (essential).
• Minimum 5 years experience in a managerial role.
• Proven experience managing teams and driving operational performance.
• Working knowledge of accounts receivable, accounts payable and banking processes.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated client engagement stakeholder management experience.
• Strong leadership, decision-making, problem-solving and people management capabilities.

Advantageous:

• Experience within the retail industry (preferred but not essential).
• Exposure to automotive-related operations (preferred but not essential).

Key Competencies:

• Leadership and team development
• Client relationship management
• Operational excellence
• Financial acumen
• Performance management
• Stakeholder engagement
• Process improvement
• Problem-solving and decision-making
• Planning and organisational skills
• Results orientation