12 jobs in FD Capital

FD Capital places fractional FP&A professionals for UK businesses — experienced financial planning and analysis specialists who work across multiple businesses simultaneously on a day-rate basis, typically committing one to two days per week to each client. The fractional FP&A model gives growing businesses access to senior FP&A capability — robust financial modelling, structured budgeting and forecasting, and commercial finance analysis — at a cost proportionate to the business’s current scale.

Adrian Lawrence FCA , founder of FD Capital and a Fellow of the ICAEW, leads our senior finance recruitment practice.

Adrian Lawrence FCA — Founder, FD Capital
Fellow of the ICAEW | ICAEW-Registered Practice | Fractional and permanent finance placements since 2018

The fractional FP&A model works best when a business has clear, recurring FP&A requirements — a monthly forecasting cycle, a quarterly reforecast, an annual budget process — but not enough volume to justify employing a dedicated FP&A professional. The fractional professional builds the model, runs the process and delivers the output on their allocated days, providing senior‑level analytical rigour without the overhead of a permanent headcount addition. For businesses that need someone employed on a reduced‑hours basis rather than working across multiple clients, our Part‑Time FP&A service is the better fit.

The fractional FP&A professional builds and owns the business’s financial model — the integrated three‑statement model or the driver‑based planning model that the business uses for its annual budget, rolling forecast and scenario analysis. Many growing businesses have financial models that were built by the founder, the CFO or an external accountant as a one‑off exercise and have never been properly structured, documented or maintained. The fractional FP&A professional’s first priority is typically to assess the existing model, redesign it if necessary, and bring it to a standard that the business can rely on for decision‑making and for presenting to investors or lenders.

The fractional FP&A professional runs the recurring forecasting cycle — updating the model with actuals each month, refreshing the forward assumptions with the management team, producing a revised full‑year forecast and presenting the variance analysis and forward outlook to the CFO or CEO. In businesses with a monthly management accounts cycle, the fractional FP&A professional works alongside the finance team to ensure the management accounts feed cleanly into the forecast model rather than requiring manual rekeying.

Running an annual budget process is a significant exercise that typically involves coordinating inputs from multiple departments, building the consolidated financial plan, stress‑testing assumptions and producing a board‑ready budget pack. A fractional FP&A professional with experience of running budget processes in businesses of a similar scale handles this systematically — bringing a structured approach that the business’s finance function may not have had previously. For PE‑backed businesses, the budget process also involves preparing the financial plan in the format the sponsor requires and aligning it with the investment case targets agreed at the time of the deal.

Beyond the core planning cycle, the fractional FP&A professional provides commercial finance analysis on request — investment appraisals, pricing models, unit economics analysis, acquisition modelling and the financial input into strategic decisions. For businesses with investor reporting obligations, the fractional FP&A professional prepares the financial sections of the investor or board pack, ensures the KPI reporting is consistent and accurate, and provides the narrative analysis that translates the numbers into a clear strategic picture.

The distinction matters practically and structurally. A fractional FP&A professional works across two or three businesses simultaneously on a day‑rate basis. They are self‑employed or operating through a limited company, outside IR35 in most cases, and their time is divided between clients. They bring broad cross‑sector modelling experience and commercial independence, but they are not exclusively available to a single business on their working days.

A part‑time FP&A professional is employed by a single business on a reduced‑hours contract — typically two to three days per week — with full employment rights and benefits. They are available exclusively to that business on their contracted days and build continuity of understanding over time. If the business needs its FP&A professional to attend management meetings, be reachable on their working days as the primary analytical contact, and build institutional knowledge alongside the finance team, the part‑time employed model is usually the right choice. If the business needs a skilled professional to run specific FP&A processes and deliver defined outputs, fractional typically works well.

The most common trigger for a fractional FP&A engagement is an imminent capital raise or exit process, where the business needs investor‑grade financial modelling and planning capability that the existing team cannot provide. A fractional FP&A professional with fundraising modelling experience — three‑statement models, cap table management, scenario analysis for investor presentations — can be deployed quickly and delivers immediately without a lengthy onboarding process. FD Capital’s broader Fractional CFO practice means we regularly place fractional FP&A professionals working alongside fractional CFOs as a coordinated finance leadership team for fundraising situations.

PE sponsors investing at smaller deal sizes often find that portfolio companies need to upgrade their financial reporting and planning infrastructure quickly after investment — the weekly cash flow, the monthly management accounts, the quarterly reforecast and the KPI dashboard that the sponsor requires. A fractional FP&A professional can build this infrastructure, train the finance team to maintain it, and be redeployed once the systems are established. This is a more cost‑effective model than a permanent FP&A hire at a stage when the business is still building the financial management capability the sponsor expects.

Growing businesses often find themselves between finance hires — the founder or CFO has been managing the planning function but the business has outgrown that capacity, yet the revenue and EBITDA profile does not yet justify a permanent FP&A headcount. A fractional FP&A professional bridges the gap, maintaining planning quality while the business grows to the point where a permanent appointment makes commercial sense. FD Capital helps clients transition from fractional to permanent FP&A when the time is right, with the fractional professional often playing a role in the specification and onboarding of their permanent successor.

Business Context

Typical Day Rate

Typical Commitment

Start‑up / early‑stage (pre‑Series A) £300 – £450/day – 1 day/week

Scale‑up (Series A–B, £2m–£15m revenue) £400 – £550/day – 1–2 days/week

Mid‑market (£15m–£50m revenue) £450 – £650/day – 2 days/week

PE‑backed portfolio company £475 – £675/day – 1–2 days/week

Fundraising / exit modelling (project) £500 – £750/day – Project basis

Day rates are quoted outside IR35. For the part‑time employed equivalent see our Part‑Time FP&A page. For permanent FP&A salary benchmarks see our FP&A Recruitment page.

FD Capital places fractional FP&A professionals for UK businesses — day‑rate, multi‑client model, one to two days per week. Qualified, experienced specialists available within days. Introductions within three to five working days.

FD Capital Recruitment Ltd is registered at Companies House (no.  ) and has been providing CFOs and Finance Directors since 2018 and is operated by an ICAEW‑registered practice. Our founder Adrian Lawrence FCA holds an ICAEW practising certificate.

Our fractional Finance Directors are hands‑on. They embed in your business, take ownership of the finance function, and work alongside your team.

• Setting and owning the financial strategy aligned to business goals
• Board reporting and presenting to investors or shareholders
• Financial modelling, forecasting and scenario planning
• Cash flow management and working capital optimisation
• Preparing investor‑ready financial packs for VC and PE fundraising
• Managing debt facilities and banking relationships
• Financial due diligence support for acquisitions and disposals
• Leading the finance workstream in MBO processes

• Monthly management accounts and KPI reporting
• Annual statutory accounts and audit management
• Finance team leadership, recruitment, and development
• Systems implementation and process improvement

Financial Planning & Analysis Recruitment

FD Capital recruits permanent FP&A professionals for UK businesses — from FP&A Analysts and FP&A Managers through to Heads of FP&A. Every candidate we place holds a recognised accountancy or finance qualification and has demonstrable experience in financial modelling, budgeting, forecasting and commercial finance analysis. Adrian Lawrence FCA , founder of FD Capital and a Fellow of the ICAEW, leads our senior finance recruitment practice. We place FP&A professionals across technology and SaaS businesses, PE-backed portfolio companies, financial services firms and mid-market corporates. For engagement types other than permanent see our Fractional FP&A, Part-Time FP&A and Interim FP&A pages.

Adrian Lawrence FCA — Founder, FD Capital
Fellow of the ICAEW | ICAEW-Registered Practice | FP&A and senior finance placements since 2018

Permanent FP&A recruitment requires precise brief definition before sourcing. A business that needs a technically deep financial modeller to own the three-statement model and support a fundraise has a different brief from one that needs a commercially oriented FP&A Manager to partner with the sales and marketing functions and drive revenue visibility. Both are FP&A but the candidate profiles are different. FD Capital spends time at brief stage understanding the specific analytical output the business needs, not just the job title it wants to fill.

The FP&A Analyst is the entry point to the function — responsible for building and maintaining financial models, preparing management reporting packs, performing variance analysis and supporting the budget and forecast cycles. Typical backgrounds include newly qualified ACA, ACCA or CIMA professionals with two to four years of post-qualification experience in a commercial finance environment. Strong Excel modelling skills are a minimum requirement; experience with planning tools such as Adaptive Insights, Anaplan, Vena or Planful is increasingly common and commands a premium. For a full breakdown of what the role involves see our FP&A Job Description.

The FP&A Manager owns the planning cycle — running the budgeting and forecasting process, managing a small team of analysts, producing the management reporting and working directly with the CFO or Head of FP&A on strategic financial analysis. The FP&A Manager brief in PE-backed businesses often includes investor reporting, covenant modelling and preparation of the financial information pack for board and sponsor meetings. Candidates typically hold ACA, ACCA or CIMA qualifications with four to eight years of post-qualification experience, including demonstrable exposure to the full FP&A cycle rather than just financial reporting.

The Head of FP&A leads the entire planning and analysis function — setting the methodology, owning the long-range plan, managing the team, and acting as the senior commercial finance partner to the CEO and CFO. In businesses building a dedicated FP&A centre of excellence for the first time, the Head of FP&A designs the function, selects the planning technology, recruits the team and establishes the processes and standards that will govern how the business plans and analyses its financial performance. This is a senior appointment typically reporting to the CFO and requiring significant prior experience of running an FP&A function rather than simply working within one.

The defining technical skill for FP&A professionals is financial modelling — the ability to build clean, auditable, dynamic financial models that the business can rely on for planning and decision support. FD Capital assesses modelling capability directly in the screening process, not by proxy through qualification status. The quality, structure and auditability of a candidate’s models matters more than the complexity of the tools they use — a well-constructed three-statement model in Excel tells us more than a poorly designed Anaplan implementation.

The best FP&A professionals are commercially curious — interested in understanding what drives the numbers, not just reporting them. They build relationships with operational and commercial colleagues, challenge assumptions in the budget process constructively, and provide analysis that influences real decisions rather than analysis that is filed and forgotten. FD Capital specifically screens for commercial orientation in FP&A candidates because it is the quality that most commonly separates high-performing FP&A professionals from technically competent but commercially passive ones. The ACCA and CIMA qualifications both place commercial finance at their core, which is why CIMA-qualified candidates are particularly common in FP&A roles.

Demand for FP&A professionals with experience of dedicated planning platforms — Adaptive Insights, Anaplan, Vena, Pigment, Planful — has grown significantly as businesses invest in replacing spreadsheet-based planning with purpose-built tools. FD Capital maintains a candidate pool that spans both traditional Excel-based FP&A and platform-native professionals, and we match systems experience to the specific technology environment the hiring business operates rather than assuming platform skills are universally applicable.

SaaS businesses have specific FP&A requirements that differ from traditional corporate finance environments — ARR and MRR forecasting, cohort analysis, unit economics modelling (CAC, LTV, payback period), and the financial metrics that Series A, B and growth-stage investors expect to see. FD Capital has placed FP&A professionals into technology businesses from seed stage through to pre-IPO, and we understand what SaaS FP&A looks like at each stage of the growth curve.

PE-backed businesses operate to a more rigorous financial reporting cadence than most independent businesses, with weekly and monthly reporting to the sponsor as well as board-level management accounts. FP&A professionals in PE-backed businesses need to be comfortable with the investor pack format, covenant modelling and the level of analytical rigour that PE sponsors apply to portfolio company performance. FD Capital’s broader private equity finance practice means our FP&A candidates for PE-backed roles are pre‑screened for this specific context.

FP&A in financial services involves additional complexity — regulatory capital reporting, stress testing, ICAAP financial projections and the specific management information requirements of FCA-regulated businesses. FD Capital’s FCA regulated firms practice provides FP&A professionals who understand this environment and can produce the financial planning output that regulated firms require.

Role

London Salary

Regional Salary

Typical Qualification

FP&A Analyst £48,000 – £68,000 £42,000 – £58,000 ACA / ACCA / CIMA (NQ – 3 years PQE)

Senior FP&A Analyst £62,000 – £80,000 £52,000 – £68,000 ACA / ACCA / CIMA (3–6 years PQE)

FP&A Manager £72,000 – £95,000 £60,000 – £80,000 ACA / ACCA / CIMA (5–10 years PQE)

Head of FP&A £90,000 – £130,000 £75,000 – £110,000 ACA / ACCA / CIMA (8+ years PQE)

Bonus structures vary significantly — PE-backed businesses and financial services firms typically include performance bonuses of 15–30% of base at manager level and above. Planning platform expertise (Anaplan, Adaptive) commands a 10–20% salary premium over Excel-only candidates at equivalent experience levels.

FD Capital places permanent FP&A Analysts, FP&A Managers and Heads of FP&A for UK businesses. Qualified, pre‑screened candidates with verified modelling and commercial finance experience. Shortlists within three to seven working days.

FD Capital Recruitment Ltd is registered at Companies House (no. ) and has been providing CFOs and Finance Directors since 2018 and is operated by an ICAEW-registered practice. Our founder Adrian Lawrence FCA holds an ICAEW practising certificate.

What Is an FP&A Analyst?

An FP&A Analyst — Financial Planning and Analysis Analyst — is a finance professional whose primary responsibility is to produce the financial modelling, planning, forecasting and analysis that enables a business’s management team to make better commercial decisions. The FP&A Analyst sits within the FP&A function, which is distinct from the financial reporting and accounting function in its forward‐looking orientation. Where the Management Accountant or Financial Controller produces historical financial statements that account for what has happened, the FP&A Analyst models what is likely to happen and what the financial implications of different business decisions will be.

The role has grown in prominence as businesses have recognised that the finance function’s most valuable contribution is not in recording the past accurately but in shaping the future intelligently. FP&A Analysts are the professionals who build and maintain the financial models that translate business strategy into numbers—the budget model that sets the annual financial plan, the rolling forecast that updates the business’s expectations through the year, the scenario model that quantifies the financial impact of a potential acquisition or market entry, and the investment appraisal model that supports a capex decision.

In smaller businesses the FP&A Analyst may be the only dedicated planning and analysis professional in the finance function, working directly with the CFO or Finance Director. In larger businesses the FP&A Analyst is part of a team with an FP&A Manager or Head of FP&A above them and sometimes FP&A Directors at the most senior level. The common factor across all contexts is the analytical orientation—the FP&A Analyst’s measure is the quality of the insight they generate, not the volume of transactions they process.

Building, maintaining and improving financial models is the core technical competency of the FP&A Analyst. A well‑constructed financial model is an integrated tool that allows a business to adjust assumptions—revenue growth rate, gross margin, headcount, capital expenditure—and immediately see the resulting impact on profit, cash flow and balance sheet. The FP&A Analyst is responsible for the structural integrity of these models: the logic must be auditable, the assumptions clearly documented, the scenarios properly labelled and the outputs presented in a format that non‑finance stakeholders can understand and use.

Maintain and develop the business’s integrated financial model, ensuring it accurately reflects the current understanding of revenue drivers, cost structure and cash flow dynamics. Update the rolling forecast each month with actuals from the management accounts and refreshed forward assumptions, producing a revised full‑year view for the CFO and management team. Lead or support the annual budget process—building templates, coordinating departmental input, consolidating submissions and producing the board‑ready budget pack. Prepare the monthly variance analysis report, providing clear commercial commentary on the drivers of over and under performance against budget and prior year.

Build financial models to support specific business decisions—investment appraisals, pricing analysis, new market entry modelling, acquisition target analysis and scenario modelling for strategic options. Work with the commercial team to develop and maintain the sales pipeline model, translating commercial activity into revenue forecasts. Develop the unit economics model for new products or business lines, tracking CAC, LTV, payback period and gross margin at the product and customer cohort level.

Own the KPI dashboard—ensuring metrics are defined, calculated consistently and updated accurately each month. Prepare the financial sections of the investor or board reporting pack, including management accounts commentary, KPI analysis and the forward outlook. Develop and maintain data pipelines that automate the flow of financial data from the accounting system into the planning model and reporting dashboards, reducing manual rekeying and improving reporting speed.

Qualified or part‑qualified accountant—CIMA, ACCA or ACA preferred. Strong Excel modelling skills—ability to build clean, structured, multi‑scenario financial models from scratch. Experience of the full FP&A cycle including budgeting, rolling forecasting and variance analysis. Commercial curiosity—genuine interest in understanding the business drivers behind the numbers and using financial analysis to support better decisions. Clear communication skills—ability to present complex financial information to non‑finance audiences in a clear and accessible way. Experience of a dedicated planning platform (Adaptive Insights, Anaplan, Vena, Planful or equivalent) is advantageous but not essential for analyst‑level appointments.

Excel remains the dominant tool for FP&A Analysts in UK businesses, particularly at smaller scales where the complexity and cost of dedicated planning platforms is disproportionate. FP&A Analysts working in Excel need to understand not just how to use the software but how to build models that others can audit and maintain—clean structure, consistent formatting, clearly labelled assumptions, separate input and output sheets, and version control that prevents the proliferation of outdated model versions across the business.

Dedicated planning platforms are increasingly common in growth‑stage and mid‑market businesses. Adaptive Insights (now Workday Adaptive Planning) is widely used in financial services and mid‑market corporates. Anaplan is prevalent in larger businesses with complex planning requirements across multiple business units. Vena, Planful and Pigment are growing in adoption in the UK scale‑up market. For businesses considering a platform implementation, an FP&A Analyst with prior platform experience is significantly more valuable in the implementation and post‑go‑live period than one learning the platform from scratch.

Business intelligence tools—Power BI, Tableau and Looker most commonly—are increasingly part of the FP&A Analyst’s toolkit, enabling the creation of interactive dashboards that allow non‑finance stakeholders to explore financial data without requiring a new analysis request each time. FP&A Analysts who can bridge the gap between financial modelling and BI dashboard development are particularly valuable in data‑driven businesses where the demand for financial insight significantly exceeds the capacity of the FP&A function to produce static reports.

ERP systems—NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage—are the source of the financial data that feeds the FP&A model. FP&A Analysts need sufficient ERP literacy to extract the data they need efficiently, understand the chart of accounts structure and identify data quality issues at source rather than in the model. Deep ERP expertise is not required at analyst level, but comfort with extracting and manipulating financial data from ERP reports and exports is a practical prerequisite.

FD Capital in the United Kingdom is seeking an FP&A Analyst responsible for financial modelling, planning, and analysis to aid management decisions. The role involves maintaining financial models, supporting the budget process, and conducting variance analysis.

The ideal candidate will be a qualified accountant with strong Excel skills, capable of communicating complex financial data to non-finance stakeholders. Familiarity with planning platforms is a plus.

Many UK businesses need a Finance Director but not a full‑time one. The business has outgrown its bookkeeper or accountant, the founders are fielding questions they shouldn’t have to answer, and the reporting isn’t giving the board the clarity it needs – but a full‑time FD at £100,000‑plus feels premature.

• Revenue is growing but profit visibility is unclear or inconsistent
• The founders or MD are spending too much time on financial questions
• Management accounts are late, unreliable, or don’t tell the right story
• You’re preparing for a fundraising round and need investor‑ready financial modelling
• A bank, investor, or acquirer is asking for financial information you can’t easily produce
• Cash flow forecasting is informal or done on a spreadsheet
• The finance team needs senior leadership but you can’t justify a full‑time hire above them
• You’re approaching a transaction – sale, acquisition, or MBO – and need FD‑level support through it
• PE or VC investors have asked for improved governance or reporting standards

• Own the financial strategy and communicate it to the board
• Produce management accounts, board packs, and investor reporting
• Design KPIs and improve management information

• Cash flow management, working capital control, and short‑term forecasting
• Budgeting, cost management, and profitability analysis
• Banking and lender relationship management
• Investor‑ready financial packs for debt and equity fundraising
• Financial due diligence for acquisitions and disposals
• MBO and exit preparation – financial modelling and data room
• PE and VC investor reporting and covenant compliance in line with BVCA guidance

• Finance team leadership, development, and recruitment support
• ERP and finance systems implementation or upgrade
• Financial controls, governance, and compliance
• Handover planning if transitioning to a permanent FD

• Part‑Time FD: 1–3 days per week, long‑term arrangement, no fixed end date, strategic & operational focus.
• Interim FD: Full‑time, fixed‑term (3–12 months), covers a specific gap, intensive & situational, clear handover point.
• Permanent FD: Employed, full‑time (5 days per week), salary £100k–£160k+, 3–4 month search, full on‑costs apply.

Day rates for experienced part‑time Finance Directors typically range from £500 to £1,100 per day depending on level of experience, sector specialism and role requirements. On a two‑day‑per‑week basis, that equates to roughly £52,000–£115,000 per annum – compared to £100,000–£160,000 plus employer National Insurance, pension, and benefits for a full‑time equivalent.

For businesses not yet ready for two days per week, one day per week starts from approximately £26,000–£57,000 per annum. The commitment can be scaled incrementally as the business grows – moving from one day to two, then three, without the cost or disruption of a new permanent search.

• Private equity and venture capital backed businesses
• Family‑owned and owner‑managed companies
• SaaS and technology scale‑ups
• E‑commerce and direct‑to‑consumer businesses
• Professional and financial services firms
• Manufacturing, logistics and supply chain
• Healthcare, life sciences and regulated sectors
• Not‑for‑profit and education organisations

FCA‑regulated businesses – including wealth managers, asset managers, payment firms, and consumer credit businesses – require Finance Directors who understand regulatory capital requirements, CASS rules and the financial governance standards the FCA expects. Our part‑time FDs with FCA‑regulated sector experience are familiar with the regulatory landscape and can interact with compliance teams and the regulator directly.

– shortlist typically in 3–7 working days

FD Capital is looking for a Part-Time Finance Director to oversee financial strategy and management. The ideal candidate will manage cash flow, budgeting, and lead the finance team. Experience in strategic and operational finance is essential.

The role is flexible, requiring only 1 to 3 days per week, allowing for incremental commitment as businesses grow. The expected compensation ranges from approximately £52,000 to £115,000 per annum.