6-month interim role starting in February 2026

- Job title: Interim Commercial Finance Manager – German Speaking - Contract: 6 months initially (February 2026 start) - Context: SME scale-up, PE-backed / PE-ready - Bristol-based role (Hybrid / flexible working available) – with occasional travel abroad Role purposeThe Interim Commercial Finance Manager will support the leadership team through a critical scale-up phase, improving financial visibility, forecasting accuracy and commercial decision-making. The role is hands-on and delivery-focused, ensuring the business has robust, investor-grade financial insight and is well-prepared for future PE or exit activity. This is a short-term, high-impact role focused on clarity, control and value creation.

Essential skills & experience

- Qualified accountant (ACA / ACCA / CIMA or equivalent) - Proven experience in SME scale-ups, PE-backed or fast-growth environments - Strong commercial finance / business partnering background - Comfortable operating hands-on with limited structure or resource - Able to simplify complexity and move quickly without over-engineering - Strong stakeholder management skills at leadership level - German language skills (written & verbal)

Key responsibilities

- Commercial partnering & insight - Act as the primary finance partner to senior operational and commercial leaders - Provide clear, actionable insight into revenue, margins, costs and profitability drivers - Support pricing, investment and resource decisions with robust financial analysis Forecasting, budgeting & planning - Own and improve short-term and medium-term forecasting (monthly, quarterly, annual) - Reduce forecast volatility and improve confidence in numbers - Build or refine simple, scalable models suitable for a growing SME Management reporting & KPIs - Design and deliver concise management reporting packs focused on key value drivers - Define and standardise KPIs across revenue, margin, cash and operational performance - Ensure consistency between management accounts, forecasts and board reporting EBITDA quality & cash focus - Improve understanding and transparency of EBITDA performance and movements - Identify and implement margin improvement and cost control opportunities - Support working capital optimisation and cash flow forecasting Exit readiness / PE hygiene - Ensure financial information is well-structured, explainable and diligence-ready - Support preparation of financial narratives and data for investors or advisors - Improve documentation, assumptions and controls to reduce key-person risk Interim delivery & handover - Deliver tangible improvements within the 6-month period - Upskill internal teams where appropriate and leave clear tools, processes and documentation - Ensure a smooth handover to permanent or extended finance leadership What success looks like after 6 months - Forecasts are reliable, explainable and trusted - Management reporting is concise, consistent and decision-useful - Clear visibility of EBITDA drivers and cash performance - Leadership is better equipped to make commercial decisions. - The business is materially more “investor-ready” than at day one What you need to do now If you're interested in this role, available in the coming weeks & feel you meet the criteria, reach out to Charles Maidment from Hays Bristol senior finance contracts team. If this job isn't quite right for you, but you are looking for a new position, please contact us for a confidential discussion about your career. # 4766150