Financial Business Partner
The Finance Business Partner - Projects & R&D serves as the primary link between project delivery teams, R&D functions, and the wider finance organisation. Based in Canada and reporting to the Financial Controller in the UK, the role acts as the North American finance representative, ensuring that project and operational activities are accurately reflected in financial reporting, forecasting, and commercial decision-making.
Working closely with Project Managers, Engineering Leads, and R&D teams, the role translates operational performance into meaningful financial insight while ensuring finance requirements, reporting deadlines, and governance processes are effectively communicated and supported within the business.
The position combines project financial management, business partnering, and stakeholder engagement, requiring a proactive and self-sufficient individual capable of operating effectively within a geographically dispersed finance team.
Join Whitefox in shaping a more efficient industrial future. As part of our team, you'll turn insight into action, driving smarter processes, solving real-world challenges, and helping deliver advanced membrane solutions that enable industries to produce more with less.
Every improvement you make moves us closer to our 2030 goal of being globally trusted leaders in efficiency and innovation.
Responsibilities
Finance Interface & Operational Reporting
- Act as the primary interface between North American project teams and the global finance function.
- Coordinate the flow of financial and operational information required for monthly reporting, forecasting, budgeting, and business planning.
- Assist/working with project managers to provide accurate and timely cost, revenue, milestone, resource, and forecast information.
- Challenge assumptions and investigate variances to ensure reporting accurately reflects project performance.
- Support the Financial Controller and CFO by providing operational context behind financial results.
- Promote consistent financial processes, reporting standards, and governance across project teams.
- Help non-finance stakeholders understand reporting requirements and financial performance metrics.
- Act as a local champion for finance initiatives, systems, and process improvements.
Project Financial Management
- Monitor project costs, revenue, budgets, forecasts, and profitability.
- Prepare and maintain project financial reports and dashboards.
- Analyse project margins and identify risks, opportunities, and corrective actions.
- Support project forecasting and resource planning processes.
- Assist Project Managers in understanding financial implications of project decisions.
- Assist with documentation and reporting requirements related to R&D incentives, grants, or tax credits where applicable.
Financial Analysis and Reporting
- Support production of regular management information focused on project performance, margin analysis, utilisation, and cost trends.
- Deliver meaningful financial insights rather than purely transactional reporting.
- Support month-end reporting through analysis and explanation of project-related financial results.
- Contribute to budgeting, forecasting, and strategic planning processes.
Finance Team Support
- Act as the local representative of the global finance function within Canada.
- Provide support and cover for other finance activities when required.
- Facilitating project invoicing
- Liaise with the London-based finance team to ensure consistency of reporting and processes.
- Support continuous improvement of finance processes, controls, and reporting tools.
Communication & Business Partnering
- Acts as a bridge between finance, project teams, and operational stakeholders, translating complex financial information into clear, actionable insights.
- Builds strong relationships across engineering, R&D, operations, and commercial teams to enable effective collaboration and informed decision-making.
- Proactively communicates financial requirements, expectations, and insights to ensure teams are aligned and supported.
- Demonstrates strong stakeholder management skills, adapting communication style to effectively engage both technical and non-financial audiences.
- Anticipates business needs, identifies potential challenges early, and works collaboratively to drive solutions before issues arise.
We recognize that experience comes in many forms. If you don't meet every requirement but are excited about this role, we encourage you to apply.
Qualifications and Experience Required
Education:
- Bachelor's degree in accounting, Finance, or a related discipline.
- Professionally qualified accountant (or actively completing a recognised accounting designation).
Experience:
- 5+ years of progressive finance experience, including significant project accounting or project finance experience.
- Experience with Project Accounting.
- Demonstrated experience partnering with Project Managers, Engineering, or R&D teams.
- Experience preparing project budgets, forecasts, margin analysis, and financial reporting.
- Strong understanding of project costing, revenue recognition, resource planning, profitability analysis, and variance reporting.
- Experience supporting month-end close and management reporting.
- Experience working with multiple stakeholders across operational and finance functions.
- Ability to translate operational performance into meaningful financial insights.
- Familiarity with SAP Business by Design an asset.
- Experience working across international teams and multiple time zones an asset.
- Experience with small to medium scaling companies.
- Experience working within medium-sized, scaling organizations, with the ability to adapt processes and support growth.
At Whitefox we look for people who align with our core values:
Innovation & Strategic Thinking: Creative, curious, and structured problem-solver who thinks beyond conventional approaches, applying both strategic and pragmatic lenses to develop commercially and technically sound solutions.
Communication: Strong presentation and communication skills, with the ability to clearly convey complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Collaboration: Builds strong cross-functional relationships and collaborates effectively across commercial and technical teams, contributing to a high-performing, team-oriented environment.
Learning Agility & Resilience: Demonstrates adaptability in a fast-paced environment, quickly learning new concepts, embracing challenges, and maintaining momentum through change and ambiguity.
Outcome-Driven Execution: Highly organized and results-oriented, with the ability to manage multiple opportunities simultaneously and deliver efficient, high-impact outcomes
Job Types:
Schedule:
Additional pay:
Benefits:
- Dental care
- Disability insurance
- Extended health care
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- RRSP match
- Vision care
