Financial Analyst - Retail - Hotel Chocolat : Job Details

Job Title: Finance Analyst - RetailDepartment: FinanceReports To: Retail Finance ManagerLocation: Mint House, HybridHours/Working Pattern: 40 hours per week (Full-time)

As we continue our mission to make people happy through chocolate, we’re looking for a Finance Analyst - Retail to join our Finance team on a permanent basis.

In this role, you will support the Retail Finance Manager in reporting, analysing, and providing insights into Hotel Chocolat’s UK retail performance. You’ll help track and report on retail sales, margins, and cost of sales, as well as contribute to budgeting, forecasting, and process improvements across our retail finance operations.

As well as a competitive salary and a range of company benefits, you’ll receive 50% discount on all products, and a 70% discount for you and your guests when you stay at our Rabot Estate hideaway on the paradise island of Saint Lucia.

Here at Hotel Chocolat, we've adopted hybrid working. This means you’ll join us on-site for three days a week, and for the other two days - you can work from wherever you like! The on-site location for this role is our support office, Mint House, in Royston, Hertfordshire. Our home from the very beginning, it’s just off the A505 and 10 minutes’ walk from Royston train station, with direct rail links to London King’s Cross.

What you’ll be doing:

• Post and reconcile Sales and Cost of Sales transactions for the Retail channels
• Manage Retail weekly Sales and Margin reporting files
• Calculate and post month-end accruals and prepayments for Retail channels
• Prepare Balance Sheet reconciliations
• Assist with the preparation of Retail Budgets/Forecasts
• Support the wider business with ad hoc Finance queries and analysis
• Provide cover for Wholesale & E-commerce Finance Analysts if required

Who you are:You’re a detail-driven, proactive finance professional who thrives in a high-volume, growth environment. You have experience in a multi-site business and are comfortable working under pressure. You’re an excellent communicator, able to interact with different teams to help drive performance and improvement.

Essential:

• Experience working for a multi-site, high-volume, growth business
• Part-qualified Accountant or actively studying (CIMA/ACCA)
• Prior experience with accruals and prepayments
• Advanced Excel skills
• Strong communication skills, able to interact with all levels of the business

Desirable:

• Strong systems knowledge with examples of improving processes and controls
• Ability to plan, organise, and work on multiple tasks simultaneously
• Experience using Dynamics 365

Who are we?We’re one of the UK’s favourite premium chocolate brands, with a range of products spanning luxury gifts, alcohol, and our pioneering drinking chocolate system, the Velvetiser™.

A cacao pod takes years to grow - it can’t be rushed if it’s going to be just right for our products. The same can be said for Hotel Chocolat, which originally started as a mint production company before we realised it was luxury chocolate that we were really passionate about.

Now, we’re market leaders in the industry. What began as an online-only business grew to over 140 stores across the UK, and we’re still growing… Today, we’re multi-category, multi-channel, and multi-territory, and our customers, colleagues, cacao farmers, and suppliers all benefit from the success we make together.