Non-Executive Director — Industrial Performance and Cash
United Kingdom·Business Services & Diversified·Corporate finance and capital structure· Manchester·Posted 29 July 2026
Applications close 24 November 2026
Corporate finance and capital structure organisation in United Kingdom
The problem this seat exists to solve
Suitable candidates have held senior finance responsibility in industrial or similarly asset-intensive operations and can demonstrate experience of challenging performance plans at board level. Familiarity with product costing, inventory and capital expenditure is essential. They should be able to engage operational leaders without attempting to substitute their own production judgement for specialist expertise.
Connect operating performance with financial resilience
The director will bring independent finance judgement to board decisions about industrial performance, with an emphasis on the relationship between utilisation, margin, inventory and cash. The board needs a clear view of whether improvements are sustainable or depend on actions that weaken future delivery. This role therefore calls for curiosity about how the business operates as well as confidence with financial reporting.
Challenge the quality of management's performance measures. Examine whether production output is being mistaken for profitable demand, whether cost absorption encourages excess stock and whether customer profitability reflects service complexity. Where reported earnings improve while working capital deteriorates, require an explanation that reaches the underlying operating decisions.
Board responsibilities in difficult trade-offs
Review proposals for capacity changes, outsourcing, pricing and product rationalisation. Ask how each option affects cash timing, customer commitments, workforce capability and recovery if demand changes. Management should explain the costs of transition and the conditions that would make the decision reversible or require further approval.
Make forecasts operationally consistent
Scrutinise forecasts for consistency between sales assumptions, production plans and purchasing commitments. Encourage the use of a small number of leading indicators rather than an expanding pack of retrospective numbers. Support a board culture in which a deteriorating assumption is reported early enough for directors to consider alternatives.
Director responsibility for the economic picture
The appointment carries the responsibilities of a director within the agreed governance framework. It does not confer operational authority over sites or finance staff. Expected value includes sharper discussions about economic performance, investment decisions that recognise operating dependencies and an appropriate balance between short-term liquidity and longer-term capability. Candidates must show both independence of thought and the ability to support collective decisions once properly reached, while continuing to monitor the assumptions on which those decisions depend.
Terms
- Where the board sits
- Manchester, United Kingdom
- Applications close
- 24 November 2026
- Appointment
- Board appointment
- Compensation
- GBP 60,000–100,000 per year (indicative annual board fee)
- Time commitment in this market
- Typically 6–9 board meetings a year plus committee cycles and a strategy day; audit-committee chairs should expect materially more.
Before you apply — United Kingdom
Neither the Companies Act 2006 nor the Code imposes any residency or nationality test on a director. A foreign national can be appointed to a UK board without a permit, a filing exemption or a local counterpart.
- Residency test
- None.
- Nationality test
- None.
- Work authorisation
- A non-executive director attending board meetings does not require a work visa; permitted business activities cover it. An executive or interim operating role requires a Skilled Worker visa or equivalent.
- Tenure limit once appointed
- No hard cap. Provision 10 treats service of more than nine years from first appointment as a circumstance that may impair independence, and Provision 19 limits the chair's total tenure to nine years with limited flexibility.
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