Senior Accountant

Gateshead, England, United Kingdom;
Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom

About us
:
We are one of the top three automotive retailers in the UK, proudly representing 32 manufacturer brands, selling a huge range of new and used vehicles from over 150 dealerships across the UK and Ireland.

Senior Accountant

Location: Gateshead / Hybrid (with occasional travel as required)

Hours: 37.5 hours, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm with a 30 minute lunch break.

We’re looking for an experienced Senior Accountant to play a key role within our Central Finance team. This position provides essential support to the Central Finance Manager and is responsible for the accurate delivery of monthly financial operations, ensuring the integrity of transactional accounting, strong balance sheet control, and a timely month‐end close.

You’ll combine hands‑on technical accounting with leadership, partnership and commercial insight, helping to drive high‑quality reporting, robust financial governance and continuous improvement across the central function.

• Prepare monthly management accounts and commentary for review with the Central Finance Manager.
• Review and maintain monthly balance sheet reconciliations, ensuring accuracy and compliance.
• Support Finance Business Partners with annual budgets, forecasts, and ad hoc financial information requests.
• Lead, mentor, and supervise members of the finance team, including performance reviews and career development.
• Analyse working capital performance, highlighting risks and recommending actions to support healthy cash flow.
• Authorise large payments, requisitions, expenses (T&E), refunds, and write‑offs within agreed thresholds.
• Support the preparation of documentation for internal and external audits.
• Ensure strong financial governance, compliance, and adherence to finance policies and procedures.
• Build and maintain effective working relationships with Central and Group Finance teams and wider stakeholders.
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement, standardisation, simplification, and increased financial awareness.

• Proven experience working as an Accountant, ideally within a complex or fast‑paced environment.
• Experience leading or managing finance team members.
• Strong technical accounting knowledge combined with sound commercial awareness.
• Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent) preferred but not essential.
• Confident communicator with the ability to build effective relationships across the business.
• Proactive, detail‑oriented, and motivated to improve processes and ways of working.

• Competitive salaries with structured pay scales and progression as you grow within the business.
• Generous annual leave that increases with your length of service.
• Enhanced family leave, including 6 months’ full pay for maternity and adoption leave, and 2 weeks’ full pay for paternity leave.
• Access to Techscheme for discounted technology purchases with flexible payments.
• Eyecare vouchers to help cover vision care needs.
• Smart Health – 24/7 access to GP services to support your mental and physical wellbeing.
• Dental insurance for everyday dental care and unexpected treatments.
• Optional critical illness cover.

• MyView Pay Now – access a portion of your pay as you earn, with features to stream, save, and track your money through a user‑friendly app.
• Free will writing services to help plan for the future.
• Flexible life assurance options and partner life assurance for added protection.
• Discounted gym memberships to support an active lifestyle.
• Travel insurance to help you explore with confidence.
• Access to home and technology vouchers.
• bYond card and a wide range of exclusive retail and lifestyle discounts.

Lookers and Charles Hurst are equal opportunity employers. We are committed to a working environment that is free from discrimination, inclusive, and empowers our people to bring their whole self to work and reach their full potential.