Manager Accounting Operations

Smart Recruiters
Location:
London, United Kingdom
Contract Type:
Full Time (UK)
Department:
Finance & Payroll
Pay:
Competitive
Apply
Four colleagues are seated around a small table, smiling and laughing in a modern, bright office setting.

Let's be part of something together

Overview

A little bit about us

McDonalds UK & Ireland has a proven track record of investing in the development of its employees and offering flexibility as part of its dedication to being a modern and progressive company. Every year, it invests over 40 million in developing people, giving every one of its employees the opportunity to take part in structured training.

We're a people business just as much as we are a restaurant business. We strive to be the most inclusive brand in the world by building diverse teams who create delicious, feel-good moments that are easy for everyone to enjoy. Joining McDonald's means thinking big every day and preparing for a career that can have impact around the world.

Company Vision and Culture

McDonalds is defined by its culture. Our culture shapes and informs everything we think and everything we do. Our culture influences the way we interact with each other, and how we interact with customers, franchisees, and suppliers. Our culture motivates and inspires us to attract and retain great talent, creating positive, energising, exceptional working environment for us all.

The opportunity

Job Title: Manager, Accounting Operations

Location: East Finchley / Hybrid (3/2)

McDonalds is proud to be one of the worlds most recognized and respected brands. As we continue to grow and innovate across the UK & Ireland, were looking for a Manager, Accounting Operations to join our finance team and play a key role in driving excellence in financial operations.

In this exciting and impactful role, youll be the go-to leader for day-to-day accounting processes, working closely with our Market Controller, global business services (GBS), third-party providers, and local finance teams. Youll also lead a high-performing team of three, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and operational efficiency across all accounting functions.

What youll be doing:

  • Serve as Assistant Financial Controller, collaborating with vendors and local finance teams to swiftly triage and resolve escalations.
  • Serve as primary point of contact for the UK&I market finance team and corporate leaders, ensuring seamless communication and support.
  • Serve as primary liaisons between Market Controller and third-party provider for accounting related questions & topics.
  • Oversee and accountable for service delivery and execution of controllership activities (e.g., A2R, P2P, R2R, etc.)
  • Accountable for the accuracy and quality of the work produced by third-party provider.
  • Support Scaled Services in the escalation process for issues, disputes, and approvals, using discretion to determine when escalation to the market controller or relationship manager is necessary.
  • Share best practices and learnings with other GBS Local Assistant Finance Controller Teams and participate in continuous improvement forums.
  • Collaborate with third-party provider to implement new accounting policies and processes.
  • Lead a team of 3 direct reports, overseeing day-to-day accounting operations and ensuring efficient workflow.

What background do I need to have

What we are looking for:

  • Professional certifications such as ACA, ACCA, CPA, CMA, or local equivalent
  • Strong leadership skills with proven experience managing accounting operations and teams.
  • Experience working with third-party service providers in a shared services or outsourced model.
  • Excellent communicator with the ability to influence and engage across functions and geographies.
  • Detail-oriented with a track record of driving continuous improvement.
  • Agile mindset with the ability to manage competing priorities and meet tight deadlines.

What Youll Get:

  • Access to industry-leading Learning and development opportunities
  • A collaborative and inclusive culture, where your ideas are valued
  • Competitive salary, plus benefits package including bonus, cash allowance, free parking, lunch, gym access.
  • Hybrid working

At McDonald's, we are People from all Walks of Life...

At McDonalds we are People from all Walks of Life...

People are at the heart of everything we do, and they make the McDonalds experience. We embrace diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture that means people can be their best authentic self in our restaurants and offices, which helps us to better serve our customers. We have a strong heritage of diversity and representation within our communities, which we are proud of. The diversity of our people, customers, Franchisees and suppliers gives us strength.

We do not tolerate inequality, injustice or discrimination of any kind. These are hugely important issues and a brand with our reach and relevance means we have a very meaningful role to play.

We also recognise our responsibility as a large employer to continue being active in our communities, helping to develop skills and drive aspirations that will help people to be more aware of the world of work and more successful within it, whether with McDonalds or elsewhere.

Location

High Road 11-59
London
United Kingdom

Plan commute
A Google Map Image of Job Location
A woman smiling, with arms crossed, standing outside a building.
A man smiling, with arms crossed, standing outside a building.

Meet the Team

My favourite thing about working at McDonald’s is the people…everybody from the restaurants up to exec, everyone is just brilliant.

Sustainability

The best advice I could give someone joining McDonald’s is be yourself, bring all the knowledge you have gained and share those experiences amongst the team.

Construction

Show transcript

[00:06] My name is Sasha.

[00:09] I am sustainability officer at McDonald's and I have

[00:12] been here for just under two years. My role is a really

[00:15] diverse one. My main focus is really about driving

[00:18] sustainability in the restaurants. How can we build

[00:21] our restaurants to a sustainable standard? How can we operate

[00:24] them to a sustainable standard whilst, you know also getting our

[00:27] crew involved. How can we sort of shift their behaviors? What can

[00:30] we do from that perspective? I also work a lot around greenhouse gas

[00:34] emissions and reporting. I think it's incredible that I work

[00:37] in a very small team. But when you

[00:40] think about the actual work that we do and the goals that we're sort of trying

[00:43] to achieve we're impacting around 1400

[00:46] restaurants that serve thousands of

[00:49] people every day. I think there's there's no other ways

[00:52] to describe the impact of my work. My favorite thing about working

[00:55] at McDonald's I'm sure everyone will say this but it's the people.

[00:59] Everybody from the restaurants all the way up to the

[01:02] exec everyone's just

[01:03] brilliant.

[01:04] My best memory would have to be

[01:07] COP 26 and as someone who dedicated

[01:10] my life to sustainability it felt like a

[01:13] once in a lifetime opportunity. It was

[01:17] really exciting just being in a room where I

[01:20] knew governments, leaders of countries, all

[01:23] these sort of officials were in a room deciding on

[01:27] policy around things that would actually dictate my career and

[01:30] the future of my career and I think I would never

[01:33] have had this opportunity if it weren't for actually being at McDonald's.

[00:00] My name

[00:07] is Evan. I'm a construction manager and I've been at McDonald's

[00:10] for four years.

[00:11] My role as a construction manager is to look

[00:14] after my team of project managers working

[00:17] with our franchisees and our own restaurants

[00:20] to make them a better place for our customers. I don't really have

[00:23] a typical day. I split my time between between running my

[00:26] own construction projects, managing my team and engaging with

[00:29] the franchisees and the business on how we're progressing

[00:32] against our program. The size of the organization is

[00:35] just, you just find something

[00:38] new in it every day. It's sounds really cheesy, but it's it's

[00:41] a big family. The people here are one of the reasons that I enjoy my

[00:44] role so much. So the best piece of advice I could give for

[00:47] someone joining McDonald's is be yourself. Bring all the

[00:50] knowledge that you've got and share those experiences amongst the team just

[00:53] because we've been doing something one way doesn't mean that we're doing

[00:56] it the best way. The culture at McDonald's is really inclusive.

[00:59] You always learning stuff off different people

[01:02] be it brand new starters or people that have been here 30 years.

[01:05] We're, we really keen to develop people to

[01:08] be the best that they can be. So as long as you as an

[01:11] individual,

[01:12] want progression and training there's there's plenty of

[01:15] opportunities to develop yourself professionally and

[01:18] there's loads of opportunities which can provide

[01:21] accredited qualifications, you know apprenticeships as

[01:24] well as externally if you want to pursue something like

[01:27] a chartership like I did last year to be a chartered construction

[01:30] manager. Being part of McDonald's team is really great,

[01:33] it's rewarding and the people just make every day

[01:36] really fun to be at work.

Benefits

What we offer

Holiday pay

All full-time office employees will receive 28 days’ paid holiday a year.

Employee Discounts

Discounts at hundreds of major high-street and online retailers.

Stakeholder Pension Scheme

As an office employee, you’ll have the opportunity to join the stakeholder pension scheme.

Performance reviews & bonus

We will review your performance formally every six months and your pay will be reviewed annually based on these. There is also potential to receive a bonus each year.

Private medical care

Office employees receive private medical care, either immediately or following 6 months’ service, depending on the level of your role.

Paid sabbatical

To recognise your hard work and commitment, we will award you with up to two months’ paid sabbatical leave following every 10 years of consecutive service.

Life assurance

Should you contribute a minimum of 3% to your pension, you will be eligible for Life Assurance cover at 4x your basic salary.

Free Meal

You’ll be entitled to a free meal whilst in the office.
Tongs place a cooked egg on a sausage patty and cheese, all on an English muffin, in a busy fast-food kitchen.

Why work here

Our values show what matters most to us and tell the world what McDonald's stands for. We live by them every day. All across the world. From our restaurant-working colleagues, right through to the farmers in our supply chain. Our core values and commitment define who we are and guide everything we do. Making sure we can continue to evolve alongside a changing world.

Find out more

Apply

Application Process

  1. Get started by filling in the online application. This should take 5 minutes, just make sure you have your CV ready!
  2. If we think you’re suited to the role, we’ll invite you to a competency-based interview. These interviews are mostly virtual.
  3. You could then get invited back for a second interview, where you’ll be able to present or complete an associated task.
  4. If we love what we see, the job will be yours!

Hints & Tips

1.      STAR technique

When creating your application, the STAR technique is a way to keep answers concise and informative. When giving a real-life example that demonstrates a skill, use these key points:

  • Situation (your job/course at the time)
  • Tasks (what you needed to do)
  • Actions (how you did it)
  • Results (how it turned out)
2.      Make sure your spelling, punctuation, and grammar (SPAG) is correct

You’ve probably heard this before – but how do you make sure you can achieve correct SPAG without fail? If you want to send in a perfectly polished application, follow these simple steps:

  • Ask someone else to look over it (a fresh pair of eyes always helps)
  • Re-read it once a day for a week
  • Ask someone to look over it again (it’s better to be safe than sorry)
3.      Let your passion shine through

At McDonald’s, we want to make sure you can feel entirely at home. And when you feel at home, you can be entirely yourself. If you bring your personality and energy to our culture, you can make McDonald’s a more exciting, united place.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I apply for a vacancy at McDonald’s head office?

Either click on the 'Job search' page or the ‘Job search’ button on the page of the vacancy you’re interested in. Then select the role that suits you, and complete an online application form.

How long does the recruitment process take?

The recruitment process differs for each role, but someone from our Talent team will always aim to contact you within 7 days of receiving your application. If we think you’re a good fit, we’ll invite you to a competency-based interview and then onto a second interview with an associated task to complete or present.

How many days holiday do I get?

All full-time members of the Head Office team get 28 days paid holiday as well as bank holidays on top. For part-time workers, holiday will be determined on a pro-rata basis.  

What do I wear in the office?

At our Head Office, we have a Dress for your Day Policy - the bottom line is that we want you to be empowered to make the decisions that meet the needs of your day.

What are the pay rates at McDonald’s?

Our pay rates differ from role to role, but we always ensure that these rates remain competitive. Alongside this, we also offer a wide range of benefits including holiday and sick pay, and employee discounts that offer savings at over 1,600 retailers.

I want my pronouns to be known if I get this role, is this possible?

Yes. When you work in Head Office, you’ll receive a company email address and will easily be able to include your desired pronouns in the signature.

Can I get individual feedback on my application or interview?

Due to the high level of applications we receive not everyone will receive individual feedback. This depends on where you are in our process and this could potentially be written or over the phone.

Are there any wellbeing services I can access?

Yes! McDonald’s has a wellbeing hub on the staff website and our colleagues have access to the Employee Assistant Programme (EAP), which is run by AXA health care, offering a variety of services. 

I have a disability, what support can I get with my McDonald's job application?

During the application process, you can request for any reasonable adjustments to be made so you can find the right support needed during the application and onwards.

View all

Manager Accounting Operations

Location:
London, United Kingdom
Contract Type:
Full Time (UK)
Department:
Finance & Payroll
Pay:
Competitive
Apply