SRM Recruitment are partnering with a research and data SME (circa £10mn) who are looking to attract a Senior Finance Manager to the business. This role is a 4 day a week in the office position.
This is a role for a candidate that relishes working in a scaling business (with all that that entails) and who wants to own the finance function day-to-day (this is a sole charge position, albeit with support from within BusOps on areas such as AP) . It’s a hands-on role spanning the cadence and requirements of core finance , systems improvement, and genuine commercial partnership.
Key responsibilities:
- Finance operations: Oversee month-end close and ensure accurate, timely numbers. Oversee accounts receivable and payable. Manage external accountants and tax advisors (VAT, statutory accounts, filings). Own payroll. Improve financial controls, approval processes, and audit readiness.
- Reporting & insights: Deliver monthly management reporting with variance analysis and actionable narrative. Provide finance inputs to annual, quarterly board reporting. Support fundraising and corporate finance activity with reporting and analysis.
- Planning & forecasting: Own the annual budget, run rolling forecasts, build scenario models (hiring, pricing, capacity), and produce forecast-vs-actuals analysis with clear commentary that leadership actually uses.
- Commercial & strategic support: Provide pricing and deal support including margin and sensitivity analysis. Maintain investor-ready models and data packs. Support long-term financial strategy with structured analysis.
- Systems & automation: Partner with Operations on the finance stack (QuickBooks, Datarails, ). Drive automation of reporting and forecasting workflows. Use AI to minimise manual and repeat work across the finance function. Define what leadership needs from BI and reporting outputs.
You will be/have in terms of key experience to date:
- A practice trained (ACA, CA) with industry experience, or an industry trained (likely ACCA, CIMA) with at least 4 years in a commercial finance or finance business partnering background, ideally in a high-growth or scale-up environment
- Month-end close management: ability to run a reliable, timely close process and ensure accurate numbers with minimal fire drills; experience managing external accountants
- A track record of building forecasting and reporting cadences that leadership trusts and uses
- Good financial modelling skills — 3-statement models, scenario planning, sensitivity analysis
- Ability to translate financial complexity into clear narrative and recommendations
- Strong stakeholder management across commercial, delivery, ops, and leadership teams
- Comfort working with imperfect data and a drive to improve it through better definitions, processes, and systems
In addition if you have experience of working in a data rich/SaaS environment this is considered a considerable advantage, as is the desire to work in a fast-moving environment.
Bonus points for:
- Experience automating finance processes using AI and other technologies
- Familiarity with QuickBooks, Datarails, or similar FP&A tooling
- Experience supporting board reporting, investor materials, or fundraising prep
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