Group Financial Controller

Department: Finance

Location: Hybrid / travel to London office will be required

Reports to: CEO

Hours: 37.5  per week

Salary: (Depending on experience)

Role Overview 

We are seeking a commercially focussed and technically skilled individual to take on the newly created role of Group Financial Controller within our business. As a member of the executive committee, you will work closely with the senior team, a talented Finance Manager and a FP&A lead to build an insightful and scalable finance function. 

The ideal candidate will seek to enjoy a broad, hands-on role working with the business on a day to day basis.

Key responsibilities:

• Partner with the executive leadership team to develop and execute the financial strategy that drives business growth and operational excellence;
• Help establish the company's financial vision, strategy and roadmap, translating business objectives into comprehensive monthly, quarterly and annual financial plans and forecasts;
• Provide strategic financial leadership across all business units, serving as a trusted advisor on financial implications of business decisions;
• Work closely with financial planning and analysis (FP&A) to drive long-term business sustainability, including strategic capital allocation and investment decisions;
• Design and oversee sophisticated financial modeling and scenario planning to support strategic initiatives and business transformation;
• Develop and report on KPIs and metrics to the Board which provide meaningful insights into company performance and growth opportunities; 
• Support creation and administration of group companies as Cambridge Spark expands;
• Hold monthly reviews with departmental budget holders to provide insight and hold team leaders to account for budget variances in their areas of responsibility;
• Take responsibility for the preparation of consolidated financial statements, ensuring accuracy and strategic relevance of financial reporting and ensure compliance with UK accounting standards and Companies House requirements;
• Oversee treasury management, including banking relationships, debt financing, and investment strategies to optimise the company's capital structure;
• Ensure all group insurances are at appropriate levels and liaise with brokers on all matters;
• Take responsibility for compliance with relevant tax regulations, liaise with tax advisers on both UK and international tax consequences of global expansion;
• Build and maintain relationships with key external stakeholders including investors, financial institutions, and audit partners;
• Work with Finance Manager in ensuring that annual audit process is delivered efficiently and effectively;
• Spearhead financial due diligence for strategic partnerships, mergers, acquisitions, and commercial opportunities.
• Work closely with Funding & Quality area to ensure compliance with all Dept. of Education requirements;
• Provide support to the Audit & Risk Committee
• Develop and mentor a high-performing finance team, building capabilities to support the organisation's growth trajectory.

Candidate Specification: 

Essential

• Qualified accountant (ACA, CIMA, CPA or ACCA).
• Prior experience in a startup, scale-up or high growth SME
• Commercially minded with a hands-on, proactive attitude and collaborative mindset.
• Ability to work in a fast-moving, dynamic environment while maintaining high-quality work with attention to detail.
• Solid knowledge of accountancy, tax and finance best practices.
• In-depth knowledge of budgeting and financial forecasting
• International experience
• Previous experience in a similar Financial Controller role

Desirable

• Experience of using Xero
• Experience in fast-paced growth company
• Previous work experience in the apprenticeship sector
• Spanish language intermediate or proficiency
• Tax expertise
• Exposure in other roles to M&A / organic expansion 

Company Benefits: 

• Hybrid company, providing flexibility to work from home
• Pension with up to 5% matched contributions
• 25 days holiday + Flexi bank holidays + 1 day off on your birthday
• A day for volunteering
• Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Leave 
• Health & Wellbeing allowance of up to £30 per month
• Annual Summer and Xmas events
• Company socials including everything from Cambridge College formals, pub nights to team building events
• CPD Allowance alongside quarterly reflections to ring fence time for development and growth
• Private medical insurance and cash plan
• Holiday buy back scheme (up to 10 days p/a)
• EAP with 24 hour confidential support line

We are an education technology company that enables corporate and government organisations to achieve their business goals by educating their workforce with critical digital transformation skills to succeed in the AI era.

We deliver unique and innovative professional education that is accelerating the digital transformation of our clients, advancing the careers of their employees, helping people get into work and closing the digital skills gap. We are in a sector that is crucial to the economy and workforce, with a lot of opportunity for change and innovation. We are at the cutting edge of teaching applied data and digital skills, with our unique patented learning platform EDUKATE.AI offering our clients and learners a unique learning experience. EDUKATE.AI was developed with support from Innovate UK and provides all of our learners with 24/7 immediate feedback on their work, helping accelerate the learning process and providing a sandbox environment to experiment on real world datasets.

Since 2016, we have supported more than 15,000 learners across four continents with nearly 550,000 pieces of code submitted for feedback on EDUKATE.AI. We are trusted by some of the most recognisable brands in the world to educate their workforce, including Microsoft, the NHS, GSK, easyJet, the BBC and John Lewis. Our focus on applied learning to create business impact sets us apart - individual learners have reported applying their skills at work to generate recorded value of up to £40m. 

At the centre of the way we work together and inspire each other to achieve success are these core values:

Entrepreneurial

We take initiative and show entrepreneurial spirit which fuels innovation at Cambridge Spark. This includes identifying opportunities for improvement, taking ownership for implementing solutions effectively and driving improvement by using proof of concepts to demonstrate the feasibility and value of their work.

Team Spirit

Everyone is part of building an open and transparent culture, communicating effectively to raise issues, discuss improvements and share the evidence used to make decisions.

Customer-focused

Our customers are at the centre of everything we do, inspiring us to create great work. We strive to build friendly, professional and lasting relationships with them to better understand and anticipate their needs.

Gold Standard

We are experts in our field and are constantly developing our technology and offering. We set the benchmark in our industry: both in what we offer customers and in how we deliver it.

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Cambridge Spark is an Equal Opportunities Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind.  Cambridge Spark is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunities for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at Cambridge Spark are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, colour or ethnicity, ability or disability, gender or gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. Cambridge Spark will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. Cambridge Spark encourages applicants of all ages.