Head of Finance

The role

Reporting directly to the CEO, the Head of Finance owns the Finance function end-to-end — from day-to-day operations to board-level reporting. This is a player-manager role: you will lead a small finance team whilst personally driving financial planning, analysis, and business partnering across Excelerate's growing portfolio, acting as a trusted strategic partner to senior leadership. The role also requires effective engagement with Excelerate's parent company across group reporting, consolidation, and intercompany matters.

The responsibilities

Financial Leadership and Governance

● Own the Finance function end-to-end, setting standards, controls, and processes that scale with the business

● Act as the primary finance lead for the CEO and Board, delivering clear and timely financial information

● Manage all aspects of the group finance relationship with the parent company, including reporting, consolidation, intercompany transactions, and transfer pricing

● Ensure statutory compliance across audit, tax, and regulatory obligations, and manage relationships with external auditors and advisors

● Oversee account reconciliation, balance sheet analysis, and periodic financial reviews

Financial Planning and Analysis

● Lead the annual budgeting cycle and rolling forecasts in collaboration with business unit leaders

● Build and maintain financial models to support business planning, scenario analysis, and strategic decision-making

● Prepare and report on monthly revenue, P&L, and cash flow forecasts, with clear variance analysis

● Monitor cash flow and working capital to ensure sufficient liquidity at all times

● Assess financing alternatives, weighing risk, return, and market conditions

Business Partnering and Commercial Support

● Act as a strategic partner to business unit leaders, providing financial insight that drives performance

● Support pricing reviews for products and services, contributing a financially rigorous perspective

● Provide finance support for proposals, contracting, sales, and collections activities

● Identify key commercial risks and opportunities, making proactive recommendations to the senior leadership team

● Monitor and analyse gross margins, costing, and key cost lines including marketing and performance spend

Team and Operations

● Lead, mentor, and develop the finance team, building capability and fostering a high-performance culture

● Continuously improve finance processes, systems, and tools to support efficiency and scalability, implementing AI where possible

● Support day-to-day finance operations, stepping in where needed as a hands-on team member

● Undertake other strategic and operational duties as directed by the CEO

The ideal candidate

Qualifications and experience

● Holds a recognised degree in Accountancy, Finance, or equivalent

● Fully qualified accountant (CA, ACCA, CPA, or equivalent)

● At least 10–15 years of progressive finance experience, with a minimum of 3 years in a senior or leadership role

● Demonstrated experience owning a Finance function, ideally within a fast-growth, startup, or EduTech environment

● Proven experience with group-level reporting, consolidation, and intercompany/transfer pricing matters

Skills and Attributes

● Strong commercial acumen with the ability to translate financial data into strategic insight

● Excellent financial modelling skills and advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel

● Experience with data visualisation and financial reporting tools

● Confident communicator, able to present complex financial information clearly to non-finance stakeholders, including the CEO and Board

● Natural leader who can develop and inspire a team whilst remaining comfortable being hands-on

● Intellectually curious, analytically rigorous, and solutions-oriented

● Thrives in a fast-paced environment, managing multiple priorities with composure and attention to detail

● Strong digital mindset with an openness to leveraging technology to improve finance operations