Finance Director/Financial Controller/Head of Finance – Maternity cover

Bristol, United Kingdom

Temporary

Manager/Supervisor

This role is all about looking after the firm’s finances and its finance team whilst our FD is on maternity leave. Reporting to the CEO the main responsibilities are:

Delivering useful insight to the executive and partner groups
Managing and motivating the finance team (10 people)
Forward looking analysis, reports, systems, structures
Stewardship – having their arms around the numbers, pro-actively ensuring the security of the firm’s assets, managing its liabilities, and ensuring that its records are accurate and complete.

This is a wide-ranging role involving significant liaison with the firm’s partner group, fee-earning teams, and Management Team.

Experience and qualifications
The successful candidate will be a qualified accountant (CIMA/ACA/ACCA) with prior experience in a senior role in a medium-large company
Experience in managing and motivating a multi-disciplinary team.
Experience in monthly accounts, journals, budgeting, credit control.
The ideal candidate will have experience in:

LLP accounts
International operations
Experience in project management
Experience of Business Central

Key skills

Articulate, confident, self-starter, with excellent communication skills (written and verbal).
Credible, able to inspire confidence in others, responsive to challenge, collegiate and able to build relationships whilst providing constructive challenge.
Detail orientated, can understand, and communicate economic drivers, and has an intuitive grasp of what outputs should look like.
Able to rapidly understand a business, establish credibility and operate effectively with limited induction.

Responsibilities and aspects of the role

Maintain robust financial control
Take overall responsibility for the ledgers overseeing the Management Accountant, Finance Supervisor, Purchase Ledger Supervisor, Credit Control Manager and their respective teams.
Primary liaison with third-party implementation partner for Finance & Billing system, completing agreed projects already in progress and supporting with ongoing development and projects.
Deliver accurate reporting and forecasting.
Managing cash flow and funding
Lead the preparation of annual statutory accounts.
Support CEO and Board.
Liaison with external auditors, tax advisors, and banks, for both the UK and Germany.
Take overall responsibility for ensuring the accuracy of Members’ profit share calculations, current and capital accounts.
Maintain momentum on agreed strategic and operational initiatives while safeguarding financial performance and compliance
Work proactively with the Credit Control Manager, Partners and clients to ensure that cash is collected appropriately and in good time.
There will be an element of travel to the firm’s other offices.
Support wider business with ongoing strategies.
Ensure a smooth handover both into and out of the role.

Synopsis
We are a leading European Intellectual Property law firm providing IP services to clients throughout the world. We are passionate about protecting, defending, enforcing and commercialising our clients’ IP so that their innovation can thrive and be rewarded.

We are looking for a qualified accountant with the ability to keep the Finance team running smoothly whilst our FD is on maternity leave. We need someone who is collegiate and commercial in their approach, able to lead and develop people, and who shares our passion for excellence in everything we do.

We have offices in Bristol, London, Leeds, Glasgow and Munich. Although based in Bristol, the successful candidate will need to travel to other European offices. You will need to be a confident self-starter with an ability to think through issues from both a technical and commercial perspective, gain buy-in to solutions and then work collaboratively to deliver.

Apply for this position

Required*

First Name*

Last Name*

Email Address*

Phone*

Address

Resume*

We've received your resume. Click here to update it.

Attach resume or Paste resume

Attach resume as .pdf, .doc, .docx, .odt, .txt, or .rtf (limit 5MB) or Paste resume

Paste your resume here or Attach resume file

Do you have the legal right to work in the United Kingdom?*

What are your salary expectations for this position?*

This role requires in-office attendance at the designated location two to three days per week. Can you meet this requirement?*

Diversity and Inclusion Questionnaire See below

Privacy & Disclosure Statement
Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion Monitoring

HLK is a proud signatory of the IP Inclusive Charter and is committed to supporting equality, diversity, and inclusion within the intellectual property professions.

Why we collect this data:
We collect this data to monitor the effectiveness of our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy. We invite you to provide the following information to help us identify and remove barriers to entry and ensure that our recruitment processes are fair and transparent.

How your data is handled:
By completing this form, you help us build a more inclusive IP profession.

- Voluntary: Providing this information is entirely optional. You may select "Prefer not to say" for any question.
- Confidential: This information is collected anonymously and stored separately from your application. It will be held for no longer than 18 months, after which it will be securely deleted. It is not seen by the hiring managers or the interview panel and will have no influence on our recruitment decisions.
- Legal Basis: We process this "special category" data under the legal basis of monitoring equality of opportunity (Data Protection Act 2018). I have read and understood the Privacy and Disclosure statement

What is your professional role?

Do you consider yourself to have a Disability or long-term health condition?

What was your sex registered at birth?

Which of the following best describes your gender identity?

Prefer to self-describe:

What is your sexual orientation?

Prefer to self-describe:

What is your Ethnic background?

Were you the first person in your immediate family to attend university?

What type of school did you mainly attend between ages 11–16?

Thank you for your time. We appreciate your help in monitoring our progress toward a more inclusive workplace at HLK.

We retain CVs and application details for 12–18 months following the recruitment process, after which they are securely deleted.

Human Check*

Submit Application

Thanks for visiting our Career Page. Please review our open positions and apply to the positions that match your qualifications.

Finance Director/Financial Controller/Head of Finance – Maternity cover

Apply for this position