FinOps Lead | SaaS | Series A

Zanda is an Executive Search partner working exclusively with high-growth start-ups and scale-ups as they strengthen their organisations with senior talent. Zanda partners with VCs, Founders, CEOs, and CFOs to deliver critical leadership appointments, on both an interim and permanent basis, at pivotal moments of growth.WHO IS THE BUSINESSA London-based AI software business, backed by $50m+ from some of the strongest names in the market, including Molten Ventures and IQ Capital. They’re building AI-powered automation for enterprise clients and have taken the same philosophy into their own finance function: lean, highly automated and genuinely AI-native.The finance team is deliberately small, using a sophisticated automation stack, which means this is a role with significant ownership, exposure and scope. It’s not a position where you’ll be one of many; you’ll be close to the CFO and central to how the function evolves as the business scales.They’ve also just gone live with a new ERP, with the first close on the new system taking place in September. That makes the timing particularly compelling: you’d be joining at a pivotal stage, with the opportunity to help shape the finance function, processes and infrastructure for the next phase of growth.WHAT YOU'LL DOReporting directly to the CFO, you’ll own the operational finance function end-to-end, with significant responsibility from day one.Month-end close: full ownership of the close process, including management accounts, balance sheet reconciliations, accruals and prepayments.Treasury & cash management: ownership of treasury and cash flow forecasting across the UK and US entities, ensuring clear visibility of the group’s liquidity position.Quote-to-cash: responsibility for the full process from HubSpot through to invoicing and collections, with ARR maintained as a live, accurate and fully reconciled metric.Compliance & controls: UK and US payroll compliance, VAT, audit preparation and share scheme administration, alongside managing day-to-day relationships with external advisors.Systems & automation: the expectation is not simply to operate these processes, but to continually improve and systematise them. You’ll own the ERP roadmap and identify opportunities to automate wherever possible.AI-native finance: you’ll have the opportunity to build AI-driven workflows directly into live finance processes, pushing automation beyond traditional finance tooling and helping define what a modern finance function can look like.Scope to grow: as the function becomes increasingly automated and scalable, the role will naturally broaden into business partnering and FP&A, with a clear long-term trajectory towards taking ownership of the wider finance function.EXPERIENCE REQUIRED3–5 years in finance, from a practice or accounting outsourcing background, or in-house start-up finance operationsPart-qualified or qualified (ACCA, CIMA or ACA), or a clear equivalent track recordHands-on month-end close experience; management accounts and balance sheet reconciliations from day oneReal ERP experience, ideally through an implementation; you know what clean quote-to-cash looks likeYou build automations, comfortable from no-code (n8n, Zapier) through to MCP and code when a workflow needs itBaseline UK payroll and compliance awarenessSaaS revenue recognition (IFRS 15), equity accounting (IFRS 2), SQL or Python, and HubSpot–ERP integration are all advantages