Finance Manager

The Financial Accounting Manager is responsible for the accuracy, integrity and control of accounting across a portfolio of legal entities and jurisdictions. Based in London, the role leads key elements of the monthly, quarterly and year-end close, maintaining strong balance sheet governance and ensuring that financial records are complete, timely and compliant with Group policy, IFRS and applicable local requirements. This is a senior financial accounting position requiring strong technical judgement, hands-on ownership and the confidence to challenge existing ways of working. The successful candidate will combine rigorous accounting and control with a clear transformation mindset, using technology, standardisation and automation to build more efficient and scalable processes. We are seeking someone with the drive and potential to become a trusted finance leader, take on increasingly complex Group-wide responsibilities and help shape the future operating model of the finance function. RESPONSIBILITIES Core Responsibilities & Deliverables Financial accounting and close · Own the financial accounting and general ledger integrity for an assigned portfolio of entities across multiple jurisdictions. · Lead key components of the month-end, quarter-end and year-end close, ensuring delivery to timetable and a consistently high standard of accuracy. · Review and approve journals, reconciliations and accounting schedules, ensuring that entries are appropriately supported and issues are resolved at source. · Oversee accruals, prepayments, intercompany balances, foreign exchange, investments and equity accounting, fixed assets and other key accounting areas within the assigned remit. · Ensure trial balances and entity-level results are complete, accurate and ready for Group consolidation and reporting. · Co-ordinate with local advisers and internal stakeholders to address jurisdiction-specific accounting, statutory and compliance matters.   Controls, governance and compliance · Lead balance sheet governance for the assigned entities, including timely preparation, review, certification and resolution of reconciling items. · Maintain clear accounting records, process documentation and audit trails that meet internal control and external audit requirements. · Ensure accounting treatments are consistent with Group accounting policies, IFRS and applicable local statutory requirements, escalating complex or judgemental matters appropriately. · Support statutory accounts, external audit, corporation tax, VAT and other regulatory reporting processes by providing accurate schedules and responding to queries promptly. · Identify financial control risks and implement practical, sustainable remediation plans.   Finance transformation and continuous improvement · Identify and deliver opportunities to simplify, standardise and automate accounting processes across entities and jurisdictions.  · Challenge manual processes, recurring adjustments and legacy ways of working, applying root-cause analysis to prevent issues from recurring. · Lead improvement initiatives from problem definition and process design through testing, implementation, documentation and adoption. · Use Oracle Fusion, OneStream, Smart View, Microsoft Excel and other available technologies to improve data quality, close efficiency, transparency and control. · Develop standard templates, reconciliations, controls and reporting routines that can be scaled across the Group. · Promote exception-based review and reduce reliance on spreadsheets, manual intervention and individual knowledge where appropriate.   Leadership and stakeholder management · Take end-to-end ownership of issues and drive actions through to a clear and timely resolution. · Manage and develop up to two direct reports, setting clear expectations, reviewing output and building technical and professional capability. · Build effective relationships with colleagues across Group Reporting, FP&A, Tax, Treasury, Accounts Payable, operational finance and local teams. · Communicate complex accounting matters clearly and provide constructive challenge to stakeholders at all levels. · Act as a trusted deputy on relevant accounting and control matters and contribute proactively to wider Group Finance priorities. QUALIFICATIONS SKILLS, qualifications AND EXPERIENCE (Required = R, Desirable = D)  Skills Communication: You can demonstrate experience/capability to engage and communicate effectively (spoken and written) across diverse stakeholder groups. (R)   Collaboration: You can demonstrate how you use have used collaboration to effectively deliver, and to create and/or contribute to wider team empowerment and value.  (R)   Innovation: You can demonstrate how you have used problem solving to identify opportunities to responsibly improve ways of working and/or established outcomes, within your scope of influence (R)   Continuous Improvement: You can demonstrate how you have invested in developing you own (and others) skills, experience, and output. And how this has contributed to personal and/or wider business value. (R)   Leadership: You can demonstrate how through your understanding of your own personal impact and responsibility, that you have led by example and brought others along with you on the journey.  (R)   Essential qualifications and experience · Fully qualified accountant: ACA, ACCA, or equivalent. · Substantial post-qualification financial accounting experience within a complex, international or multi-entity organisation. · Strong practical knowledge of month-end close, general ledger accounting, balance sheet control, intercompany accounting and financial reporting. · Experience overseeing entities in more than one jurisdiction and working with local statutory, tax or audit requirements. · Demonstrable experience improving finance processes, controls or systems, with evidence of personally moving initiatives from idea to implementation. · Experience reviewing the work of others and developing team capability. · Strong ERP and reporting systems capability; experience with Oracle Fusion, OneStream and Smart View is advantageous. · Advanced Microsoft Excel skills and confidence working with large or complex financial data sets. Personal attributes · Drive and initiative: Acts without waiting for detailed direction, maintains momentum and follows through on commitments. · Ownership: Takes responsibility for outcomes, investigates issues thoroughly and ensures sustainable resolution. · Transformation mindset: Questions the status quo and looks for simpler, more controlled and more scalable ways of working. · Technical credibility: Applies sound judgement, understands the detail and can explain accounting conclusions clearly. · Leadership potential: Raises standards, develops others and has the ambition and capability to take on broader responsibility. · Collaboration and challenge: Builds trusted relationships while remaining confident in providing constructive challenge. · Adaptability: Operates effectively across jurisdictions, cultures and changing business priorities. · Integrity: Demonstrates consistently high ethical standards and protects the quality and reliability of financial information. Measures of success · Accurate, well-controlled entity ledgers delivered to the Group close timetable. · High-quality balance sheet reconciliations with ageing items, unexplained balances and recurring adjustments actively reduced. · Clear ownership of issues, with risks escalated early and actions driven to completion. · Measurable improvements in process efficiency, standardisation, automation and audit readiness. · Stronger capability and accountability within the team, with reduced dependency on individual knowledge. · Increasing contribution to Group-wide accounting, control and transformation priorities.   Note:  The successful candidate will be required to complete pre-employment screening to BS7858:2019, or national equivalent. (Covers: Confirmation of identity, legal right to work, financial probity, criminal history and associations with proscribed organisations). It is the policy of Pure DC that all individuals have a responsibility for the security and protection of company’s Information and IT Resources over which they have control, according to their role. Agency Applications Please note that we do not accept unsolicited agency CVs or speculative candidate submissions. Pure Data Centres operates an in-house Talent Acquisition function and works with a select number of recruitment partners through an established Preferred Supplier List (PSL). Any speculative CVs submitted without prior agreement or authorisation will be deemed to have been introduced directly to Pure Data Centres and will be considered under our own ownership, with no fees payable to the submitting agency. We kindly ask that agencies respect this policy and refrain from sending unsolicited CVs or making speculative approaches to our hiring teams.