About the company
Founders today are building global companies from day one but the systems that manage their money were built for a different era. Aspire exists to change that!
We're building the financial operating system for global founders, bringing banking, software, and automation into a single platform so businesses can move faster across borders and stay focused on building.
Aspire is built by people who think from first principles, care deeply about solving hard problems, and take real ownership of their work. Our team brings global experience from leading fintech and technology companies, and many of us are former founders and operators who understand what it takes to build thoughtfully, make trade-offs, and deliver at scale in a global environment.
Backed by leading global investors including Y Combinator, Peak XV, and Lightspeed, Aspire has been trusted by more than 50,000 startups and growing businesses worldwide to manage their finances since 2018. Together with partners like J.P. Morgan, Visa, and Wise, we're building for the next generation of global companies.
About the role :
Aspire is seeking a Director, Commercial Finance to raise the bar across Strategy and Financial Planning. This is a highly visible leadership role working directly with the CFO, alongside the Executive Leadership Team and founders, and acting as a trusted commercial and strategic partner to the business.
The role combines FP&A leadership, commercial insight, investor readiness, and deal execution, and will be central to how Aspire plans, funds, and scales the business.
Responsibilities :
Strategic Finance & FP&A
- Own and continuously enhance Aspire's budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning processes
- Develop, maintain, and evolve best-in-class financial and data models to support strategic decision-making
- Translate complex financial and operational data into clear, actionable insights that drive business performance and outcomes
- Establish rigorous performance management frameworks aligned to Aspire's growth objectives
Business Partnering & Performance
- Act as a senior commercial finance partner to functional, product, and growth leaders
- Influence key decisions across pricing, unit economics, growth initiatives, and margin optimisation
- Work closely with the Strategy team to develop and challenge business cases for new initiatives, ensuring clarity of assumptions, accountability, and ROI
- Ensure new strategic bets are fully integrated into planning, forecasting, reporting, and performance reviews, with ongoing ROI tracking
Investor Relations & Fundraising
- Support Investor Relations activities, including board materials, investor updates, and performance narratives
- Lead the development of equity decks, financial storytelling, and KPI frameworks aligned with investor expectations
- Play a central role in fundraise initiatives, including financial modelling, scenario analysis, diligence preparation, and management of data rooms
- Partner closely with the CFO on investor engagement, diligence processes, and ongoing investor communications
Strategic Transactions & Projects
- Support M&A, partnerships, and strategic investment opportunities, including financial evaluation, valuation, and scenario analysis
Financial Operations & Governance
- Drive maturity of data governance and reporting for financial and non-financial KPIs, management information, and forecast models - ensuring availability and accuracy of key information, and accuracy
- Work closely with the Group Financial Controller and Group Head of Treasury to ensure strong alignment between commercial insight, investor and financial reporting, and cash management
- Improve forecasting accuracy, cash flow visibility, and capital allocation discipline
- Build and mature procurement practices and capabilities, driving cost discipline, vendor optimisation, and scalable commercial governance
Experience
- Background in one more of Investment roles (P/E or VC fund), Transaction Services or M&A at a Big 4 firm, and CPA-qualified with Big 4 training (or equivalent)
- Extensive post-qualification experience in FP&A and/or Commercial Finance leadership roles.
- Strong preference for experience in payments, fintech, or high-growth, founder-led organisations
- Demonstrated exposure to fundraises, investor engagement, and deal environments, with a strong understanding of investor expectations and performance metrics
Skills & Attributes
- Bar Raiser & Talent Leader: Proven track record of continuously raising standards through self-challenge, ambitious objective setting, and delivery of measurable improvements across commercial finance activities. Demonstrated ability to catalyse and directly influence business performance and outcomes, while attracting, developing, and leading high-performing finance talent.
- Problem Solver: Highly logical and measured thinker with a strong track record of successfully navigating complex, ambiguous situations. Experienced in leading and delivering sophisticated projectsacross strategy, finance, and transactionsthrough structured analysis, sound judgment, and disciplined execution.
- Exceptional financial modelling, analytical, and commercial judgment skills
- Ability to operate effectively at both strategic and executional levels in a fast-paced, scaling environment
- Strong communicator with the ability to influence founders, executive leadership, board members, and investors
- High ownership mindset with a bias toward action, while building scalable and sustainable processes
- Comfortable with ambiguity and rapid change typical of a high-growth, Series C, founder-led business
By submitting this application, I confirm that all the information given by me in this application for employment and any additional documents attached hereto are true to the best of my knowledge and that I have not wilfully suppressed any material fact. I confirm I have disclosed if applicable any previous employment with Aspire. I accept that if any of the information given by me in this application is in any way false or incorrect, my application may be rejected, any offer of employment may be withdrawn or my employment with Aspire may be terminated summarily or I may be dismissed. By submitting this application, I agree that my personal data will be processed in accordance with Aspire's Candidate Privacy Notice
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