Role Overview
ScaleUp Bio is seeking a hands-on and commercially minded Finance Manager to support the CEO across core finance, accounting, and board reporting responsibilities. This role will be responsible for maintaining strong financial discipline across the business, supporting budgeting and forecasting processes, conducting financial analysis, and preparing management information for leadership and Board-level discussions.
The ideal candidate is detail-oriented, dependable, and able to move comfortably between operational finance execution and higher-level financial assessment. This person should be confident working in a dynamic environment and able to support the CEO with timely, accurate, and decision-useful financial deliverables.
Key Responsibilities
Financial Management & Accounting
- Oversee day-to-day accounting and finance operations, including AP, AR, general ledger, month-end closing, and financial reconciliations.
- Ensure accurate and timely preparation of monthly management accounts and financial reports.
- Maintain strong financial controls, accounting accuracy, and compliance with applicable statutory and corporate requirements.
- Coordinate with external accountants, auditors, tax agents, corporate secretarial as needed.
- Monitor cash flow, working capital, and liquidity position, and provide timely visibility to the CEO on financial risks and requirements.
- Execute payroll, payment processing, and related finance administration where required.
- Identify opportunities to streamline and improve finance workflows, reporting processes, and controls through AI, automation, and practical use of technology.
Budgeting, Forecasting & Planning
- Lead annual budget preparation in partnership with the CEO and business leads.
- Support periodic reforecasts, scenario planning, and financial projections.
- Track actual performance against budget and forecast, identify key variances, and provide clear analysis and recommendations.
- Support development of financial models for business planning, pricing, investment decisions, and strategic initiatives.
Financial Analysis & Assessment
- Conduct financial analysis on company performance, cost structure, margins, project profitability, and business opportunities.
- Develop and maintain financial models to support different decision-making needs, including cash flow planning, runway simulation, revenue projections, budget scenarios, and strategic assessments.
- Support management in evaluating commercial proposals, pricing considerations, and resource allocation decisions.
- Assess financial implications of operational and strategic decisions, and highlight key sensitivities, risks, and trade-offs.
- Provide concise and actionable financial insights to support decision-making by the CEO and leadership team.
CEO & Board Support
- Support the CEO in preparing finance-related materials for Board meetings, shareholder updates, and management reviews.
- Prepare clear, accurate, and board-ready financial slides, summaries, and supporting analyses.
- Assist in developing budgets, forecasts, performance updates, and other materials required for Board deliverables.
- Ensure financial information presented to the Board is well-structured, decision-oriented, and aligned with management narratives.
- Support follow-up on Board requests, action items, and financial information needs.
Process Improvement & Governance
- Strengthen finance processes, reporting templates, and management dashboards to improve efficiency and transparency.
- Support implementation of fit-for-purpose financial systems, controls, and reporting workflows as the company grows.
- Contribute to building a finance function that is practical, disciplined, and responsive to business needs.
- Ability and willingness to explore, develop, and use AI-enabled tools to automate financial workflows and improve the productivity and efficiency of the finance function will be a strong advantage.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related discipline.
- Professional qualification such as CA, CPA, ACCA, or equivalent preferred.
- At least 58 years of relevant experience in accounting, finance, or financial planning and analysis roles.
- Experience in SMEs, growth-stage companies, manufacturing, biotech, foodtech, life sciences, or related industries will be an advantage.
- Strong grounding in accounting, budgeting, forecasting, and financial analysis.
- Comfortable preparing management reports and supporting senior leadership with board-facing materials.
- Strong Excel and financial modelling skills.
- Familiarity with accounting systems and finance processes.
- Able to work independently, handle ambiguity, and operate effectively in a lean team environment.
- Strong attention to detail, sound judgment, and high standards of accuracy.
- Clear communicator with the ability to translate numbers into practical business insights.
