Head of Financial Planning and Analysis Wokingham

A private-equity-backed SaaS business in the Wokingham area is building out its finance function and needs a Head of FP&A to become its analytical engine. The role is hybrid, 2–3 days per week on-site, reporting directly to the CFO, and it is newly created — the first dedicated FP&A hire the business has made.

Before you apply, it is worth being clear about the shape of this job, because it will suit a particular kind of person and not others. You will be a team of one. There are no analysts to delegate to and no existing models to inherit. The reporting, the forecasting, the ARR intelligence — you build all of it yourself, from close to a standing start. This is a doer's role, not a leadership-of-others role. The reward is ownership: everything the board and the investors see, you will have built. If your recent experience has been running an established function or directing a team, this will feel like a step sideways rather than the right fit. If you have been itching to construct something properly from first principles, it is exactly that.

SaaS is the essential ingredient. This is a real software-as-a-service operation — several products, high transaction volumes, and revenue that moves quickly. The client is clear that they need someone who has already worked inside a business of this type and understands how it behaves: how cohorts churn and expand, how recurring revenue is recognised and reported, and how fast the picture changes month to month. Experience of recurring revenue in a different setting, or SaaS seen only from the outside on the deal side, will not carry the role.

The remit is broad and sits where financial rigour meets commercial reality. You will speak to two audiences at once — the internal finance and commercial teams you work alongside every day, and the PE investors who expect clean, credible numbers and a clear story behind them.

• Own the annual budget and the monthly rolling forecast, with variance analysis that explains the "why", not just the "what".
• Build the ARR data model from scratch — cohort retention, expansion, churn, NRR/GRR, CAC payback, LTV:CAC.
• Produce board and investor reporting that leads with narrative and stands up to scrutiny.
• Replace patchy, manual MI with a single automated source of truth you have designed.
• Partner across Sales, Marketing and Customer Success on RevOps and commercial finance.
• Model the big strategic calls — pricing, new markets, M&A, major investment.
• Bring AI and automation into the FP&A toolkit.

• Hands-on FP&A ownership gained inside a SaaS business, ideally multi-product and high-velocity, where the ARR reporting and forecasting were personally yours. Without this, an application is unlikely to progress.
• A demonstrable history of building FP&A infrastructure yourself, as an individual contributor, rather than inheriting or overseeing it.
• Institutional-grade modelling: three-statement, scenario, sensitivity and variance, done to a standard a PE investor would trust.
• SaaS metrics used in anger — ARR/MRR, NRR/GRR, churn cohorts, CAC payback, LTV:CAC.
• Comfortable being close to the detail one moment and presenting to a PE board the next.

• Direct experience of PE-backed businesses and investor reporting.
• A strong quantitative degree (Maths, Engineering, Physics, Economics or similar) — calibre matters more than the institution.
• ACA, CIMA or CFA, qualified or part-qualified.
• Confidence with BI tooling and a genuine interest in AI within finance.

For the right person this is a rare build opportunity with a clear line of sight to CFO. You will see your work move the business, and be seen doing it by the people who decide what comes next.

Package: £100,000–£105,000 basic, plus 10% bonus and LTIP. Full-time, permanent. Wokingham, Berkshire, with hybrid working. Start date from 1st August 2026.