Chief Financial Officer (UK) in London

About BibliU

BibliU is an award-winning, technology-led B2B company transforming the $65bn educational content industry. With a 90% CAGR the past 5 years, we are just getting started. We've cracked the code on Day 1 access to affordable digital course materials for students, while delivering comprehensive campus store solutions that foster human relationships and increase our stickiness in the world of AI. The result? Measurable impact: 10% higher student retention, 1-point GPA increases, and partnerships with 170 universities serving 600,000 students each year. We've fundamentally changed how universities procure, distribute, and manage learning content. We partner with 4,000+ publishers, including Pearson, Oxford University Press, and Wiley to deliver content to universities, and provide rich engagement data and interactive tools like quizzes that help students actually learn.

Here's what makes our story compelling: Founded in late 2015 as an Oxford University spin out, we've grown explosively—90% CAGR over the last five years, including 65% in FY25, reaching $100m in annual revenue. Our Series B raised $23m led by Nesta Impact Investments (with Guinness Asset Management, Stonehage Fleming, and Oxford Sciences Enterprises). In late 2023, we acquired Texas Book Company (now 'BibliU Campus') to become the only fully vertically integrated player in the market, driving US organic growth which now represents 90% of our business. We're hungry for more. We're actively building our M&A pipeline as we compete head-to-head against legacy bricks-and-mortar providers to improve the faculty and student experience while boosting the financial sustainability of universities. Our culture is collaborative, high-growth, and agile. You’ll join an experienced and motivated executive team with backgrounds from Instructure (Canvas) and other successful edtech companies with exit experience. We operate as a distributed team across the UK and US, with offices in London.

If you’re looking for a CFO role that blends strategy, complexity, and hands-on execution in a mission-driven business, then read on.

The Role:

Reporting to: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Location: UK or US-based (London office available) | Travel: 3x UK strategy weeks; 1x US Remuneration: Competitive and commensurate with experience

What You'll Do

You'll partner directly with our CEO on the big strategic bets that will define BibliU's next chapter: evolving the finance function from a largely backward-looking function into a core strategic pillar — one that enables better decisions, supports our rapidly growing scale, and ensures the business is structurally ready for future funding rounds, acquisitions, and potential exit scenarios. You will partner with the CEO on fundraising, M&A, and business strategy. But this isn't a "stay at 30,000 feet" CFO role. We need someone who can zoom out to see the big picture, dive deep into the details that matter, and bring commercial rigour to every strategic decision.

Here's what that means in practice: This is a rare "double-threat" CFO opportunity. You'll operate at the strategic leadership tier while also rolling up your sleeves to drive hands-on execution in a company with a variety of business models and revenue streams (digital SaaS, e-commerce, retail). You will oversee finance and legal, bring greater financial and strategic depth to the leadership team, and help build the systems, processes, and team required to support a business operating at real scale.

Why this role is different: BibliU isn't a pure-play SaaS business. We're a blended SaaS and retail distribution company managing digital subscriptions alongside physical textbook inventory across 170 campuses. That means you must deeply understand margin management, inventory optimization, working capital dynamics, and the operational complexity of physical fulfillment at scale. If your entire background is pure SaaS, this probably isn't the right fit.

You'll also be central to our active fundraising and M&A agenda. Our Texas Book Company acquisition was just the start—we're identifying and pursuing more strategic deals, which you will be a key partner in, ensuring the financial foundations, insight, and execution are institutional-grade.

What we need from you:

• The killer combination of strategic and operational: high-level and future focused, but able to get into the weeds where necessary.
• Experience scaling a high-growth company, PE raises and reporting cycles, strategic vision for finance ensuring the business is consistently ready for what’s next - be it fundraising, acquisitions or exit, supporting a complex SaaS + retail operation with strong cash and margin discipline.
• Ensuring the exec team and the board have clear visibility on and trust in the numbers.

The Challenge You’ll Be Solving

• Scaling a finance function that matches the complexity and ambition of the high-growth business.
• Embedding finance as a forward-looking strategic partner, not just a reporting function.
• Supporting a blended SaaS + retail model with strong cash discipline and margin optimisation.
• Ensuring BibliU is structurally ready for future funding rounds, acquisitions, and exit scenarios.
• Creating clarity, confidence, and decision-quality for the CEO, Board, and investors.

What You’ll Focus On

• Financial Planning, Forecasting & Cash Discipline: Establish finance as a strategic pillar and trusted partner for data-driven planning and decision-making. Oversee the build of robust and accurate 3-5 year financial models and rolling cash-flow forecasts (including 13-week cash tracking) across SaaS and retail. Set Build real-time Exec/Board/investor dashboards for unit economics (ARR, MRR, CAC, LTV, margins); Ensure future raise/exit readiness; and advise the CEO on capital raise timing and structure.
• Inventory, Margins & Working Capital: Manage the complex inventory dynamics inherent in a blended SaaS/retail model, particularly the BibliU Campus retail footprint. Establish and oversee end-to-end textbook inventory and supplier strategies, combining demand forecasting with just-in-time procurement, optimized payment terms, and cross-team alignment. Improve working-capital performance (DSO, DPO, inventory turns) through quarterly reviews, aged-inventory/SKU rationalization, and stronger retail inventory efficiency.
• Reporting, Systems & Controls: Strengthen financial governance, controls, and reporting across a multi-entity, cross-border business. Lead GAAP-compliant reporting and monthly management accounts, KPI and segment reporting with EBITDA and variance analysis. Ownership of cross-border and intercompany financial arrangements, including tax structuring and transfer pricing, FX and treasury strategy, and managing differences in accounting standards, payroll, VAT/sales tax, and statutory reporting across jurisdictions. Monthly Board and investor updates, regular performance/forecast governance meetings, and leadership of annual audit and tax processes. Drive ERP, BI, and systems improvements — including post-acquisition integration — to support scale.
• Strategic Growth, M&A & Capital Allocation: Bring rigour to capital allocation decisions across product, go-to-market, infrastructure, and acquisitions. Ensure the business is consistently prepared for future fundraising or strategic transactions. Partner with the CEO and others on M&A evaluation, valuations, due diligence, and integration from a financial perspective.
• Private Equity & Exit Readiness: Position BibliU as an attractive acquisition candidate or platform company for financial sponsors or strategic buyers. Create an institutional-grade finance and operations setup for BibliU by implementing investor-aligned KPIs and reporting, producing transaction-readiness materials (normalized EBITDA, 3-statement models, customer concentration analysis).
• Team Leadership: Build and develop a high-performing finance team across two geographies and two business models. Embed financial discipline and insight-driven decision-making across the organisation.

What We’re Looking For

• Senior finance leadership experience in high-growth scale up businesses (50%+ YoY growth, reaching ~$200m revenue).
• Proven experience in companies with complex working capital models, such as inventory-heavy models like eCommerce, retail, or hardware; or companies working with significant working capital swings such as OPMs (Online Program Managers) or publishers.

Strong Plus

• Private equity raise ($30m+) and reporting experience.
• Deep understanding of working capital, margin management, and demand planning in inventory intensive retail operations.
• Experience with SaaS business models and related KPIs.
• Direct involvement in a successful exit.
• Leading or supporting multiple acquisitions.
• Experience with B2B enterprise SaaS sales cycles.

Qualifications

• ACA / ACCA / CPA / CFA or equivalent.

Why Join BibliU?

This is an opportunity to join a mission-driven, disruptive business at an inflection point, as a true scale-up CFO. You'll work alongside an experienced and highly motivated leadership team that has built and exited edtech companies, serve a rapidly growing 170 university partners and 600,000 students, and play a central role in shaping the next chapter of BibliU's growth—including fundraising, M&A and potential exit opportunities. If you're energized by the challenge of building first-class finance operations in a fast-moving, high-growth environment, and you want to make a measurable impact on students and universities, we'd love to hear from you.

Benefits

Our benefits are all aimed at supporting a healthy work-life balance and cultivating a company culture where you can bring your whole, human self to work. Here's what we offer:

• 35 holiday per year - yep, that’s not a typo!
• Your birthday off.
• 12 scheduled company wellness Fridays off per year.
• Enhanced maternity & paternity allowance.
• Flexible working hours - we’re a remote team spread across the US and the EU.
• Work-from-home allowance to help you set up your dream WFH station.
• Cycle-to-work scheme (UK).
• Life Insurance up to 4 x salary.

We strongly encourage candidates of all different backgrounds, experiences and identities to apply. Each new hire is an opportunity for us to bring in a different perspective and BibliU is committed to building an inclusive and supportive workplace where everyone can do rewarding work.