Senior / Lead Data Scientist, Strategic Finance (FP&A)

About The Role

You'll own FP&A analytics end-to-end working closely with the Head of Commercial FP&A, and proactively shape the relationship with the wider Strategic Finance team. You will build the tooling, reporting, and lightweight models that FP&A and the wider business rely on to make decisions, and translate the metrics and drivers behind them so business stakeholders can act. You’ll partner with Product, Data, Engineering, and the CEO's office on the work that shapes our financial strategy – scenario modelling, cohort analysis, and the systems that monitor how we track against plan. You will sit within a wider Commercial Analytics team; this is the first role fully dedicated to the automation and reporting layer within Strategic Finance.

What You'll Be Doing

• Build the decision-support tooling behind our financial statements – revenue, gross profit, operating costs, cashflow.
• Create lightweight models where they help; clear analysis where they don’t.
• Translate proposed product and business changes into their commercial impact before they ship – scenario modelling revenue, margin, and KPI effects so decisions are made with the numbers at hand.
• Own the weekly trading metrics: how we track versus targets, deep dives into the drivers behind the numbers, and use those insights to influence business decisions.
• Proactively identify issues and opportunities. Spot where the business is drifting (or where there is upside) and surface it with a clear point of view.
• Automate recurring finance workflows: investor reporting, board prep, financial close tasks.
• Work cross-functionally with Commercial, Product and Engineering to define and maintain the data models behind executive and operational decision-making.
• Own the reporting architecture – dashboards, semantic layers, and pipelines that underpin financial and strategic reporting.
• Improve documentation and data governance so the numbers can be trusted across internal and external reporting.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years in data analytics, data science, BI engineering, analytics engineering, or hybrid data/finance roles, ideally in a high-growth, product-led company.
• Experience owning analytical systems end-to-end at a company level, including some exposure to modelling (scenario, cohort, simple predictive).
• Strong grasp of financial and commercial metrics – ideally from working closely with FP&A, Strategic Finance, Commercial or similar teams.
• Comfortable presenting and defending analysis at senior forums, with a track record of shaping decisions at executive level.
• Hands‑on with BI tools (e.g. Looker, Mode, Tableau).
• Expert SQL.
• A builder's instinct: bias for automation, ownership, and shipping.
• Comfortable using AI tools (Claude, Cursor) as leverage – with the judgement to know when to trust output and when to verify.
• Interest in fintech and Cleo's mission to make money easier and more human.

Nice to Have

• Experience with dbt modelling.
• Prior experience automating or supporting investor-facing reporting or board materials.
• Experience working in environments that blend consumer tech and financial services (e.g. AI, lending, credit, payments).
• Time‑series forecasting experience.
• Python (or similar) for scripting and automation.
• Workflow orchestration tooling (e.g. Airflow).

What You Get for Your Hard Work

• A competitive compensation package (base + equity) with 3‑annual reviews, aligned to our termly OKR planning cycles.
• This is an AX3 or AX4 level role: AX3 banding: £74,266 – £96,126 (Hybrid London) or £69,699 – £90,657 (UK Remote) AX4 banding: £94,059 – £119,128 (Hybrid London) or £88,938 – £113,489 (UK Remote)
• Work at one of the fastest-growing tech startups, backed by top VC firms such as Balderton & EQT Ventures.
• A clear progression plan. We want you to keep growing – try new things, lead others, challenge the status quo, and own your impact, always with our full support.
• Flexibility. We can’t fight for the world’s financial health if we’re not healthy ourselves. We work with everyone to make sure they have the balance they need to do their best work.
• Work where you work best. We’re a globally distributed team. If you live in London we have a hybrid approach; we’d love you to spend one day a week or more in our beautiful office. If you’re outside London, we’ll encourage you to spend a few days with us a few times per year. And we’ll cover your travel costs, naturally.

Other Benefits

• Company‑wide performance reviews every 4 months.
• Generous pay increases for high‑performing team members.
• Equity top‑ups for team members getting promoted.
• 25 days annual leave a year + public holidays (+ an additional day for every year you spend at Cleo, up to 30 days).
• 6% employer‑matched pension in the UK.
• Private Medical Insurance via Vitality, dental cover, and life assurance.
• Enhanced parental leave.
• 1 month paid sabbatical after 4 years at Cleo.
• Regular socials and activities, online and in‑person.
• We’ll pay for your OpenAI subscription.
• Online mental health support via Spill.
• Workplace Nursery Scheme.
• And many more!

Welcoming Everyone

We strongly encourage applications from people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, parents, carers, and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. If there’s anything we can do to accommodate your specific situation, please let us know.