Finance Manager

Beams is a technology-enabled home renovation marketplace based in Spitalfields, London. We connect homeowners with vetted builders and provide the structure that the renovation industry currently lacks: clear pricing, proper contracts, managed payments, and ongoing support throughout the build. We don't manage projects day to day — builders do. What we provide is the framework around them: the tools, accountability, and clarity that help projects run well. Think of us as the operating system for renovation.

We're around 30 people. We launched in 2022 and recently achieved B Corp certification. The business moves significant sums of money on behalf of homeowners and builders, and the financial infrastructure behind that needs to be excellent. That's where this role comes in.

About the role

This isn't a typical Finance Manager job. Most finance roles at companies our size are heavily operational: closing the books, paying invoices, running payroll. That work matters here too, but it isn't where we need someone to focus their best thinking.

As Finance Manager you'll be the only dedicated finance person in the business, reporting directly to the CEO. You'll own everything from monthly close and statutory reporting through to the financial systems that underpin our marketplace — including the Stripe Connect integration that moves money between homeowners and builders. You'll work on fundraising. You'll help us navigate FCA regulation as the business grows. And you'll be expected to automate yourself out of the manual parts of the job rather than perpetuate them.

We're looking for someone strategic and operational in equal measure. Someone who's comfortable being a one-person finance team in a startup, who's actively curious about how AI can change finance work, and who wants to build a function rather than inherit one.

You'll be joining a small team at a company that's growing fast but intentionally. Some things are well built. Others are still being figured out. If you want a finished playbook handed to you, this isn't the right time. If you want to help write it, it is.

What you'll be doing

• Re-engineering our financial operations. Our payment flows run through Stripe Connect — homeowner deposits, milestone releases to builders, supplier payments, escrow logic. There's significant work ahead to streamline how this runs end to end, reduce manual reconciliation, and bring it closer to real time.
• Owning the monthly close. Statutory accounts, VAT, payroll, accruals, prepayments, and the journals that come with running a UK business. You'll set the rhythm: a tight, predictable close that leadership can rely on for forecasting and decision-making.
• Running cash and forecasting. You'll maintain our financial model, produce cash flow forecasts the leadership team can act on, and own working capital management. Forecast accuracy matters here, and we want to continuously improve it over time.
• Supporting fundraising. As we move through future rounds, you'll prepare the financials, build the data room, model scenarios, and sit alongside the CEO in investor conversations.
• Navigating FCA regulation. Because of how we handle money on behalf of homeowners and builders, we sit close to financial regulation. You'll be the internal lead on understanding what applies to us, what we need to put in place, and how that shapes the product.
• Business partnering across the company. You'll work with sales on commission and pricing, with operations on project P&Ls and contractor payments, with product on financial flows in the platform, and with the CEO on commercial questions. Finance touches everything here.
• Bringing AI into how finance works. We expect the person in this role to be actively using AI in their own work — for reconciliation, reporting, analysis, drafting policies, querying data — and to have a view on where it's genuinely useful versus where it isn't.

What we're looking for

• We particularly welcome applications from people who've worked in fast-moving, non-corporate environments.
• A fully qualified accountant (ACA / ACCA / CIMA), with 5+ years of post-qualification experience. Strong technical accounting knowledge and the ability to think fast on commercial questions.
• Real startup experience as a finance team of one. You've been the only finance person, or close to it, in a company under 50 people. You know how to build process where there isn't any, how to prioritise when everything feels important, and how to operate without a team underneath you.
• An AI-curious mindset. You see AI as something to lean into, not avoid. You've already used it in your own work and have an opinion on what's useful and what isn't.
• A bias toward building, not maintaining. When something is manual, your instinct is to ask whether it should be. You're as comfortable working with engineers on Stripe and Xero APIs as you are in a P&L.
• Composure with ambiguity. Some things at Beams are well built. Plenty aren't. You can sit with that, prioritise what matters, and start making things better without needing perfect instructions.
• Clear communication. You can explain financial issues simply to non-finance people, and challenge teams on existing processes without losing them.
• Commercial judgement. You're not just keeping the score. You'll be expected to have a view on pricing, project margins, builder economics, and where the business is leaving money on the table.
• Experience with marketplaces, payments infrastructure, Stripe Connect, or FCA-regulated businesses is useful but not required. Practice or in-house backgrounds both work.

What success looks like

• At 30 days: You've completed onboarding, met the team, and understand how money flows through Beams — from homeowner deposit through to final builder payment. You've worked through the handover from the outgoing finance person, run your first month-end, and identified the first things you'd change about how the function operates.
• At 90 days: You're owning monthly close independently and the rhythm is tight. You've made meaningful progress on streamlining Stripe Connect and the payments operation, with manual reconciliation measurably reduced. The leadership team is relying on your cash forecast for planning. You've started shaping our position on FCA-related questions.
• At 12 months: The financial operations side of the marketplace is meaningfully more automated than when you started, and you've built or replaced the systems and processes that needed it. You've supported a fundraising round, or you're in the middle of one. Leadership sees you as someone who could grow into Head of Finance as the team expands.

Package

• Salary: £75k to £120k depending on experience
• Equity: Above European benchmarks, included in every offer
• Annual leave: 25 days + bank holidays
• Learning budget: Annual allowance for professional development
• Hybrid working: Minimum 3 days in our Spitalfields office

On applying

We're building a team that reflects the range of people we serve. Different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives make us better at what we do.

If you don't meet every requirement listed above, apply anyway. We're more interested in how you think than in a tidy CV.

Apply using the application form and send a short note on why this role to careers@beamsrenovation.com by 30 May.

By submitting this application, I agree that my personal data will be collected, processed, and retained by the company solely for the purposes of managing and assessing my candidacy.