Head of Finance in London

Goalhanger is one of the UK’s most exciting independent media companies, the team behind some of the world’s most successful shows, including The Rest Is Politics, The Rest Is History, The Rest Is Football, The Rest Is Entertainment, and a fast-growing slate. We’re a creative, fast-moving organisation with big ambitions and a brilliant team that makes them happen.

Goalhanger is seeking a forward-thinking Head of Finance to serve as the architect of our financial operations during a period of rapid global scale. Reporting directly to the CFO, you will bridge the gap between technical accounting excellence and strategic commercial insight.

We aren’t just looking for someone to run the books; we need a leader who thrives on building a scalable financial engine. You will leverage a modern ERP (Campfire) and AI tooling (Claude) to automate the mundane, ensuring our finance function is an enabling force that provides the wider team with timely, accurate, and insightful support for all strategic decision-making.

We are a small, high-energy, collaborative team that thrives on in-person creativity and rapid iteration. As such, this role is based in our Kennington office 5 days a week.

Key Responsibilities

• Financial Architecture & Strategy
• Financial Operations, Treasury & Cash Flow: Oversee and manage accounts payable, receivable, payroll, and treasury – alongside our Finance Manager – ensuring optimal capital allocation to fuel growth.
• Scalable Operations: Engineer and automate financial processes, reducing manual intervention and driving the evolution of our finance tech stack.
• Strategic Planning: Lead the annual budgeting process and develop sophisticated financial models to support market expansion (including US growth), product investment, and M&A activity.
• Predictive Insight: Move beyond reactive reporting by developing KPI dashboards and processes that provide leadership with clear visibility into business performance and future trends.
• Commercial Partnership & Content ROI
• Business Partnering: Act as a strategic advisor to General Managers and Department Heads, translating complex financial data into actionable commercial advice.
• Content Lifecycle Analysis: Develop frameworks to track the ROI of content investments, helping management and the board understand the commercial health of specific shows, talent deals, and IP.
• Contract Support: Evaluate new business opportunities and support contract negotiations with robust financial modeling and risk assessment.
• Governance, Risk & Compliance
• Technical Excellence: Maintain full compliance with UK GAAP / IFRS and manage all tax obligations and statutory filings.
• Audit & Controls: Maintain a robust internal control environment; serve as the primary liaison for external auditors and banking partners.
• Global Readiness: Identify and mitigate financial risks across the organization, specifically as we expand into international jurisdictions (US being the primary focus).
• Team Leadership
• Culture of Excellence: Lead and grow a lean, high-performing finance team, fostering a culture of accuracy, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Mentorship: Coach the team to maximise their impact beyond basic accounting and toward data analysis and strategic support.

Requirements

• Essential
• Insane Attention to Detail: You take personal pride in the integrity of the ledger. You view accurate, timely numbers as the essential foundation of all business trust.
• Extreme Ownership: You don’t just flag problems; you own the solution. You treat the company’s capital as if it were your own and hold a high bar for excellence.
• Qualified Accountant: ACA, ACCA, CIMA (or equivalent) with significant post-qualification experience.
• Growth-Stage Experience: Proven track record in a senior role within a fast-paced environment, taking hands-on accountability for the detail.
• Tech-Native: An appetite for modern, AI-native ERPs (we use Campfire) and an advanced ability to leverage AI (Claude/GPT) to improve process efficiency.
• Data Architect Mindset: Experience designing data flows between disparate systems to deliver automated and accurate accounting processes.
• Stakeholder Management: The ability to challenge stakeholders constructively and communicate financial concepts to non-finance audiences.
• Desirable
• Media Expertise: Experience in media, production, or high-growth "creator economy" scale-ups.
• International Scale: Direct experience with US finance operations, including Nexus and state-level tax compliance.
• System Implementation: Hands-on experience leading a software migration or significant upgrade.

How to apply:

On the next page please attach your CV and your response to the following questions, please be clear and succinct in your answers:

• Automation & AI Fluency; walk me through a specific financial process you've automated or rebuilt using modern tooling or AI. What did it look like before, what did you change, and what was the measurable impact?
• Commercial ROI Thinking; have you ever built a framework to track the return on a creative or content investment (a product, campaign, or project with uncertain payback)? How did you approach it and how was it used by the business?
• Extreme Ownership Under Pressure; Tell me about a time the numbers were wrong, or a financial process failed. What happened, and what did you personally do to fix it — not just flag it?
• Stakeholder Challenge; Describe a situation where you pushed back on a senior stakeholder or commercial team on financial grounds. How did you handle it and what was the outcome?
• Growth-Stage Grit; What's the most 'hands-on' you've ever had to get in a senior finance role? Give me a specific example where you had to go deep into the detail despite being in a leadership position.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Goalhanger is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued and supported. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, communities, and experiences.

Adjustments & Accessibility

We want our recruitment process to be as accessible as possible. If you require any reasonable adjustments at any stage of the application or interview process, please let us know and we will be happy to discuss how we can support you.