Financial Controller

At Basecamp Research, we exist to push the forefront of complex biological product design by completely rethinking the data and AI stack necessary to achieve it. We unlock the potential of our planet’s unexplored biodiversity to solve some of biotechnology’s hardest problems, demonstrating the value of nature’s undiscovered biology. At the core of our platform is a proprietary data asset of genetic information collected from across the tree of life through global expeditions and partnerships. Having recently closed our Series B (bringing total funding to $85M), we scaled our data asset 10× in just a few months – to billions of genes – cementing it as the single largest genomics database of life on Earth. We use this data to train a new generation of biological foundation models with applications in therapeutics, nutrition, and agriculture. At Basecamp Research, we pride ourselves on being a diverse, exciting, fun, and flexible place to work. Our team of biologists, engineers, data scientists, and field explorers is united by a sense of adventure and the belief that nature has already designed the solutions to our planet’s greatest challenges – we just need to go out and discover them!

If you feel passionate about the power of biology, data, and AI to build a better world, we’d love to hear from you.

Role Overview

We are seeking a detail-oriented, proactive, and collaborative Financial Controller to join our growing team. This role is critical in ensuring robust financial management and reporting across our UK/US and French operations and our data gathering partnerships. You will be reporting to the Finance Director and become a key member of the finance function. This is an exciting opportunity for someone who has interest in life sciences to join a fast-paced, mission-driven environment and wants to contribute to groundbreaking global research initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

• Financial Operations & Oversight: Work alongside the Finance Director in the day-to-day management of financial affairs for Basecamp Research Ltd and its international subsidiaries and a very regular set of finance projects to enable the company to run smoothly and scale its operations. Act as key quality control for the accuracy and timeliness of monthly, quarterly and annual financial reports delivered by outsourced partners in London and Boston. Prepare for and interact with the audit team from planning to completion. Ensure compliance with UK and US local tax and reporting regulations, including review and sign-off of VAT returns, R&D tax credits and other tax filings. Contribute to the budget and forecast process.
• Systems & Process Management: Oversee the integration and quality of financial data flowing between Pleo (expenditure management platform), Xero (accounting software) and fathom reporting tool. Establish and maintain data integrity processes to ensure accurate reporting and real-time insights into company spending.
• GRT Project Financial Support: Provide consistency of presentation and approach to data partnership budgets and expenditures for each data Partnership - including Costa Rica, Cameroon, Malawi, Malta and Hungary. Support financial planning and forecasting for data collection initiatives across multiple countries and partners. Monitor cash flow and manage fund allocation for field research and collaboration expenses.
• Business Support & Analysis: Provide ad hoc financial analysis and support for strategic projects, investor reporting, and internal decision-making. Contribute to process improvement initiatives, such as applying AI to our processes and outputs and help shape the future of finance within a dynamic and rapidly scaling business.

Skills & Experience Required:

• Professional accounting qualification (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent).
• Proven experience and meaningful time spent in a similar Financial Controller or Senior Finance role.
• You are organised, adaptable and comfortable with working under pressure to deadlines and can easily adapt to your priorities changing to fit what is needed by management and the team.
• Experience managing third-party providers.
• Genuine comfort with technology and software - this is a technology company.
• A strong understanding of accounting systems (ideally Xero) and expense management tools (ideally Pleo).
• Familiarity with UK VAT returns, R&D tax credits and other UK focused essential administration.
• Excellent communication and coordination skills across multiple teams and time zones.

Desirable:

• Interest and ideally a qualification in life sciences, or previous experience working in the industry.
• Comfort working across global regulatory and operational contexts (UK, US, EU).

What We Offer

• Impactful Mission: The opportunity to be a key member of our team in an exciting, dynamic, and fast-moving field. Your work will directly enable breakthrough discoveries and real-world impact in biotechnology.
• Collaborative Culture: A fun, flexible, and supportive work environment with an office in the centre of London. We emphasise collaboration and personal development – you’ll be working cross-team and cross-function daily, alongside people who are passionate about what they do.
• Competitive Compensation: Competitive salary including equity, so you share ownership in our success.
• Comprehensive Benefits: Including cycle-to-work scheme, pension, private medical insurance and more.

Do you want to join our team as our new Financial Controller? Then we’d love to hear about you!