VP of Finance

We are looking for an experienced Finance Director or VP to own the Finance division at a rapidly growing start-up / scale up business in Cambridge. Sales are coming thick and fast, and there is now a need to bring accounting and finance in-house and this is the role that owns it. It reports to the CEO and initially will be the sole person in the Finance team, so we are looking for someone who is senior and experienced enough to take on a role like this but also happy to be hands-on with the day-to-day operations, submitting accounts and similar.

Role Overview

The VP Finance is a senior, hands-on role responsible for ensuring the company's financial operations run reliably, accurately, and predictably, while providing executive operational leverage across the business. In the first six months, the priority is stabilising and upgrading the finance function - close, cash visibility, AR/AP cadence, controls and board reporting - with increasing readiness for audit and future fundraising. Alongside finance, the role takes ownership of a set of executive responsibilities related to commercial operations.

Key Responsibilities

• Financial Operations
  • Own the reliable day-to-day execution of the company's finances, ensuring financial data is accurate, timely and trustworthy.
  • Oversee the full accounting cycle in collaboration with external accountants, including reconciliations, month-end close and management accounts.
  • Manage invoicing, billing and collections to ensure timely cash inflow, as well as banking operations, payment runs and short-term cashflow visibility.
  • Incrementally improve finance and operational processes, controls and documentation as the company scales.
• Commercial & Operations Finance
  • Own and improve end-to-end order-to-cash and procure-to-pay workflows across Commercial, Operations and Finance.
  • Oversee purchasing workflows, invoice matching and spend control.
  • Manage customer orders, delivery confirmation, invoicing and collections.
  • Work closely with Commercial to ensure ERP and CRM data supports accurate billing, forecasting and reporting, and support logistics, fulfilment and internal handovers between sales, operations, production and finance.
• Reporting
  • Build the financial foundations required for a growing manufacturing and consumables business, with increasing readiness for scale and future investment.
  • Support inventory, BOMs, COGS and gross margin tracking for instruments and consumables.
  • Produce budget vs actual analysis, forecasts and cash runway views.
  • Provide clear finance inputs for board reporting and maintain robust financial models and scenario analyses to support future fundraising.
  • Ensure financial data and processes are audit-ready, and support grants, R&D tax credits and funder reporting where applicable.
• Executive Operations
  • Provide operational leverage to the leadership team by owning cross-functional initiatives and corporate administration.
  • Lead setup and ongoing administration of international subsidiaries, including timelines, budgets, banking, payroll readiness and compliance.
  • Own the company compliance calendar and corporate housekeeping.
• Fundraising Readiness
  • Support fundraising, diligence and investor reporting with high-quality financial materials.
  • Maintain an investor-grade financial model, scenarios and use-of-funds planning.
  • Prepare finance elements of data room and diligence packs, support investor Q&A, and assist with equity and option administration in coordination with external specialists.

Experience & Skills

Essential

• Qualified accountant (ACA / ACCA / CIMA) or equivalent hands-on experience.
• Significant experience in execution-heavy finance roles such as Financial Controller, Head of Finance or Senior Accountant.
• Hands-on capability across reconciliations, invoicing, AP/AR, cashflow and month-end close.
• Experience in a venture-backed start-up or scale-up environment, including board reporting, runway planning and diligence readiness.
• Proven ability to run cross-functional operational projects, and comfortable working closely with operations, production and commercial teams.

Desirable

• Experience in manufacturing or cost accounting, hardware or consumables-based businesses.
• Familiarity with order-to-cash and procure-to-pay processes.
• Experience supporting grants, funder reporting or R&D tax credits.
• Familiarity with ERP, CRM and operational systems that interface with finance.
• Exposure to UK/US cross-border operations and experience supporting fundraising processes and investor diligence.