Senior Bookkeeper

Salary: Competitive — dependent on experience

Contract Type: Contract

About Picture Property Developments

Picture Property Developments is an active UK property developer managing a portfolio of residential development projects. We run a lean, hands-on team with a strong emphasis on financial discipline and project-level visibility. Our finance function spans across multiple platforms, including Xero, QuickBooks and Excel.

Role Overview

We are seeking a highly capable Senior Bookkeeper, ideally with property development experience to join our team of dedicated professionals. This position will be based at our London office 1-2 days a week on a contract basis. The successful candidate will take ownership of our day-to-day finance operations, working directly with the Director, partnering with our existing payroll and VAT contacts, and liaising with our external accountants. The role spans the full breadth of a property developer's finance function — bookkeeping, payroll, VAT, invoicing, cash flow, reporting and finance administration — across all our entities. This is not a pure bookkeeping role. We are looking for someone who combines strong financial fundamentals with an operational mindset — someone who can spot when a process is broken and fix it, not just maintain what is already there.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain accurate, up-to-date records across Xero, QuickBooks and Excel for all entities.
• Post and reconcile income, expenditure and bank accounts on a timely basis.
• Maintain the chart of accounts and ensure consistent, correct coding of transactions.
• Apply inter-company double-entry across entities.
• Run monthly payroll and post associated journals.
• Administer PAYE, National Insurance and pension contributions in line with HMRC requirements.
• Prepare and submit quarterly VAT returns across all entities.
• Maintain VAT split schedules and supporting workings for each submission.
• Process incoming invoices, verify against project budgets, and manage the payment workflow.
• Raise outgoing invoices and maintain AP / AR registers.
• Maintain the cash flow spreadsheet across all project entities.
• Track quarterly project repayments and reconcile against bank records.
• Prepare monthly management accounts and director-level financial summaries.
• Ensure records are maintained in line with UK GAAP and relevant legislation.

General Finance Administration

• Minimum 5 years of proven bookkeeping / accounting experience.
• Excellent working knowledge of Excel and at least one major accounting platform (Xero, Sage, QuickBooks).
• Experience preparing and submitting quarterly VAT returns.
• Highly organised, proactive and able to manage multiple workstreams.
• Confident communicator — written and verbal.
• Authorized to work in United Kingdom, no need for visa sponsorship.
• Property development, construction or real estate experience, ideally on the client (developer) side.
• Familiarity with development appraisals — GDV, profit on cost, IRR, loan-to-cost / loan-to-value.
• Familiarity with CIS, VAT option to tax, SDLT, Section 106 agreements and CIL.
• Part-qualified or qualified accountant (AAT, CIMA, ACCA) — or working towards it.
• Exposure to Microsoft Project for cashflow forecasting.
• Familiarity with deploying AI agents or automation tools to streamline bookkeeping workflows.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience.
• Based at our London office (Notting Hill).
• Entrepreneurial, fast-paced culture with significant scope to shape your role as we scale.