Finance Operations Manager in London

Contract Type: Full-time, Permanent contract

Working Pattern: Monday to Friday Hours: 40 hours per week.

Reports to: Head of Financial Reporting & Control

Works closely with HR, external payroll providers, tax/VAT advisors, banks, and regional finance contacts.

Overview

The Finance Operations Manager is responsible for overseeing payroll operations, banking and cash activities, VAT compliance coordination, and wider operational finance controls across the Group. The role acts as the central coordination point between internal stakeholders and outsourced providers across multiple jurisdictions, ensuring the accurate, timely, and compliant delivery of payroll, payments, VAT, and regulatory processes. This position combines strong operational finance capability with experience managing outsourced providers, international finance operations, and financial controls within a multi-entity environment. The role focuses on the coordination, review, control, and operational oversight of outsourced and internally managed finance operations processes, rather than acting as the technical specialist responsible for preparing all underlying submissions directly. The role currently has line management responsibility for the junior finance team members supporting accounts payable, payment processing, and VAT administration activities. The finance function is also undergoing ongoing systems and process improvement initiatives to further strengthen operational efficiency, controls, and automation across the Group.

Main responsibilities

• Payroll Operations & Employment Compliance
  • Oversee end-to-end payroll operations across the Group, working closely with outsourced payroll providers and internal HR teams
  • Coordinate monthly payroll inputs, approvals, reconciliations, and reporting across: UK (~440 employees), China (~60 employees), Germany and Spain (~6 employees)
  • Ensure accurate and timely submission of payroll-related information including starters, leavers, benefits, bonuses, pensions, and statutory payments
  • Act as the key finance contact for payroll providers and employment tax matters
  • Review payroll reconciliations, journals, and supporting documentation prepared internally or by external providers
  • Ensure payroll processes remain well controlled, compliant, and audit-ready
  • Support continuous improvement and automation of payroll-related workflows and controls
• Banking, Payments & Cash Operations
  • Oversee day-to-day banking, payments, and cash operations across the Group
  • Coordinate domestic and international payment runs and approval workflows
  • Maintain oversight of banking platforms, mandates, signatories, and user access controls
  • Support short-term cash flow visibility and liquidity monitoring
  • Supporting FP&A with cash flow forecasting
  • Coordinate operational banking activities with overseas teams and external banking providers, including local banking coordination in China
  • Ensure robust controls and governance over cash movements and payment authorisations
  • Collaborating with Project Accounting on Receivables, remittances and allocations
• VAT & International Compliance Coordination
  • Coordinate UK VAT return preparation and submission processes with external advisors and internal stakeholders
  • Manage information flows with external VAT and tax advisors across overseas jurisdictions where the Group holds VAT registrations
  • Support VAT registrations, de-registrations, and ongoing compliance requirements
  • Coordinate KYC requests, residence certificates, tax forms, and banking compliance documentation required for international projects and operations
  • Maintain organised and audit-ready compliance documentation across multiple jurisdictions
  • Support internal and external audit requests relating to payroll, banking, VAT, and operational finance processes
  • Collaborating with Project Accounting on Compliance Certificates for their projects (TRC, IC etc)
• Finance Operations & Team Oversight
  • Manage and support the junior finance team member involved in: Accounts payable processing, Payment runs, VAT support information, Operational finance administration
  • Work closely with the Head of Financial Reporting & Control on systems improvement and with the Senior Management and FP&A team on projections and forecasting
  • Collaborate with HR and wider finance teams to ensure accurate data flows and efficient operational processes
  • Contribute to process documentation, controls development, and operational best practice across the finance function

Skills Required

Essential

• Part-qualified or qualified (ACCA, CIMA, ACA or equivalent) with a strong operational finance background
• Experience in finance operations, payroll coordination, treasury operations, or operational finance roles within a multi-entity business
• Strong understanding of UK payroll processes and employment tax principles
• Experience working with outsourced payroll providers and external advisors
• Practical experience overseeing banking, payments, and operational financial controls
• Experience coordinating VAT and compliance processes across multiple jurisdictions
• Strong organisational and prioritisation skills, with the ability to manage multiple operational workstreams simultaneously
• Excellent attention to detail and a strong control mindset
• Confident communicating with senior stakeholders, external providers, and international teams
• Experience supervising or reviewing junior team members’ work

Desirable

• Experience within architecture, professional services, consultancy, or international project based businesses
• Exposure to international payroll operations and overseas banking processes
• Experience supporting finance systems improvements or automation initiatives
• Language skills
• Familiarity with ERP/project systems such as Deltek and Sage

Personal skills

• Practical and solutions-oriented approach
• Strong sense of ownership and accountability
• Calm under pressure and able to manage competing priorities
• Reliable and trusted with sensitive financial information
• Collaborative and approachable communication style
• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail
• Process-improvement mindset with sound operational judgement

About us

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) redefined architecture for the 21st century with a repertoire of projects that have captured imaginations across the globe. Creating buildings uniquely tailored to the communities they serve, ZHA has been awarded the highest honours from professional and academic institutions worldwide. Founded by Zaha Hadid in 1979, ZHA is one of the world’s most consistently inventive architectural studios—and has been for four decades. These decades of pioneering research are inscribed within our architecture to become more spatially inventive, more structurally efficient, more technologically advanced, and more environmentally considerate with every new design. Combining innovative architectural solutions with ecologically sound materials and sustainable construction practices, we do not look at the disparate parts, but work to understand them as a whole to meet the aspirations of each new generation. As an employee-owned business, we reinvest all profits back into our people and our company; continually enhancing our multidisciplinary research to address the challenges impacting communities around the world.