Finance Manager

About Sure Thing

We're a founder-led fractional finance and operations agency partnering with ambitious small businesses who need expertise without the full-time commitment. Think growing tech startups, innovative hospitality ventures, and creative agencies - the kind of businesses that keep things interesting.

We're not your typical agency. We're building something different: a collaborative community of finance, operations, and HR specialists who actually enjoy working together, share knowledge freely, and aren't afraid to challenge 'we've always done it this way'.

We offer project support (e.g. financial model builds, system implementations, month-end process design) alongside ongoing retainer work and are looking for one or two finance manager / senior finance managers to work alongside our bookkeeping team and our two Finance Directors.

Who We're Looking For

We want fully qualified finance professionals (CIMA, ACCA, or ACA) who sit comfortably between bookkeeping and FD-level strategy. You're the person who can take messy financial data and turn it into actionable insight, build a robust month-end close process, or create a financial model that actually gets used.

What sets you apart:

Process improvement obsessive - You get genuinely excited about automation, AI tools, and finding elegant solutions to inefficient workflows. You have specific examples of processes you've transformed, tools you've implemented, or manual tasks you've automated (and you're itching to tell us about them).

Curious tinkerer - You actively experiment with new finance tools, apps, and technologies. You're the person who recommends apps, tests the AI integrations and always asks 'could this be done better?'

Exceptional communicator - You can translate complex financial concepts into plain English for founders, balance empathy with challenge when stakeholders need redirecting, and build trust quickly with clients at all levels.

High standards, realistic perspective - You take genuine pride in your work and hold yourself to professional standards, but you also know when 'good enough' beats 'perfect', and you find enjoyment in what you do.

Bonus: South of England based - We love meeting up in Brighton or London for team socials and knowledge-sharing sessions. Remote-first, but proximity is a plus

This role best suits an existing freelancer with capacity in their portfolio, not someone diving into freelancing for the first time.

What You'll Do

You'll work across multiple client accounts on a freelance basis, providing senior-level finance support that sits between day-to-day bookkeeping and strategic FD advice. You'll have the backing of our Finance Directors (Katie and Louanne) and collaborate with our bookkeeping team.

You can specialise in Financial Control, Commercial Finance, or - ideally - have experience across both:

Financial Control:

• Design and implement robust month-end close processes for growing businesses
• Prepare management accounts
• Advise clients on appropriate accounting treatment
• Review and improve financial controls, reconciliation processes, and approval workflows
• Liaise with external auditors, preparing audit files and managing queries
• Coordinate with tax specialists and accountants on year-end accounts
• Untangle messy financial data from multiple sources
• Oversee and support bookkeepers on complex AR/AP issues, multi-currency transactions, or reconciliation challenges
• Identify and resolve balance sheet anomalies, historic errors, or data integrity issues

Commercial Finance:

• Build financial models for business planning, fundraising, or scenario analysis (in Excel and beyond)
• Partner with leadership teams to translate business strategy into financial forecasts
• Design and deliver performance reporting frameworks including KPI dashboards
• Prepare investment appraisals, business cases, and ROI analyses
• Support pricing strategies, margin analysis, and profitability reviews
• Create and present board packs and management reports for investors or leadership teams
• Provide commercial insight on key business decisions (e.g. new market entry, product launches, pricing changes)

Process Improvement & Systems (All):

• Identify opportunities to automate manual finance processes and implement new finance tools
• Train clients and bookkeepers on new systems and processes
• Document and standardise finance workflows across the team
• Stay ahead of emerging finance tech and share discoveries with the Sure Thing community

What You Need

Essential:

• Fully qualified: CIMA, ACCA, or ACA
• Experience: 3+ years post-qualification experience in finance roles (practice or industry)
• Technical skills: Strong technical accounting knowledge
• Software proficiency: Advanced Excel/Google Sheets and some experience with accounting software (Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, NetSuite, etc.)
• Commercial acumen: Ability to connect financial data to business outcomes and strategy
• Availability: 5+ hours per week capacity (scalable as portfolio grows)

Highly Desirable:

• Experience across both Financial Control AND Commercial Finance disciplines
• Track record of process improvement, automation, or AI implementation in finance
• Financial modelling tools beyond Excel
• Experience working with SMEs, particularly tech, hospitality, or creative sectors

Personality fit:

• Intellectually curious with a growth mindset
• Collaborative team player who thrives in a community
• High attention to detail without losing sight of the bigger picture
• Pragmatic problem-solver who can navigate ambiguity

What We Offer

Flexibility first - Freelance arrangements with hours that work around your life. Build your portfolio with interesting, high-quality clients.

Variety - Work across diverse sectors (tech, hospitality, professional services, creative agencies) with businesses at different growth stages. No two days are the same.

Community & collaboration - Regular knowledge-sharing sessions on AI, automation, technical accounting, and best practices. Access to our network of finance, operations, and HR specialists. Social events in Brighton and London.

Proper support - You'll work alongside two experienced FDs and a growing team of bookkeepers and finance professionals. You're not alone on an island.

Shape the future - Help us define what modern fractional finance looks like. Your ideas, experiments, and improvements will directly impact how we work.

Important Note

We're building a community of individual practitioners, not sub-contracting to agencies or practices. If you're a qualified finance professional looking for portfolio flexibility with proper support - brilliant. If you're an agency looking to white-label work, this isn't the right fit.

Ready to Join Us?

If you're a qualified finance professional who's genuinely excited about process improvement, automation, and helping growing businesses make better financial decisions, we'd love to hear from you.

Job Types: Part-time, Freelance

Pay: £45.00-£65.00 per hour

Benefits:

• Flexitime
• Work from home

Application question(s):

• Are you based in the UK, with valid right to work?
• Are you fully ACCA/CIMA/ACA qualified?
• Do you actively experiment with new tools, automations and use of AI?
• Are you an existing freelancer?

Work Location: Remote