Commercial Finance Manager

The National College; Sheffield; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

24/7 mental health support

Free annual flu jab

Flexible working

Birthday off

Pension plan

Life assurance

Job summary

The National College, part of National Education Group, seeks an experienced finance professional to own CARR reporting, churn analysis and commercial insight across multiple markets. You will join a team focused on accurate, scalable reporting and strategic forecasting for leadership and the board.

You will partner with Sales, Revenue Operations, and Accounting to tighten controls, automate workflows and drive value through data-driven insights.

Qualifications

• Qualified Accountant with ACA/ACCA/CIMA.
• 4+ years in finance, FP&A, Revenue Operations, or similar.
• Advanced Excel skills and large dataset handling.
• Strong attention to data accuracy and reconciliations.
• Ability to explain financial insights clearly to non-finance.

Responsibilities

• Own monthly CARR reporting and movements across various dimensions.
• Analyse churn, retention, renewals and pricing impacts.
• Lead Board pack sections for recurring revenue vs budget/forecast.
• Partner with Sales, Revenue Ops and Accounting to ensure data integrity.
• Simplify processes, automate checks and improve controls.

Skills

Advanced Excel

Analytical skills

Attention to detail

Communication to non-finance

Ownership & curiosity

Problem solving

Understanding subscription metrics

Education

ACA/ACCA/CIMA qualification

Tools

HubSpot

Certinia

Salesforce

Power BI

SQL

Python

Job description

About National Education Group (NEG)

National Education Group (NEG) is a leading EdTech SaaS business backed by Synova. Through platforms including The National College, it supports 54,000+ institutions and 1.5 million educators. Its work has received 21 major EdTech awards, including Supplier of the Year.

The Role

The National College supports more than 12,000 schools across the UK and overseas through its CPD, Leadership & Governance, and People Development memberships.

Contracted Annual Recurring Revenue (CARR) is a key measure of business performance, showing leadership and the Board growth and revenue trends. You will own monthly CARR reporting, lead the CARR walk and translate complex data into clear insights and Board commentary.

You will improve reporting by simplifying workflows, automating manual tasks, strengthening controls and resolving data issues at source with Revenue Operations and Accounting. Reporting to the Commercial Finance Director, you will work with senior leaders to make reporting more efficient, reliable and scalable.

Key Responsibilities

CARR Reporting and Revenue Movements

• Own the monthly CARR walk, explaining opening-to-closing movements across new business, cross-sell, upsell, pricing changes, downgrades and churn.
• Analyse movements by product, country and customer segment, applying consistent, documented classifications.
• Explain material variances, trends and anomalies.

Churn, Retention and Customer Performance

• Own churn and retention reporting, including gross and net revenue retention, customer (logo) churn, downgrades and win-backs.
• Analyse results by product, segment, education phase and country.
• Investigate churn drivers alongside indicators such as product usage and customer health scores.
• Track renewal pricing against agreed increases to identify revenue leakage and protect recurring revenue.

Board Reporting, Forecasting and Commercial Insight

• Lead the recurring revenue section of the monthly Board pack, covering CARR and ARR against budget and forecast, international performance, memberships, customer numbers and churn.
• Explain what has changed, why, and the implications for performance and the annual outlook.
• Build the CARR component of the annual budget and in-year reforecasts using commercial drivers and assumptions.
• Respond to executive and investor requests with timely, accurate analysis.

Business Partnering and Financial Integrity

• Sales: Align with sales leadership on new business and CARR performance, targets and pipeline reporting.
• Revenue Operations: Improve the accuracy of deals, renewals and contract changes recorded in HubSpot and Certinia.
• Accounting: Reconcile CARR, ARR, contract and billing data with recognised revenue, investigating differences.
• Reconcile the CARR walk to HubSpot deals and Certinia contracts, resolving discrepancies at source rather than relying on manual adjustments.
• Maintain controls, validation checks and a clear audit trail.

Process Improvement and Automation

• Simplify month-end workflows, remove duplicated manual steps and make reporting faster and more reliable.
• Lead improvements with the Commercial Finance Director, measuring time saved, errors reduced and reporting quality.
• Automate checks for completeness, movement classification and reconciliations.
• Partner with Revenue Operations to resolve data issues, including customer and trust hierarchies, mismatched system IDs, contract dates and pricing.
• Document processes and controls to support scale and reduce reliance on individual knowledge.

What We're Looking For

Essential

• Qualified Accountant (ACA, ACCA or CIMA).
• At least four years' experience in finance, FP&A, commercial finance, Revenue Operations, audit or a similar analytical role.
• Advanced Excel skills, including lookups, pivot tables and working with large datasets.
• Excellent attention to detail and commitment to accurate, reconciled data.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills and explain findings clearly to finance and non-finance audiences.
• Ownership and curiosity to investigate issues and improve processes.
• Understanding of, or willingness to develop expertise in, subscription metrics such as ARR, churn and net revenue retention.

Desirable

• SQL, Power BI or Python experience for analysis, automation or data quality.
• Experience with HubSpot, Certinia, Salesforce or other CRM, subscription or finance systems.
• Experience using AI tools for analysis, repetitive tasks or data validation.
• Experience in SaaS, subscription-based or education businesses.

Job Benefits

At The National College, we're passionate about helping organisations thrive through knowledge and connection. We value collaboration, innovation, personal development and high standards.

Your Wellbeing

• 24/7 mental health support and GP access for you and your family.
• Fitness, nutrition, legal and financial support.
• Free annual flu jab.

Your Time

• 25 days' annual leave plus bank holidays, rising to 30, with buy/sell options.
• Birthday off, paid charity day and genuinely flexible working.

Your Future and Family

• Enhanced family pay from day one.
• 5% employee pension contribution (including 1% tax relief) and 3% employer contribution.
• Life assurance at four times your salary.

Your Growth

• Three weeks of expert-led onboarding.
• Commercial sales training, Bites and Insights sessions, and supported professional development.
• One professional subscription covered annually.

Our Culture

• Regular socials and collaboration days.
• Annual summer and winter parties.
• Free barista-quality coffee, fruit, snacks and drinks in our office.