Finance Manager - Europe

Plaid Inc.; City of Westminster; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading fintech company in City of Westminster is seeking a Finance Manager & Safeguarding Officer to oversee financial operations for UK and EU entities, ensuring compliance with regulations. The role involves managing finances, leading audits, and maintaining safeguards for customer funds. Ideal candidates will have significant experience in finance with a focus on regulatory frameworks and safeguarding practices.

Qualifications

• Minimum 8 years' experience in finance, accounting, or treasury within a fintech or EMI environment.
• In-depth understanding of Electronic Money Regulations and Payment Services Regulations.
• Proven experience managing safeguarding reconciliations and regulatory returns.

Responsibilities

• Lead all financial operations for UK/EU entities including accounting oversight and management reporting.
• Prepare monthly/quarterly management accounts and capital adequacy reporting.
• Oversee treasury and liquidity management ensuring adequate funding.

Skills

Experience in finance, accounting, or treasury

Regulatory compliance knowledge

Analytical and reporting skills

Attention to detail

Education

Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, RA or equivalent)

Job description

The team is responsible for the financial management, regulatory reporting, prudential oversight, and safeguarding of customer funds for Plaid's UK and EU regulated entities. This includes accounting, capital and liquidity monitoring, treasury operations, financial audits, compliance with FCA/DNB requirements, and ensuring robust controls to protect customer funds and maintain regulatory approval to operate. This new role will be the first dedicated in-region Finance Manager & Safeguarding Officer for UK/EU and will operate as the primary on-the-ground owner for our UK and BV entities finance and compliance matters. The role will initially report directly to the US Head of Accounting and work closely with the US Head of GL Accounting, as well as our local UK and BV service providers and our Legal and Compliance teams, to support a smooth EMI application process and ensure ongoing financial and regulatory compliance. Successful candidates will have a strong understanding of FCA (UK) and DNB (Netherlands) financial reporting and capital adequacy requirements for EMIs. Familiarity with safeguarding regulations, own funds calculation, and financial compliance controls under the Electronic Money Regulations (UK) and Electronic Money Directives(EU). Experience with financial reporting, audits, and reconciliations in a regulated financial institution.

Responsibilities

• Lead all financial operations for UK/EU entities, including accounting oversight, reconciliations, internal controls, and management reporting.
• Prepare and maintain monthly/quarterly management accounts, prudential metrics, and capital adequacy reporting.
• Coordinate annual financial audits across jurisdictions and ensure audit readiness.
• Ensure consistent application of accounting and prudential standards across UK/EU entities.
• Manage outsourced UK/BV accounting service providers and partner closely with the US Accounting team to ensure a timely and accurate month-end close.
• Oversee treasury and liquidity management, ensuring adequate funding and strict segregation of client and corporate funds.
• Design, operate, and maintain the safeguarding control framework, including daily safeguarding reconciliations and timely investigation of discrepancies.
• Maintain safeguarding and trust accounts with regulated credit institutions and ensure breaches are logged and escalated appropriately.
• Prepare and coordinate the annual independent safeguarding audit and track implementation of recommendations.
• Produce and submit all required regulatory returns, including FCA REP021, FSA056/057 EMI returns, and DNB prudential reports.
• Develop MI and dashboards for senior management and the Board on safeguarding effectiveness, liquidity, and financial soundness.
• Support annual wind-down planning, operational resilience testing, and broader prudential compliance requirements.
• Work closely with Legal, Compliance, and Risk to embed strong financial and safeguarding controls across processes.
• Liaise with banking partners, auditors, and UK/EU regulatory authorities on financial, prudential, and safeguarding matters.
• Support cross-border initiatives to ensure consistent safeguarding, liquidity, and prudential practices across the group.

Qualifications

• Minimum 8 years' experience in finance, accounting, or treasury within a fintech, payments, or EMI environment.
• Experience working in a firm authorised by both the FCA and DNB (or other EU regulators).
• In-depth understanding of the Electronic Money Regulations (2011), Payment Services Regulations (2017), and equivalent EU frameworks under the PSD2/PSD3 and Wft.
• Proven experience managing safeguarding reconciliations, prudential calculations, and regulatory returns.
• Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, RA, or equivalent).
• Strong understanding of multi-currency safeguarding and cross-border finance.
• Excellent analytical and reporting skills; confident liaising with regulators and auditors.
• Exceptional attention to detail, integrity, and accountability.
• [Nice to have] Practical involvement in an EMI licence application or safeguarding audit.
• [Nice to have] Knowledge of wind-down planning, operational resilience, and capital adequacy frameworks.
• [Nice to have] Experience managing banking relationships and payments infrastructure partners.

We believe that the way people interact with their finances will drastically improve in the next few years. We're dedicated to empowering this transformation by building the tools and experiences that thousands of developers use to create their own products. Plaid powers the tools millions of people rely on to live a healthier financial life. We work with thousands of companies like Venmo, SoFi, several of the Fortune 500, and many of the largest banks to make it easy for people to connect their financial accounts to the apps and services they want to use. Plaid's network covers 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, UK and Europe. Founded in 2013, the company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington D.C., London and Amsterdam.