Financial Controller | AI Enabled Finance Operations

Pencil; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 75,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

PTO 25 days

Health insurance

Wellness stipend

Remote work (home country)

Parental leave

Flexible hours

Job summary

Pencil is seeking a Financial Controller to become the senior owner of financial controls, cash flow, and day-to-day processes across Pencil's finance function.

Reporting to the Head of Finance, you'll take ownership of the controls framework, month-end close, cash flow and the senior judgement calls — supporting our Senior Management Accountant on revenue recognition and our Finance Manager on accounts payable and month end close.

Qualifications

• Qualified accountant with UK experience (ACCA/ACA/CIMA).
• 5 years of finance experience, including 2 years in industry.
• Experience owning financial controls in a fast-paced scaling SaaS/tech business.
• Comfortable managing cash flow independently, including bank payment sign-off.
• Track record making and standing behind senior judgement calls (accruals, revenue treatment, risk).
• Confident working with modern finance tooling (Xero, ApprovalMax, Maxio or equivalent).
• Demonstrable AI skills to optimize finance workflows and efficiency.

Responsibilities

• Own and strengthen the internal control framework across all business cycles (P2P, O2C, payroll, expenses).
• Provide final review on management accounts, revenue recognition, and AP runs; first payroll review before Head of Finance approval.
• Own monthly workings for internally developed costs and ensure appropriate audit controls.
• Own cash flow forecasting and treasury; sign-off on bank payments.
• Provide senior judgement on complex revenue recognition questions and cost management.
• Manage escalation relationships (banking queries, vendor/software ownership) and AI usage policy.
• Streamline finance operations leveraging AI.

Skills

UK experience

Finance experience

Five years finance exp

Education

ACCA/ACA/CIMA

Tools

Xero

ApprovalMax

Maxio

Job description

At Pencil, we are driving innovation in advertising technology through our state-of-the-art SaaS product, which harnesses Generative AI to redefine content creation. Our mission is to make AI the default in advertising without replacing creative people. To achieve this, we need to make sure that our technology isn’t just in the hands of big brands - we need to try to help small businesses and creative individuals too.

We're looking for a Financial Controller to become the senior owner of financial controls, cash flow, and day-to-day process across Pencil's finance function. Reporting to the Head of Finance, you'll take ownership of the controls framework, month-end close, cash flow and and the senior judgement calls — supporting our Senior Management Accountant on revenue recognition and our Finance Manager on accounts payable and month end close. This is a newly created role: you'll be building the controls and process layer as Pencil scales 3x, working closely with a lean, high-performing team.

Candidates must be based in the United Kingdom

Key responsibilities:

• Own and continuously strengthen the internal control framework across all business cycles (P2P, O2C, payroll, expenses), and run a recurring monthly operational hygiene review

• Give final review on management accounts, revenue recognition, and AP runs prepared by the Finance Manager and Senior Management Accountant, and first review of monthly payroll ahead of Head of Finance approval

• Own monthly workings for internally developed costs and ensure appropriate controls for audit

• Own cash flow forecasting and treasury, giving final sign-off on bank payments

• Provide senior judgement and support to the Senior Management Accountant on complex revenue recognition questions, and to the Finance Manager on AP and cost management

• Own escalation relationships (banking queries, calls, vendor/software ownership) and the finance function's AI usage policy

• Streamline the finance operations leveraging the strength of AI

Your background:

• Qualified accountant, must have UK experience (ACCA, ACA, or CIMA)

• 5 years of finance experience, including 2 years of industry experience.

• Experience owning financial controls and process in a fast-paced scaling business, ideally SaaS or tech

• Comfortable managing cash flow independently, including bank payment sign-off

• A track record of making and standing behind senior judgement calls (accruals, revenue treatment, risk) rather than just reviewing others' work

• Confident working with modern finance tooling (Xero, ApprovalMax, Maxio or equivalent)

• Demonstrable AI skills to optimize finance workflows and efficiency

You’ll Thrive Here If You…

• You take full ownership of what you're responsible for — including the parts that go wrong

• You like moving fast but pause to check you're solving the right problem before diving in

• You are as excited as we are about what AI brings to the Finance function and equally excited about relentlessly implementing it in any repeat and automatable processes to gain in speed, quality and insight

• You find simple, practical fixes to control gaps rather than over-engineering process for its own sake

• You want to build something from a genuine gap rather than just maintain an existing machine

KPIs & Success Measures

• Monthly close completed to a consistent timetable, with management accounts signed off accurately and on time

• Clean, timely cash flow forecasts and optimization of working capital; no unauthorised payments

• Reduction in audit findings and control exceptions quarter over quarter

• Positive feedback from Finance Manager and Senior Management Accountant on the quality and speed of senior support/sign-off they receive

• AP and revenue recognition processes running with no backlog

• Capex process optimized and running

• Automation of Finance workflows through AI (Demonstrated gains in efficiency or speed without impacting quality)

Benefits:

• 25 days PTO plus public holidays, although we operate a Flexible Time Off scheme

• Health insurance / private medical cover

• Monthly stipend towards wellness, fitness, and learning and development

• Remote - work from anywhere in your home country

• Enhanced parental leave policies, whether you become a parent through birth, adoption or surrogacy

• Flexible working hours