Financial Controller - Real Estate

Trident International; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 125,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Target bonus 20%

Hybrid working in London

Exposure to pan-European portfolio

Job summary

Trident International is recruiting a Financial Controller for its London team in a global real estate portfolio. The role combines technical accounting with commercial ownership across SPVs, ensuring robust controls and high-quality reporting.

You will work with senior stakeholders and external advisers, overseeing VAT and tax compliance while supporting financings, acquisitions and disposals. London-based hybrid working is offered, with broad exposure across Europe.

Qualifications

• Qualified accountant with 7+ years in property, fund or SPV accounting.
• Strong financial control and reporting experience.
• Knowledge of VAT, corporation tax and tax compliance.
• Experience with outsourced administrators or managers.
• Excellent attention to detail and commercial judgement.

Responsibilities

• Own accounting and financial reporting across allocated SPVs and portfolio.
• Oversee VAT, corporation tax and other tax compliance.
• Review third-party outputs and ensure requirements are met.
• Forecast working capital, cash requirements, distributions and fund flow.
• Manage loans, lender reporting and intercompany reconciliations.
• Support acquisitions, disposals, refinancing and related activity.
• Assist financial and tax due diligence and audits.
• Monitor KPIs, SLAs and escalation in outsourced model.
• Collaborate with property, asset management, tax and advisers.

Skills

Property/Real estate accounting

Financial controls

Tax compliance

Stakeholder communication

Cash flow management

Financial reporting

Education

Chartered Accountant (ACA/ACCA)

Job description

Financial Controller - Global Real Estate - Our Client are an established investment business with a substantial real estate portfolio and a strong track record within its specialist market. As part of the continued development of its finance function, the business is looking to appoint a Financial Controller to join its London team.

The Financial Controller will provide broad financial oversight across the business, with responsibility for maintaining robust controls, ensuring high-quality financial reporting and working closely with senior stakeholders and external professional advisers.

The successful Financial Controller will join a collaborative and commercially focused environment and team, with the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing development of the finance function and support the business through its next stage of growth.

THE ROLE:

As one of a number of Financial Controllers will have responsibility for the financial management and control of an allocated real estate portfolio, including:

• Ownership of accounting and financial reporting across the relevant SPVs.
• Oversight of VAT, corporation tax, withholding tax and other local compliance requirements.
• Reviewing third-party accounting and tax outputs and ensuring the underlying requirements are properly implemented.
• Working capital forecasting, cash requirements, distributions and fund flow preparation.
• Loan management, lender reporting and intercompany reconciliations.
• Supporting acquisitions, disposals, refinancing and wider transaction activity.
• Supporting financial and tax due diligence.
• Oversight of audits, statutory reporting and financial control processes.
• Working closely with Property Management, Asset Management, Development, Tax and external advisers.
• Monitoring controls, KPIs, SLAs and escalation processes across an outsourced operating model.

The Financial Controller will effectively "hold the pen" on the financial position of the allocated portfolio, ensuring information is accurate, controlled and commercially useful.

THE PERSON:

To apply you will most likely be a qualified accountant with strong property, fund or SPV accounting experience (gain in real estate) and ideally 7+ years' experience, including meaningful financial control or equivalent oversight responsibility.

You are likely to have:

• Strong technical accounting and financial control experience.
• Experience with property / real estate structures and SPVs.
• Good understanding of tax compliance and period-end processes.
• Experience working with outsourced administrators, accountants or property managers.
• The confidence to challenge and manage external providers rather than simply receive their output.
• Strong cash flow, working capital and loan management experience.
• Excellent attention to detail combined with commercial judgement.
• The communication skills to work effectively with stakeholders at different levels.
• An organised, pragmatic and solutions-focused approach.

Real estate experience is a pre-requisite, but the key is the ability to combine technical control with ownership and commercial awareness.

Benefits

• Target bonus of 20%.
• Solid benefits package.
• London-based hybrid working, with around three days per week in the office.
• Broad exposure across a pan-European real estate portfolio.
• Genuine ownership rather than a processing-focused finance position.
• Close exposure to investment, asset management, tax and transaction teams.
• Opportunity to work within an increasingly technology-enabled finance environment, including AI and data-led reporting.
• International, collaborative working environment with scope to develop commercially.