FinOps Specialist

Lawhive; Greater London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading legal technology firm in Greater London seeks a proactive FinOps Specialist to own payroll operations and enhance finance functions. You will be responsible for the end-to-end payroll process and work closely with the finance team on various projects. The ideal candidate should have UK payroll experience, a strong understanding of related legislation, and excellent Excel skills. This role offers the opportunity to significantly impact the company's growth and change how legal services are delivered.

Benefits

Meaningful early-stage equity

33 days annual leave

Pension contribution

20% off legal fees

Top-spec equipment

Regular team building activities

Qualifications

• Experience running end-to-end UK payroll in a startup environment.
• Comfortable owning payroll independently while collaborating with the wider finance team.
• Strong understanding of UK payroll legislation and statutory payments.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end monthly payroll process with accuracy.
• Gather and validate monthly payroll changes.
• Prepare payroll journals and support month-end close activities.

Skills

UK payroll experience

Strong understanding of payroll legislation

Excel skills (lookups, pivots)

Detail-oriented

Proactive in identifying improvements

Education

AAT Level 3 or 4 or equivalent

Tools

HiBob

PayFit

Job description

About Lawhive

Our mission is to make the law accessible to everyone.

The legal industry is built on technology and process that hasn’t been updated in hundreds of years - that's why we've reinvented the entire model from the ground-up with our own bespoke AI operating system at the core.

Lawhive is a regulated law firm with an AI-native platform built to amplify expertise and revolutionise the way people practice law, leading to exceptional outcomes for clients and lawyers.

Lawhive Labs is how we bring this vision to life. It's our frontier lab that combines top engineering, design, AI and legal talent from around the world, joining forces to build the future of law.

We’re backed by top-tier investors including Google Ventures, Balderton Capital and TQ Ventures and in December 2024 we secured $40M Series A funding round to facilitate international expansion and to grow our team, representing one of the five largest Series A rounds in Europe for 2024.

We’re headquartered in London and in 2025 successfully launched in the US…and we’re just getting started.

Finance at Lawhive

We are a lean, high-impact finance organisation operating across the UK and US group structure - the engine room that keeps Lawhive moving with precision as we scale a first-of-its-kind global AI-native law firm. We partner deeply with every part of the business: product, engineering, legal operations, hr, talent, and the exec team. Our mandate is simple: build world-class, audit-ready, scalable finance architecture that can support hyper-growth and international expansion.

The next 12–18 months will bring some of the most challenging and meaningful work you’ll do in your career. We’re focused on:

• Designing and embedding the financial systems, controls and reporting infrastructure required for a multi-entity, multi-jurisdiction group (UK, US) on the path to audit and global scale

• Building real-time, decision-grade data - from cashflow to margins to unit economics - ensuring the business can make fast, high-quality decisions as we grow revenue and deploy capital

• Transforming acquired entities into a single, unified finance ecosystem with tight working-capital discipline and deep operational control

• Implementing automation and intelligent workflows across payables, payroll, client-money compliance, tax, FP&A and revenue accounting to unlock leverage across the business

• Partnering with leaders to shape strategy, investment decisions, and the future of AI-enabled legal services

If you want a finance role where the bar is high, the problems are real, and the impact is visible across the whole company - this is it.

Role Overview

We are looking for a proactive FinOps Specialist to own payroll operations at Lawhive while contributing meaningfully to a high-performing, project-driven finance function.

Payroll will be a core responsibility, typically taking up to 10 days per month. Outside of payroll cycles, you will work closely with the team and the Director of Finance on broader finance operations, controls, and modelling projects. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys operational ownership but is motivated by variety, impact, and building scalable systems in a fast-growing startup.

Key Responsibilities

Payroll Operations

• Own the end-to-end monthly payroll process, ensuring accuracy and on-time delivery

• Maintain employee payroll records and act as the first point of contact for payroll queries

• Gather, validate, and process monthly changes including starters, leavers, salary changes, and bonuses

• Apply UK statutory rules correctly across SSP, SMP, SPP, parental leave, and other statutory payments

• Prepare and post payroll journals and support payroll-related month-end close activities

• Complete pension reconciliations and manage auto-enrolment checks

• Lead salary reconciliations, variance analysis, and year-end payroll tasks including P11Ds

• Produce payroll reporting for Finance, People, and leadership

• Maintain strong internal controls, ensure GDPR compliance, and continuously improve payroll processes

Finance Operations and Projects

• Prepare and reconcile payroll-related balance sheet accounts

• Support month-end close through accruals, analysis, and validation of payroll-driven P&L movements

• Partner with the Senior Management Accountant on modelling, forecasting, and ad hoc analysis

• Support audit readiness through clear documentation and robust controls

• Assist with broader finance operations as needed, such as invoice processing, bank reconciliations, and data checks

• Contribute to finance system improvements and automation initiatives as the business scales

About You

• Experience running end-to-end UK payroll, ideally in a fast-growing or startup environment

• Comfortable owning payroll independently while collaborating closely with a wider finance team

• Strong understanding of UK payroll legislation, pensions, and statutory payments

• Confident working with payroll journals, reconciliations, and month-end processes

• Strong Excel skills including lookups, pivots, and reconciliations

• Organised, detail-oriented, and proactive in spotting improvements

• Motivated by variety and keen to develop beyond a pure payroll remit

• AAT Level 3 or 4, CIPP, or equivalent finance grounding preferred

• Experience with HiBob or PayFit is a bonus but not required

Interview process

• Introductory call with our Talent team

• 1:1 with your hiring manager

• Values interview with one of our Founders

• We offer!

UK Benefits:

💰 Meaningful early-stage equity at one of Europe’s fastest growing startups

✈️ 33 days’ annual leave (25 + bank holidays) plus your birthday off

💰 Pension contribution via Nest

💷 20% off legal fees through Lawhive

💻 Top-spec equipment - MacBook/Windows

⛳️ Regular team building activities and socials!

Diversity at Lawhive

At Lawhive, we know that diversity of thought is critical to delivering outlier outcomes. As such, we’re always working hard to ensure we build a diverse, inclusive team, and as we scale, we’ll only ever increase the focus we apply to this.