Head of Finance

Crane Venture Partners; London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Encord is seeking a dynamic Head of Finance to lead financial planning and strategy as we undergo rapid growth. This role offers an opportunity to shape financial decision-making and drive initiatives in a venture-backed startup environment dedicated to AI infrastructure advancements.

Benefits

Competitive salary and equity

Strong in-person culture

25 days annual leave + public holidays

Qualifications

• Experience leading finance teams in high-growth tech companies.
• Comfortable working independently and managing large-scale projects.

Responsibilities

• Drive strategic financial and planning processes.
• Build financial models to achieve growth targets.
• Coordinate annual audits and manage cash flow.

Skills

Analytical abilities

Decision-making

Communication skills

Job description

At Encord, we are focused on building the future of AI infrastructure. Data quality is the biggest challenge facing AI companies today. In fact, the success of any AI application depends on the quality of the model's training data — and for 95% of teams, this essential step is both the most costly and the most time-consuming, in getting their product to market.

As former computer scientists, physicists, and quants, we experienced firsthand the lack of tools for preparing quality training data, which hindered the progress of building AI for many teams. We founded Encord to address this gap and propel the next generation of AI applications.

We are a talented and ambitious team of 75+, working at the cutting edge of multimodal and visual AI, backed by top investors, including CRV and Y Combinator, leading industry executives like Luc Vincent, former VP of AI at Meta, and other top Bay Area leaders in AI. We are one of the fastest growing companies in our space, and consistently rated as the best platform in the market by our customers. We have ambitious plans and are looking for a Head of Finance to lead us through the next stage of growth, helping the team create an exceptional product for our customers.

The Role

The Head of Finance will oversee financial planning, budgeting, and analysis, including financial reporting and risk management. They will report to the co-founders and will lead the Finance team in providing strategic guidance to support Encord’s ambitious growth initiatives and ensure sound financial decision-making. In light of Encord’s projected rapid expansion and additional access to capital, we are searching for a dynamic leader with a proven track record of effectively steering high-growth businesses to success.

What you'll do:

• Drive core strategic financial and planning processes at the corporate and functional levels, including budgeting, planning, forecasting, reporting, and performance tracking & analysis
• Build financial models to translate long-term strategic objectives into achievable growth targets
• Provide financial and strategic perspectives on business planning workstreams
• Coordinate annual audits
• Manage the cash flow process and planning
• Oversee team responsible for all AR/AP, bookkeeping, and tax declaration processes
• Implement process and systems improvements to drive the company’s continued growth and scaling
• Support the Co-founders with strategic ad hoc projects

About you:

• Prior experience of leading a global finance team at a venture-backed SaaS, AI, or other high-growth technology company
• Experience in fast-paced, high-growth environments
• Ability and comfort working independently across cross-functional internal teams and external relationships, and the ability to project manage large-scale projects
• Excellent decision-making and analytical abilities focused on minimising risks, along with clear and effective communication skills

What We Offer:

• Competitive salary, commission and equity in a hyper-growth business
• Strong in-person culture: most of our team is in the office 3+ days a week
• Room to grow into anything you choose to — a year ago we were 25 people, now we're 60. We'll be growing insanely fast over the next 24 months and you'll have all the opportunities for growth as you can handle
• 25 days annual leave a year + public holidays

Encord offers a unique opportunity to be part of a startup with a clear mission and vision. You will get to explore and build services enterprise AI use cases across many different industry verticals such as healthcare, surveillance, retail, agriculture, and more.