Head of Finance Platform and Control

Yoto; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 110,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Birthday off

Sabbatical after 4 years

Workplace Pension up to 3% employer

Private Medical Insurance

Employee referral bonus

Yoto player starter pack

Job summary

Yoto seeks a Head of Finance Platform and Control to lead financial control, audit, tax and operations, and redesign delivery for an AI-enabled world. You will own the full finance platform, drive an autonomous operating model, and lead a cross-functional team with close partnership to engineering and product.

The role requires a qualified accountant with experience in close, audits, and international tax, and a track record of turning processes into automated, scalable systems.

Qualifications

• Qualified accountant with experience owning month-end close, statutory audit, and international tax complexity.
• Experience redesigning finance processes, moving from manual to automated or system-embedded approaches.
• Proven ability to apply AI or automation tools within a finance function and determine where human judgement is required.
• Experience leading and developing finance teams, building capability over time.

Responsibilities

• Own the full finance platform: month-end close, statutory audit, compliance, balance sheet integrity, intercompany, and reconciliations, driving toward an autonomous operating model.
• Lead tax and treasury for the business, with judgement calls siting at this level.
• Oversee AP/AR operations, including Tipalti, virtual card coding, and bank reconciliation, alongside royalties.
• Design the controls framework as architecture embedded in workflows, ensuring audit-readiness as a by-product.
• Partner with Platform Integrations to define future-state processes and automation.
• Report directly to the CFO and collaborate with engineering/product to apply a product development approach to finance processes.

Skills

Qualified accountant

Close ownership

AI in finance

Team leadership

Cross-functional

Education

ACCA/ACA/CIMA

Tools

NetSuite

Tipalti

Job description

We're looking for a Head of Finance Platform and Control to join our Finance team to lead financial control, audit, tax, and operations - and redesign how they're delivered for an tech-enabled world.

About Yoto

Yoto is a screen-free interactive audio platform for kids. We make carefully connected audio players that kids control, with no microphones, cameras or ads. We have a catalogue of audio that inspires creative play and learning with 1,000+ titles in our card store from top creators, publishers and labels - think Disney, Marvel, Roald Dahl and Universal Music. We also create Yoto Originals like BrainBots.

• Voted the 14th fastest-growing private software technology company in Britain in The Sunday Times 100 Tech 2025; and named the 94th fastest-growing company in Europe in the prestigious FT1000.

• Ranked 9th in Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in 2024; and featured in the Sifted 100 fastest-growing startups across the UK&I by revenue growth.

• Featured in Bloomberg’s 25 UK startups to watch in 2023; and ranked second fastest growing tech company in the UK in the Deloitte Fast50.

• Named one of TIME Magazine’s Top 100 Inventions of 2020.

• We’re over 200 employees spread across the world.. and growing!

We’re on a mission to be the soundtrack of childhood, and help families on their own unique adventures. By creating products that inspire independent play, we help families discover and grow with an inspiring world of audio - and we would like you to help us achieve it!

Yoto’s Finance Team

Our Finance team supports a fast-growing consumer business spanning hardware, content, subscriptions, royalties, and global operations. We move faster, build stronger relationships, and make better decisions when we're designed well. Right now, we're rebuilding finance for an AI-enabled world: not bolting AI onto existing processes, but redesigning those processes first, then automating them. Machines handle the processing. People handle the judgement. This role is what makes that shift happen properly.

Finance at Yoto is ambitious to take advantage of the technology transformation opportunity. We have a Finance Operating Manifesto, a transformation roadmap spanning 100+ initiatives, a dedicated Platform Integrations team to partner with, and AI tools actively in use across the team. The momentum is real. This role shapes the direction and pace of what comes next, and builds the team that carries it forward.

What you’ll be doing:

This is a genuine leadership role. You'll lead a team spanning financial control, reporting and insights, finance operations, and royalties and revenue, plus close partnership with a platform engineer secondee driving the automation roadmap. You'll lead it like a product team, not a processing team; coaching people to move from doing the task to owning the standard, and developing the future controllers and systems designers this function will need as it scales.

• Own the full finance platform: month-end close, statutory audit, compliance, balance sheet integrity, intercompany, and reconciliations - and drive these towards an increasingly autonomous operating model

• Lead tax and treasury for the business, with no dedicated specialist beneath you - the judgement calls sit at this level

• Oversee AP/AR operations, including Tipalti, virtual card coding, and bank reconciliation, alongside royalties

• Design the controls framework as architecture embedded in workflows - ensuring audit-readiness is a consistent by-product of how the function operates, not a separate annual exercise

• Partner with the Platform Integrations team to define future-state processes, with them building and deploying automation against your designs

• Report directly into the CFO and carry board-level exposure on finance platform, audit, and transformation; partner closely with engineering and product teams to apply a product development approach to finance process design.

What you’ll bring:

• A qualified accountant with demonstrable experience owning the close, managing statutory audit, and navigating international compliance and tax complexity

• A track record of redesigning finance processes, not just running them - with evidence of moving from manual to automated or system-embedded approaches

• Demonstrated experience applying AI or automation tools within a finance function, with the ability to assess where they add value and where human judgement is required

• Experience leading and developing finance teams, with evidence of building capability over time and raising the level of the function

• Working knowledge of finance tech stacks and integrations (NetSuite, Tipalti, or equivalents).

Nice to have:

• Experience with ERP-connected automation

• Experience in a scale-up or high-growth consumer business; exposure to royalties, multi-currency consolidation, or board-level finance reporting.

Salary: £110,000 - £120,000 based on experience

How we use AI at Yoto

We think using AI to work smarter is part of the job.

At Yoto, we use AI to help us move faster and reduce manual work so we can focus our time on creativity, problem-solving and impact. We don’t want to use AI to cut corners - it’s about smart usage that makes space for the work that really matters. Our intention is to be thoughtful about how we use AI. We treat its outputs as a starting point, not the final answer, and we take care to use it responsibly - especially given the trust families place in Yoto.

We don’t expect everyone to be an AI expert, but we do expect people to be curious, to experiment, and to keep improving how they work. If you prefer to do everything manually, you might find our pace and expectations challenging.

The magic at Yoto comes from people working here, not their prompts. AI should help us move faster, not change what makes working here great.

What you can expect from Yoto:

• Flexibility: Hybrid working - At Least1 day a week on average in our central London office. You are welcome and encouraged to come in more than this. How you meet the minimum expectation is up to you, to ensure you're happy and productive in your role whilst also getting that vital face time with your colleagues. Take advantage of our ‘work from anywhere’ policy to work from a different location for up to 6 weeks every year. Summer Hours policy to use between the months of June and August.

• Financial: Receive Income Protection, covering long term sickness for up to 2 years and company sick pay that increases with length of service. Life Assurance cover from day one of your service. Workplace Pension offering up to to 3% employer contributions, following probation. Generous employee referral bonus scheme.

• Health & Wellness: Private Medical Insurance via Aviva, or a Wellbeing Allowance to be used for memberships, subscriptions, treatment or therapy. Access to 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) through WeCare and unlimited access to Dental advice and guidance via Toothfairy. Bike to work scheme to promote healthier lifestyles.

• Time Off: 25 days of holiday per year, plus bank holidays. On top of this, you also receive your birthday off, plus 1 extra day of holiday for every year worked after you hit your 2 year anniversary, up to 5 extra days. After 4 years of service, you are also eligible for our sabbatical policy offering up to 3 months’ of unpaid sabbatical.

• Helping Families: Variety of family-friendly leave, including enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption, fertility, pregnancy loss and carers leave. Unlock savings with our workplace nursery scheme, designed to support parents of preschool-aged children.

• People & Planet: Up to 2 volunteer days a year. A Book Allowance of up to £50 a year to contribute to your professional development.

• Fun Perks: You receive your very own Yoto player and starter pack of cards! Regular company socials and celebrations, including our annual YotoFest!

Equity and Diversity

At Yoto, we love creating a world where childhood is rich with discovery and joy. We’re also passionate about building a workplace where everyone can thrive - both professionally and personally. We value flexibility and give our team the freedom to balance life and work in ways that suit them.

We're committed to fostering a safe, diverse, and inclusive environment where all individuals, regardless of their background, feel valued and supported. Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion group holds bi-monthly forums to elevate diverse voices and perspectives, ensuring everyone at Yoto feels heard, respected, and appreciated.

We don’t just embrace differences - we celebrate them. We share audio content from a vibrant and diverse community of creators (check out our DEI selection), and we are building a team that reflects that same diversity. We invite candidates from all walks of life to explore opportunities with us and join a company that champions flexibility, equity, and inclusion. Take a look at our website for more information on our approach to People and Planet.