Finance Manager

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The Bunch | Finance Manager

Confidential | April 2026 |

chris.kelly@the-bunch.co.uk

Finance Manager

The Bunch

Salary

£48,000 – £55,000

Location

Bristol (hybrid) or London (hybrid)

Contract

Permanent, full-time

Reports to

Chris Kelly, CFO

Start date

As soon as possible

THE ROLE

Own the finance function. Shape how it scales.

We are building a lean, AI-first finance team. The CFO (Chris Kelly) leads on strategy, investor

relations, and the Series A. The Commercial Finance Manager (Elliot Matthews) owns commercial

modelling and analysis. This role sits between them and the business — responsible for everything

operational, compliance-related, and increasingly automated.

You will be the person who makes the finance function work reliably day to day. Month-end closes on

time. Cash position always visible. VAT filed, payroll signed off, management accounts produced. But

you will also be the person who looks at each of those processes and asks how much of it still needs

to be manual — and then does something about it.

This is a genuine Finance Manager role with full ownership. You will not be supporting a Financial

Controller or waiting for sign-off. You will be the operational lead, working directly with the CFO and

given the space to build the function properly.

WHAT YOU'LL OWN

The full operational and compliance finance function.

Financial control and reporting

–

Own the month-end close — coordinating inputs, reconciling accounts, and producing accurate

management accounts on time, every time

–

Prepare monthly board pack financial inputs and cash flow commentary for the CFO

–

Maintain the weekly cash flow model and ensure the CFO and SMT always have a clear,

current view of liquidity

–

Own bank reconciliation across Xero, Revolut, and HSBC

Compliance and statutory

–

Prepare and file quarterly VAT returns; manage routine HMRC correspondence

–

Run monthly payroll in coordination with our People function, ensuring accuracy and on-time

processing

The Bunch | Finance Manager

Confidential | April 2026 |

chris.kelly@the-bunch.co.uk

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Manage the annual statutory accounts process with Cooper Parry (our external accountants)

–

Support the R&D tax credit claim process with Forrest Brown, our specialist advisers

–

Own Companies House filings, P11Ds, and other annual compliance obligations

Automation and process improvement

–

Identify manual processes and replace them with automation — we already have significant

tooling in place (custom Xero integrations, payment automation, AI-assisted workflows) and we

want this role to extend it

–

Own the finance SOP library in Notion — building it out, keeping it current, and ensuring it is

genuinely usable

–

Take responsibility for the operational finance knowledge base so the function is never

dependent on any one person

Bunch transition management

–

Manage the finance and compliance requirements of the Bunch business as it transitions from

the legacy operating model to the new SaaS product.

–

Ensure the transition is clean and nothing falls between the cracks during a period of significant

change

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Qualified or close to it. Comfortable in a startup. Curious about AI.

There are two backgrounds that could fit this role well, and we are genuinely open to both:

Newly qualified from small or mid-size practice (ACA / ACCA / CIMA)

–

You have completed or are close to completing your qualification and have hands-on

experience across accounts preparation, VAT, and compliance

–

You are ready to move into industry and want a role with real ownership — not a large

corporate where you will spend two years doing one thing

–

You are technically solid but know there is more to learn on the commercial and operational

side, and you want that development

Management accountant in a startup, ready to step up

–

You are currently a management accountant or similar in a growth-stage business and you are

ready to take the title and the responsibility that comes with it

–

You have owned a month-end close, prepared management accounts, and handled VAT —

ideally payroll too

–

You are part-qualified or qualified, or you have the experience to make the qualification less

relevant

Across both profiles, we need…

–

Demonstrable experience with VAT — preparation, filing, and basic HMRC interaction

(required)

–

Experience running or closely supporting a payroll process (required)

–

Ownership of or significant involvement in a month-end close (required)

–

Solid working knowledge of Xero or a comparable cloud accounting platform

–

A genuine interest in automation and AI — you use tools like this in your work already, or you

are actively learning

–

The rigour to manage multiple recurring deadlines without dropping anything

The Bunch | Finance Manager

Confidential | April 2026 |

chris.kelly@the-bunch.co.uk

Nice to have

–

Exposure to SaaS metrics or subscription billing models

–

Experience with payments infrastructure — Modulr, Stripe, Revolut Business, or similar

–

Any experience scripting, automating, or building workflows — even informal use of Zapier,

n8n, or similar counts

WHAT WE'RE NOT LOOKING FOR

A few honest signals this might not be the right fit.

We want to be upfront so you can make an informed decision:

–

Someone who wants to be told what to do and how to do it. You will often be writing the

process from scratch.

–

Someone who is uncomfortable with ambiguity or business change. The company is mid-pivot

— that is exciting if you are the right person, and probably not the right environment if you are

not.

–

Someone who views AI and automation as a threat to job security. We expect this role to

actively reduce its own manual workload over time, and to see that as progress, not a problem.

–

Someone who wants a large team around them. You will be the operational finance function —

supported by the CFO and a Commercial Finance Manager, but not managed day-to-day.

WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE AFTER 6 MONTHS

How we will both know it is working.

–

Month-end close is running on a defined timetable with minimal CFO involvement

–

Weekly cash position lands every Monday without being chased

–

VAT, payroll, and compliance deadlines are met without the CFO tracking them

–

Actuals are feeding into the rolling reforecast model cleanly

–

At least two meaningful manual processes have been automated or significantly reduced

–

The Notion SOP library covers the core finance processes and is being actively maintained

–

The Bunch transition obligations are being managed to plan

–

You have a view on what the finance function should look like in 12 months and have started

building toward it

THE TEAM

Small, senior, and serious about the work.

You will report directly to Chris Kelly (CFO). Day-to-day you will work closely with Elliot Matthews

(Commercial Finance Manager) on management accounts and commercial inputs, and with

Rhiannon Callely on payroll and people-related finance. The wider business is around 40 people

across Bristol, London, and a small international team.

Finance sits at the SMT table. You will have visibility of board reporting, investor discussions, and the

strategic direction of the business. That comes with responsibility — we expect this role to exercise

good judgement and handle sensitive information with discretion.

The Bunch | Finance Manager

Confidential | April 2026 |

chris.kelly@the-bunch.co.uk

We run on Notion and Slack. We have built custom AI-powered finance tooling on top of Xero and

our payments infrastructure, and we are continuing to invest in that. You will be expected to engage

with that tooling from day one — not just use it, but help shape it.