Financial Controller

About the Role

We are looking for a financial operator to be the source of truth for Telos Media. You will own the books across four entities and several creative brands, and you will use what you find there to tell leadership where the money is going. The mandate is simple: make the books bulletproof, then tell us what they mean.

This is a dual role. You need to be comfortable wearing both hats, and the second one is what makes this a Controller rather than an accountant:

• The accounting hat. You own the general ledger. You ensure compliance, accuracy, and a close that lands on time every month.
• The analyst hat. You own the insight. You explain why a brand is profitable or bleeding, using data you personally verified.

What You'll Do

1. Financial reporting and control

• GL ownership. Prepare the final general ledger and P&L across all entities for the Head of Finance to sign off. If it is in the books, you vouch for it.
• The close. Run a disciplined monthly close so leadership receives the financial package (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow) by the 10th.
• Review and quality control. Review the Finance Officer's reconciliations and expense coding. You are the first line of defence against errors reaching leadership.
• Balance sheet hygiene. A clean balance sheet with no unreconciled suspense accounts and no unexplained transactions.
• Multi-entity and intercompany. Maintain intercompany balances across US, UK and merchandise entities, and keep the intercompany position clean and reconcilable.

2. FP&A and strategic insight

• Cost allocation. Build and maintain the logic mapping shared overhead (finance, HR, leadership) to specific brands. The measure is an accurate net profit per brand.
• Variance analysis. Lead the monthly forecast-versus-actual review. Do not report the difference; explain the driver behind it.
• Bleed analysis. Deep dives into struggling or new ventures to identify exactly where cash is leaking.
• Channel P&L. Maintain individual P&Ls for creative channels so unit economics are visible.
• Cash forecasting. Support the rolling cash forecast across entities, including inventory and production commitments.

About You

• Experience. 5 or more years in accounting and finance, with real exposure to multi-entity or multi-currency environments. Startup, outsourced-accounting or SME background is a strong fit; large-corporate-only experience often is not.
• Technical stack. Deep Xero proficiency is non-negotiable, including chart-of-accounts design and multi-entity handling. Expert Google Sheets or Excel — pivot tables, lookups, and building a model from scratch rather than filling one in.
• Certification. CPA, CMA or equivalent preferred, not required where operational depth is strong.
• Investigative instinct. This is the differentiator and we screen hard for it. You do not just categorise transactions. If a margin moves 2%, you find out why before anyone asks. If a number looks wrong, you say so, including to people senior to you.
• Communication. You can explain a financial result to a non-finance founder in plain language, and defend it when challenged.

What Makes This Role Worth Taking

• Full ownership of finance across four entities and several brands, with no layer between you and the Head of Finance.
• Direct exposure to the CEO and General Manager. Your analysis reaches them in the month you produce it, not a quarter later.
• Genuine breadth. Accounting, FP&A, multi-currency, inventory, production financing and international structuring in one role.
• A finance function being built rather than maintained. You will shape how it works.