Group Financial Controller

Group Financial Controller

Location: Remote, South Africa, Europe or United Kingdom 

Reports to: Chief Financial Officer

Level: Senior Manager/Associate Director

Role Overview

Caribou is seeking a Group Financial Controller to lead financial control, reporting, and finance operations across programs and central functions. 

Working closely with CFO and Program Leads, the Group Financial Controller is responsible for ensuring the integrity of financial reporting and strengthening financial discipline. 

This role is accountable for the production of accurate and timely financial information, while driving improvements in how Caribou plans, tracks, and governs program performance. It combines strong technical expertise with designing and embedding scalable financial processes. The role includes, but is not limited to, leadership across AP, AR and Global Payroll Functions, ensuring efficient execution of day-to-day Finance Operations.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on, digital-first operator with a strong controls mindset. They are comfortable operating at both a granular level and when required, contribute at a strategic level, to bring rigour to financial management. Highly organised and proactive, they are able to manage competing priorities while maintaining high standards of accuracy and accountability.

Key Responsibilities

Financial Control & Reporting

• Deliver high-quality, timely internal and external financial reporting, including client reporting, where required.
• Own the end-to-end financial oversight of program performance, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and integrity of all financial data.
• Ensure alignment between program performance, financial forecasts, and statutory reporting requirements
• Lead the preparation of materials for Quarterly Program Reviews, with a focus on accuracy, consistency, and clear financial narratives
• Support audit readiness, including coordination of program-level audits and documentation
  
  

Finance Operations & Team Leadership

• Lead and develop the Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, and Payroll functions, ensuring high-quality, timely, and well-controlled execution
• Establish clear roles, responsibilities, and performance expectations across the finance operations team
• Drive continuous improvement in transactional processes, with a focus on efficiency, accuracy, and scalability
• Build capability within the team through coaching, development, and structured performance management
• Ensure strong controls and governance across all transactional finance activities
  
  

Tax, Treasury & Compliance

• Oversee group tax compliance, including coordination of corporate tax and indirect tax (VAT) obligations (across jurisdictions)
• Manage relationships with external tax advisors to ensure accurate filings and proactive risk management
• Own cash flow forecasting and working capital management, ensuring sufficient working capital and financial discipline across the group
• Oversee banking relationships, payment processes, and financial controls related to cash management
• Ensure compliance with financial regulations and internal policies across all operating entities
  
  

Planning, Insight and Financial Discipline

• Own program-level inputs into budgeting and forecasting cycles, ensuring consistency and financial rigour.
• Maintain detailed and reliable forecasts across revenue, costs, and resource utilisation.
• Identify variances, risks, and opportunities, and ensure appropriate escalation and resolution.
• Support the CFO in consolidating program performance into group-level financial insights and reporting to the Executive team.
• Provide structured financial analysis to support strategic planning, including investment appraisals and cost management initiatives.
• Ensure forecasting and planning processes are underpinned by robust assumptions, reconciled data, and alignment to actual financial performance
  
  

Program Management Systems & Process Ownership

• Act as the System owner of the Project Management System (Project Works), ensuring data integrity and control
• Ensure strong alignment and reconciliation across Finance, HR, and Operations data sets
• Define and enforce standards for data accuracy, system usage, and financial governance across program teams
• Oversee system access, controls, and user governance, including onboarding and offboarding processes
• Lead the design and continuous improvement of finance-related processes to ensure scalability and consistency
• Develop and maintain standardised reporting dashboards and outputs to support performance visibility
• Own and continuously improve the finance systems architecture (including accounting and reporting systems), ensuring strong control environments, audit trails, and scalable design
  
  

Candidate Profile

Essential Skills & Experience

• Strong financial control background (7+ years), including experience in month-end close, balance sheet management, and statutory reporting
• Experience operating in a multi-entity and/or international environment, with exposure to group consolidations 
• Qualified CA (SA, ACCA or equivalent)
• Demonstrated success and progression in broad finance roles with a strong technical understanding of financial concepts.
• Strong commercial judgement and understanding of organisational risk dynamics, with a particular focus on financial risks
• Strong analytical capability and ability to synthesis complex data into insights
• Proven ability to connect finance technologies with HR, Operational and/or Project Management systems to deliver low touch end to end processes
• Confident communicator able to engage senior stakeholders with a strong attention to detail in their work
• Strong organisational capability and comfort managing multiple priorities
  
  

Desirable Skills & Experience

• Experience championing digital-first processes and being a process owner
• Experience supporting Finance transformation or process automation initiatives
• Prior training or experience at Big4 or Mid-tier firm preferred but not essential 
• Treasury experience including knowledge and understanding of hedges and derivatives is desirable
  
  

Personal Attributes

• Confident operator able to execute details and lead a capable team with confidence.
• Proactive, solutions-oriented, and able to anticipate needs.
• Collaborative and empathetic, skilled at bringing people together.
• Commitment to Caribou’s mission of building inclusive and sustainable digital economies.