Financial Controller

Role - Financial Controller
Location - Edinburgh HQ (Hybrid)

Wordsmith

Most legal teams are drowning. They’re buried under internal questions, contract reviews, policy approvals, and fire drills from every corner of the business.

Wordsmith is the AI command centre for in-house legal. We automate the chaos - intake, Q&A, redlines, drafting, and research - so legal can finally operate at the speed of business. We’re building the future of legal work. Backed by Index Ventures and some of the sharpest minds in law and AI, we’re scaling fast across London, New York, and beyond.

The Role

As Financial Controller, you will build and lead the core finance engine that underpins our global growth.

You’ll own financial reporting, control, and compliance while partnering closely with leadership on planning, forecasting, and strategic decision-making.

You’ll join at a moment of scale: the company has grown from $1M to $5M ARR in under a year, operates across the UK and US, and is preparing for its next phase of growth.

Your mission is to ensure the business has accurate, compliant, and scalable financial infrastructure — ready for rapid expansion.

What You’ll do

• Lead month-end close for UK and US entities, ensuring completeness and accuracy.

• Oversee general ledger, reconciliations, and accounting policies.

• Manage accounts payable/receivable, revenue recognition, and intercompany eliminations.

• Prepare statutory and management accounts; coordinate with external accountants and auditors.

• Implement strong internal controls, approval workflows, and spend management policies.

• Deliver timely, accurate monthly management reports with variance analysis.

• Support FP&A in forecasts, budgets, and board packs.

• Partner with leadership on gross margin, unit economics, and departmental spend analysis.

• Ensure consistent, transparent ARR, COGS, and operating expense reporting.

• Oversee cash forecasting and treasury across currencies.

• Manage collections, payments, and credit control.

• Optimize burn rate and cash runway to support capital efficiency.

• Collaborate on funding strategy and banking relationships.

• Ensure compliance with UK GAAP/IFRS and UK & US tax laws.

• Lead year-end audits with auditors and tax advisors.

• Maintain corporate, tax filings, VAT, and payroll compliance.

• Oversee insurance, entity registrations, and risk management.

• Drive migration from startup tools to enterprise ERP (e.g., NetSuite, Sage Intacct).

• Standardize finance processes across teams and geographies.

• Integrate finance systems with HRIS, CRM, and FP&A tools.

• Automate reporting, reconciliations, and expense management.

• Build relationships with People, GTM, and Operations teams.

• Promote financial ownership and data-driven decision-making.

What We’re Looking For

Experience:

• 5–10 years in finance or accounting, ideally within a SaaS or high-growth tech company.

• Experience managing multi-entity, multi-currency environments.

• Proven ownership of month-end, audit, and compliance cycles.

• Exposure to fundraising or investor reporting a plus.

Skills:

• Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, or CIMA preferred).

• Strong technical accounting and financial systems background.

• Advanced Excel / Google Sheets and BI reporting skills.

• ERP or accounting software expertise (Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct).

• Understanding of SaaS metrics and recurring revenue models.

Mindset:

• Proactive and structured — thrives on building from scratch.

• Commercially minded — balances accuracy with business impact.

• Hands-on — comfortable diving into details while scaling processes.

• Collaborative — able to influence and partner cross-functionally.

What you can expect

• Impact: You’ll build the financial foundation that keeps the company running — clean numbers, reliable data, and control at scale.

• Scope: Own everything from month-end close to audit, cash flow, and multi-entity reporting as we scale

• Tools: Lead the move from startup systems to an enterprise-grade finance stack — automate, standardize, and level us up.

• Exposure: Partner with every function and the leadership team to ensure decisions are grounded in accurate financials.

• Culture: Ambitious, low-ego, and built for speed — we care about accuracy, not bureaucracy.

• Growth: Clear path to Head of Finance or Finance Director as we scale globally.

Why Wordsmith

You’ll be joining a company in full acceleration — Series A with $25M raised, 1000% ARR growth, and a product that’s reshaping how legal teams operate.

If you’re looking for more than just a job — a place to build, learn, and win — this could be the one.