The Role
Leads global accounting and financial control operations, including month-end close, reconciliations, payroll, AP, AR, tax compliance, statutory reporting, audits, and variance analysis. Manages the global finance control team, partners with tax and finance technology teams, supports budgeting and forecasting, improves processes and controls, and serves as resident director for local entities. The role requires strong IFRS knowledge, regulatory expertise, people leadership, and flexibility during reporting periods.
Summary Generated by Built In
About Us
Sophos is a cybersecurity leader defending 600,000 organizations globally with an AI-driven platform and expert-led services. Sophos meets organizations wherever they are in their security maturity and grows with them to defeat cyberattacks. Its solutions combine machine learning, automation, and real-time threat intelligence with frontline human expertise from Sophos X-Ops to deliver advanced, 24/7 threat monitoring, detection, and response.
Sophos offers industry-leading managed detection and response (MDR) alongside a comprehensive portfolio of cybersecurity technologies — including endpoint, network, email, and cloud security, extended detection and response (XDR), identity threat detection and response (ITDR), and next-gen SIEM. Together with expert advisory services, these capabilities help organizations proactively reduce risk and respond faster, with the visibility and scalability needed to stay ahead of evolving threats.
Sophos goes to market with a global partner ecosystem, including Managed Service Providers (MSPs), Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs), resellers and distributors, marketplace integrations, and cyber risk partners, giving organizations the flexibility to choose trusted relationships when securing their business. Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, U.K. More information is available at www.sophos.com.
Role Summary
The Group Financial Controller reports to the Senior Vice President of Finance and has key responsibility for all aspects of accounting for the Group’s global operations. This includes all elements of the financial control functions including payroll, general accounting and balance sheet control; also managing the relationship to the Group’s shared service centre in India that covers accounts payable, purchasing and accounts receivable. The position is also the main contact for annual audits of the global subsidiaries (though not the consolidation).
The position is also responsible for all month end processes, analysis of variances to plan and forecast, and ensuring timely and accurate reporting for all statutory returns including VAT, WHT, CIT and statutory accounts. The position will manage the financial control team across the globe and hence strong people management skills are essential. In addition the job holder is expected to develop strong working relationships with the business and other back office departments.
This role also involves interface on a day-to-day basis with the Senior Vice President Finance; the CFO; and, the other global finance departments as required.
What You Will Do
- Finance & Accounting:
- Lead all accounting operations, including month-end close, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and adherence to strict deadlines
- Own financial controls, balance sheet reconciliations, variance analysis, and quarterly reviews with SVP Finance
- Oversee payroll, AP, AR, commissions, inventory, receivables, and cash flow processes globally
- Ensure compliance with internal policies, statutory requirements, audits, and government reporting; act as primary audit contact
- Manage SGWI contract and related procedures; ensure local compliance and filings
- Maintain best-practice processes across accounting, payroll, and AP functions
- Taxation:
- Ensure local indirect tax compliance and filings
- Partner with Group and Sophos Tax teams on compliance, reporting, and tax optimization
- Reporting:
- Support monthly management accounts and ad hoc reporting for SMT and Board
- Partner with Group Finance and local leadership to improve performance and business support
- Provide guidance to the finance team on reporting matters
- Projects & Leadership:
- Partner with Finance IT on system enhancements, UAT, and successful deployments
- Lead financial control and process improvement initiatives
- Support budgeting and forecasting as required
- Manage, coach, and develop the finance team; conduct performance reviews and talent planning
- Director Responsibilities:
- Act as resident Director for local entities, signing contracts and filings in line with legal and signature policies
- Special Conditions:
- Flexibility required during month-end, year-end, and peak periods
- Occasional travel and short-notice availability for document signing
What You Will Bring
- Regulatory and compliance matters from a financial perspective
- Previously operated as a Director; or have had strong exposure to the requirements
- Working with external auditors and tax advisors
- Commercial experience, e.g. contract review
- Practical long-term experience of all aspects of the month end and annual closing accounting and planning processes
- Understanding of IFRS accounting practices
- Improving processes and controls
- Management of a team
- Management of the functions of financial control, accounting, payroll, management and financial reporting
- Working within a software or technology company, ideally a global organisation
- Familiar with corporation tax and VAT filing requirements.
- Minimum of 7 years post qualification experience
- Experience of a quoted company environment
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Ready to Join Us?
At Sophos, we believe in the power of diverse perspectives to fuel innovation. Research shows that candidates sometimes hesitate to apply if they don't check every box in a job description. We challenge that notion. Your unique experiences and skills might be exactly what we need to enhance our team. Don't let a checklist hold you back – we encourage you to apply.
What's Great About Sophos?
· Sophos operates a remote-first working model, making remote work the primary option for most employees. However, some roles may necessitate a hybrid approach. While we are a remote first organization, applicants must have legal authorization to work in the jurisdiction where the position is posted, without requiring employer sponsorship.
· Our people – we innovate and create, all of which are accompanied by a great sense of fun and team spirit
· Employee-led diversity and inclusion networks that build community and provide education and advocacy
· Annual charity and fundraising initiatives and volunteer days for employees to support local communities
· Global employee sustainability initiatives to reduce our environmental footprint
· Global fitness and trivia competitions to keep our bodies and minds sharp
· Global wellbeing days for employees to relax and recharge
· Monthly wellbeing webinars and training to support employee health and wellbeing
Our Commitment To You
We’re proud of the diverse and inclusive environment we have at Sophos, and we’re committed to ensuring equality of opportunity. We believe that diversity, combined with excellence, builds a better Sophos, so we encourage applicants who can contribute to the diversity of our team. All applicants will be treated in a fair and equal manner and in accordance with the law regardless of gender, sex, gender reassignment, marital status, race, religion or belief, color, age, military veteran status, disability, pregnancy, maternity or sexual orientation. We want to give you every opportunity to show us your best self, so if there are any adjustments we could make to the recruitment and selection process to support you, please let us know.
Data Protection
If you choose to explore an opportunity, and subsequently share your CV or other personal details with Sophos, these details will be held by Sophos for 12 months in accordance with our Privacy Policy and used by our recruitment team to contact you regarding this or other relevant opportunities at Sophos. If you would like Sophos to delete or update your details at any time, please follow the steps set out in the Privacy Policy describing your individual rights. For more information on Sophos’ data protection practices, please consult our Privacy Policy Cybersecurity as a Service Delivered | Sophos
Skills Required
- Experience with financial regulatory and compliance matters
- Previous experience operating as a Director or strong exposure to director responsibilities
- Experience working with external auditors and tax advisors
- Commercial experience, including contract review
- Long-term practical experience with month-end and annual closing accounting and planning processes
- Understanding of IFRS accounting practices
- Experience improving processes and controls
- Team management experience
- Experience managing financial control, accounting, payroll, management reporting, and financial reporting functions
- Experience working within a software or technology company
- Experience in a global organization
- Familiarity with corporation tax and VAT filing requirements
- Minimum of 7 years of post-qualification experience
- Experience in a quoted company environment
- Legal authorization to work in the jurisdiction without employer sponsorship
Sophos Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Sophos and has not been reviewed or approved by Sophos.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time away is positioned as broad, with company-wide wellness days plus dedicated learning days and paid volunteer time.
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Parental & Family Support — Family-related leave appears more comprehensive than baseline offerings, including paid parental leave, caregiver leave, and extended bereavement leave.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Wellbeing support is emphasized through always-available assistance resources and a Calm subscription, suggesting a lifestyle-oriented benefits approach.
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The Company
What We Do
Cybersecurity Evolved. As a worldwide leader in next-generation cybersecurity, Sophos protects nearly 400,000 organizations of all sizes in more than 150 countries from today’s most advanced cyberthreats. Powered by SophosLabs – a global threat intelligence and data science team – Sophos’ cloud-native and AI-enhanced solutions secure endpoints (laptops, servers and mobile devices) and networks against evolving cybercriminal tactics and techniques, including automated and active-adversary breaches, ransomware, malware, exploits, data exfiltration, phishing, and more.
