Hands-on Finance Lead / Finance Director

Team Wheel is a growing HR technology consultancy working with clients across HR, payroll, workforce management and enterprise technology. We are looking for a commercially minded, hands-on finance lead to take ownership of the financial side of the business and help us grow profitably.

This is not a big corporate CFO role where you sit above the detail. We need someone who is happy to roll up their sleeves, understand the numbers, challenge assumptions, improve how we price and manage work, and make sure every deal, project and client relationship contributes properly to the business.

The role will suit someone who has worked in a small or growing business and understands that finance is not just about accounts, reporting and compliance. It is about cash, margin, pricing, forecasting, profitability and helping the leadership team make better decisions.

What you’ll be responsible for

You will own the day-to-day financial management of Team Wheel, including cash flow, forecasting, management accounts, budgeting, invoicing, profitability analysis and financial controls.

You will work closely with the founder and leadership team to make sure we understand how the business is performing, where we are making money, where margin is being lost, and what needs to change.

A major part of the role will be helping us price work properly, review commercial terms, track project profitability, understand consultant utilisation, manage cash flow, and make sure we are not taking on work that looks good on paper but damages the business in practice.

You will also help us build better financial processes as we grow, including reporting, dashboards, budgeting discipline, revenue forecasting, cost control and simple but effective governance around deals, suppliers and hiring.

Key responsibilities

• Own cash flow management, short-term forecasting and financial visibility.

• Prepare monthly management accounts and clear financial reporting for the leadership team.

• Track revenue, gross margin, net margin, utilisation and profitability by client, project and service line.

• Review pricing and commercial assumptions before proposals are sent.

• Challenge low-margin or high-risk deals before we commit.

• Support the founder with business planning, budgeting and investment decisions.

• Improve invoicing, collections, debtor management and payment discipline.

• Monitor supplier costs, contractor costs and internal overheads.

• Help build a simple financial dashboard for the business.

• Work with external accountants, bookkeepers, payroll providers and tax advisers where required.

• Ensure basic financial controls are in place without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.

• Support decisions around hiring, commissions, bonuses and resourcing.

• Help Team Wheel understand which services, partners and clients are genuinely profitable.

• Provide practical commercial advice to the leadership team.

What we are looking for

We are looking for someone commercially sharp, practical and comfortable working in a small business environment. You should be confident with the detail, but also able to step back and explain what the numbers mean in plain English.

You do not need to have worked in HR technology before, but experience in a consultancy, professional services, technology services, implementation partner, agency or project-based business would be very useful.

You should be the kind of person who can say, “this deal does not make enough money”, “we are carrying too much delivery risk”, “we need to invoice this differently”, or “this client is tying up too much working capital”, and then help us fix it.

Skills and experience

• Experience in a senior finance role within a small or growing business.

• Strong understanding of cash flow, profitability, margin and commercial decision-making.

• Experience with project-based or services-based businesses would be highly valuable.

• Ability to review pricing, utilisation, delivery costs and project profitability.

• Confident preparing management accounts, budgets, forecasts and simple board-level reporting.

• Comfortable working directly with founders and senior leaders.

• Practical, hands-on and happy to get involved in the detail.

• Strong Excel / Google Sheets skills and confidence with accounting systems.

• Qualified accountant preferred, but strong commercial finance experience is more important than the letters after your name.

• Calm, direct, trustworthy and commercially sensible.

What success looks like

Within the first three months, Team Wheel has a much clearer view of cash, profitability, project margin and short-term financial risk.

Within six months, we have better pricing discipline, better reporting, cleaner forecasting, tighter control of costs and stronger confidence that the work we are winning is genuinely profitable.

Longer term, this person should help Team Wheel grow in a controlled, profitable way, giving the founder and leadership team the financial clarity they need to make better decisions.

Working arrangement

We are open to either a part-time fractional arrangement moving to a full-time role, depending on the right person. The most important thing is that this person is hands-on, commercially strong and able to make an immediate difference.

This role can be remote, but the person must be comfortable working closely with the leadership team and being actively involved in the business rather than simply reporting from the sidelines.