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Apollo Research

Posted 1 day ago

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Finance Manager

LondonOn-siteFull-time

AI Summary

Manages financial operations, accounting, reporting, and compliance for an AI safety organization, building finance systems and processes from the ground up while leveraging AI agents and automation.

About this role

ABOUT APOLLO RESEARCH

Apollo Research is an AI safety organization that works on the detection of scheming (e.g., building evaluations), the science of scheming (e.g., model organisms), and scheming mitigations (e.g., anti-scheming and control). We work closely with multiple frontier AI companies. At Apollo, we aim for a culture that emphasizes truth-seeking, being goal-oriented, giving and receiving constructive feedback, and being friendly and helpful. If you're interested in more details about what it's like working at Apollo, you can read more here.

We're a team of ~35 in London and Europe, we're opening a new office in San Francisco, and we're growing fast.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Finance team consists of the Head of Finance and an interim transactional processor. You will be Apollo's second full-time Finance hire, reporting to the Head of Finance. You will own financial operations, accounting, reporting, and compliance.

AI is embedded across the business, and Apollo Finance is no different. You will work with the Head of Finance to build a finance function from first principles that scales ahead of the business's growth. You'll be expected to build and leverage AI agents and clean architecture to eliminate, simplify, and automate manual work at scale.

There is no legacy finance function to inherit, so you will build your subfunctions from the ground up. This role is suited to someone who is happy to get their hands dirty in the details of the operation, skilled at handling data, and driven to find more effective ways of doing things.

The manual processing work should reduce significantly as you and the Head of Finance build out the systems, processes, and controls. Initially, your time will be split between:

  • Day-to-day transactional processing and bookkeeping, replacing the interim processor (50%)
  • Building out new systems, processes, and controls (25%)
  • Eliminating, simplifying, and automating existing processes and controls (10%)
  • Ad hoc work, e.g., monthly close, reporting, and compliance (15%)

    • The team is deliberately lean and uses a sophisticated tech stack. This is not a position where you'll be one of many; you'll have significant exposure and be central to how the function evolves as the business scales, with a clear path to Financial Controller.

RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Run day-to-day financial operations (Order-to-Cash and Procure-to-Pay):
    • Process and match supplier invoices, card expenses, and bank receipts and payments
    • Prepare supplier payments
    • Onboard customers and suppliers, keeping their metadata up to date
    • Invoice customers and manage collections
    • Run accounting and reporting (Record-to-Report):
      • Establish a repeatable monthly close, preparing manual journals and accounting judgments on accruals, prepayments, accrued and deferred revenue, payroll, intercompany, and project accounting
      • Prepare supported reconciliations for every balance sheet account, and maintain a quantified risks and opportunities list
      • Produce a monthly pack that ties to the ledger and reads the way operators run the business: P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow, month and year to date; one headline variance against budget; and department and research-versus-commercial views
      • Deliver cash visibility:
        • Prepare the weekly 13-week direct cash forecast, including running scenarios for the Head of Finance and COO
        • Reconcile forecasts to actual bank movements, explain and report variances, and improve the forecasting assumptions week on week
        • Support the Head of Finance in building effective systems, processes, and controls:
          • Eliminate, simplify, and automate manual work, processes, and controls at scale, leveraging AI agents and automation
          • Document critical workflows so they do not depend on one person
          • Manage the finance tech stack, and support the Head of Finance in implementing new systems
          • Manage compliance:
            • Support the Head of Finance in ensuring Apollo complies with relevant laws and regulations across the jurisdictions in which we operate, coordinating with advisors where necessary: statutory accounts, taxes, transfer pricing, R&D tax credits, audits where required, and expenditure responsibility requirements for grants

    • WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

  • Build and run a best-in-class finance operation.
    • Support the Head of Finance in building and improving the systems, processes, and controls for the core business cycles (O2C, P2P, R2R) to: (a) capture transactions at source with the right accounting, timing, and metadata; and (b) eliminate, simplify, and automate manual work at scale.
    • Work month on month to reduce the lag between a transaction's economic event and its appearance in the books, and to reduce manual processing hours, baselined in month two. Maintain sales invoice accuracy at 100%, aged debtors below 15 days, and suppliers paid on the due date 100% of the time.
    • Build and run a fast, dependable close. All entities closed to year-end quality every month: working day five within six months of joining, and working day three within nine months. Supported balance sheet reconciliations for all accounts, with a quantified risks-and-opportunities list. No restatements or surprises to the board.
    • Build and prepare reporting that informs and forces decisions.
      • A monthly pack within two months of joining that explains performance across P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow for the month and year to date, with department and research-versus-commercial views. It leads with the most important budget variance and explains what happened, why, and what needs attention.
      • A weekly 13-week direct cash flow forecast, with scenarios, refreshed weekly. Forecast accuracy improves week on week, and within three months of joining the forecast informs and forces the right decisions on liquidity and working capital.
      • Build and run the financial compliance calendar. Covers all relevant laws and regulations across every jurisdiction in which we operate, including R&D tax credits, audits, and expenditure responsibility requirements for grants. Compliance is fully up to date within three months of joining.

    • REQUIREMENTS

  • Sound accounting judgment. You are a qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, or CPA) with at least two years' post-qualification experience at a small, UK company. You reason confidently through cut-off, accrued and deferred revenue, accruals and prepayments, payroll, and project accounting. You know when to ask for specialist advice rather than guess. You are skeptical by default.
  • Personal ownership of a fast close. You have personally (not through a team) run monthly closes end to end to working day five, with supported reconciliations for every balance sheet account. You have personally produced multi-dimensional management accounts (product, channel, region) with variances to budget, built around how operators run the business.
  • Balance-sheet-first mindset. For any account, you can explain what the number is, how it got there, how and when it settles or unwinds, and what happens if it does not.
  • International group experience. You have practical experience of intercompany accounting and consolidation, you have worked with at least one overseas entity (US preferred), and you know UK statutory reporting.
  • Hands-on builder. You have built, materially improved, or repaired a finance process, control, or set of books. You prioritize the material problems. You are a high-agency, first-principles problem solver who can take a problem, break it down logically, and find a solution. You are comfortable making decisions with incomplete information.
  • Fast, accurate transactional processing. You process invoices, card receipts and bills, and cash receipts and payments.
  • Architecture-minded and data-literate. You think in systems, not processes. You are fluent in a cloud ledger (Xero, QuickBooks Online, Campfire, Light, Rillet, or DualEntry) and strong in spreadsheets. You understand how data and workflows fit together. You can validate integrations, imports, mappings, and automated outputs.
  • High standards. You have exceptional attention to detail, integrity, and strong numerical ability. You are tenacious enough to call a customer for the fifteenth time. You communicate clearly with non-finance colleagues.

    • NICE-TO-HAVES

  • 2+ years at a VC-backed or founder-led high-growth scale-up (Series A to C), ideally through a first audit. You know how a young company works.
  • 2+ years in deep-tech, R&D-heavy, or software businesses. You are comfortable with R&D tax credits, grant reporting, capitalization judgments, cloud and compute costs.
  • 2+ years' experience with project or professional services accounting. You are comfortable with subscription, license, or usage-based billing and revenue recognition.
  • Practical experience simplifying and automating processes, controls, and workflows, and implementing AI tooling in a live finance function
  • Experience coordinating UK and US accounting and tax providers.
  • 1+ years' experience with a modern AI-native ERP (Campfire, DualEntry, Rillet, or Light).
  • Demonstrable experience using AI agents and automation daily, as well as deploying them in real finance functions. You are comfortable using no-code tools (n8n, Zapier), MCP, and coding agents.
  • Interest in AI safety and Apollo's mission. You're curious about what we do and why it matters.

    • BENEFITS

    This role offers market competitive salary and competitive benefits.

  • Salary: £120,000–£160,000
  • Flexible work hours and schedule
  • Unlimited vacation
  • Unlimited sick leave
  • Up to six months of paid parental leave
  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance
  • Retirement savings with competitive employer matching
  • Lunch, dinner, and snacks are provided on workdays
  • Paid work trips, including staff retreats, business trips, and relevant conferences
  • A yearly $1,000 (USD) professional development budget

    • LOGISTICS

    Target start date: Late Q4 2026 to early Q1 2027. We can be flexible to accommodate notice periods.
    Role type: Full-time
    Location: In-person at our London office, with flexible hours and some WFH arrangements
    Reports to: Head of Finance
    Right to work: Applicants must have the right to work in the UK. We are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this role.

    HIRING PROCESS

    1. Apply by completing the application form and attaching your CV. We review applications on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early.
    2. An initial 30-minute call
    3. A 2.5-hour take-home assignment and 45-minute discussion
    4. A 60- to 90-minute interview walking through your career, job by job
    5. A 30-minute conversation with the COO
    6. Offer and reference checks

    Skills

    ACAACCAAI AgentsAutomationCampfireCash ForecastingCIMACPADualEntryERPLightMCPMonthly CloseN8nNo-code ToolsOrder-to-cashProcure-to-payR&D Tax CreditsReconciliationsRecord-to-ReportRilletStatutory AccountsTransfer PricingZapier

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