Lead Finance Manager

🧬 About Sano

Mission; what we do

• accelerating the world’s transition to personalised medicine
  

Purpose; why we do it

• to speed up development of life-saving treatments for those with limited options
  

Vision; where we’re going

• become the world’s best source of patient-in-the-loop genomic and health data for precision medicine development

We’re looking for an ambitious, hands-on Lead Finance Manager to take full ownership of day-to-day finance at Sano as we grow. You’ll lead core responsibilities like month-end close, payroll, budgeting, and financial reporting - while continuously improving processes and supporting better decision-making across the business.

You’ll report to the Head of Finance and work closely with senior leadership. We’re looking for someone confident taking the lead, open-minded about the scope, and ready to run with challenges as they arise.

If you’re fully qualified accountant and excited to shape a modern finance function in a mission-driven startup, we’d love to hear from you.

Headlines:

• Role - Lead Finance Manager
• Salary - £70,000 - 85,000 pa
• Location - UK only, fully remote
• Open to candidates looking for 4 days per week (pro rata)

What you'll be doing:

• Leading our month-end close, customer invoicing, and revenue recognition - ensuring timely, reliable financial reporting
• Owning budget vs. actuals tracking and commentary for cross-company visibility
• Partnering cross-functionally to support pricing, margin, and project profitability analysis
• Running our finance operations: invoicing, payments, payroll, and supplier management - including chasing receipts and resolving issues as needed
• Designing and implementing scalable processes that reduce manual overhead
• Owning key compliance areas including VAT, payroll tax, and statutory reporting (UK & US)
• Building experience in cap table management and share scheme administration
• Supporting Series B fundraising through data prep, financial modelling, and team coordination

This job is for you if you have:

• A full accounting qualification (ACA, ACCA or equivalent)
• Proven ownership of month-end close and revenue processes in a high-growth or complex business
• Strong technical accounting knowledge across multi-entity and multi-currency structures
• Demonstrated ability to influence and support commercial decisions through financial insight
• Hands-on experience across invoicing, payments, payroll, and statutory compliance
• Strong Excel skills - essential for tracking, reporting, and day-to-day finance operations
• A natural drive to improve and automate - not just maintain - finance processes
• The confidence to take ownership, and the humility to ask questions when needed
• A collaborative approach, with experience working cross-functionally
• A strong desire to grow into a broader finance leadership role over the next few years

Even better if you have:

• Exposure to SaaS or services businesses with a mix of recurring and project-based revenue
• Exposure to UK/US international structures or tax regimes
• Prior involvement in share option administration or cap table management
• Financial modelling skills to support scenario analysis and long-term planning

This role is unlikely to be a great match if:

• You’re not comfortable doing hands-on work across the full finance cycle (bookkeeping, invoicing, payments etc)
• You’re not comfortable switching between strategic tasks (like forecasting) and hands-on work (like chasing receipts)
• You prefer to specialise in FP&A or reporting only
• You’re seeking a tightly defined role with little day-to-day variation
• This is your first startup adventure

Research shows that some people are less likely to apply for a role unless they are 100% qualified. Your experience, skills and passion will set you apart so tell us about your achievements, irrespective of whether they are personal or work-related, tell us about your journey, and about what you learnt.

So, if this role excites you, don't let our role description hold you back, get applying!

🔍 Hiring Process

1. 📞 Initial screening with Becca
2. 💡 1st Interview with Laurence
3. 🙌 2nd Interview with key stakeholders
4. ⭐️ Founder Interview

Support - If you have a medical condition or an individual need for an adjustment to our process, and you believe this may affect your ability to be at your best - please let us know so we can talk about how we can best support you and make any adjustments that may be needed. All interviews at Sano take place virtually. Please let us know if we can help make a virtual interview run smoother for you.

🛑 Please note:

We can only accept applications from those eligible to live and work in the UK or in the USA (for specific roles). We are unable to sponsor visas for this position.

🌈 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

At Sano, we're committed to creating an environment that promotes diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. We are a global community and we believe our unique qualities should be celebrated as they are critical to our innovation. It's essential to us that you bring your authentic self to work every single day, no matter your age, ethnicity, religion, citizenship, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, caring responsibilities, neurodiversity, or otherwise. Inclusion isn't just an initiative at Sano. We strive to embed it not just into our values but throughout our entire culture.