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Motorway is the UK's largest online car-selling platform, connecting private sellers with over 8,000 dealers nationwide. Founded in 2017 and backed by leading technology investors (£143M Series C), the company is at a critical growth phase.
As Head of Financial Control, you will report directly to the VP Finance and own all financial control, statutory and tax compliance, treasury, and finance operations across the company. You are accountable for the integrity of Motorway's financial reporting, the control and compliance framework that withstands audit and diligence, and the finance systems infrastructure that enables scaling without proportional headcount growth.
Key responsibilities include:
- Owning the integrity of financial numbers: month-end and year-end close, management accounts, IFRS statutory accounts, and all underlying reconciliations and reviews so the exec team and board can rely on them completely.
- Setting and owning the control environment: designing financial controls, policies, and delegated authorities that scale with the business, satisfy audit requirements, and maintain diligence-readiness for future transactions.
- Owning tax and regulatory compliance end-to-end: corporation tax, VAT, PAYE, R&D relief, Companies House filings, HMRC relationships, and tax treatment of new products and commercial structures before launch.
- Leading audit and adviser relationships: planning and running the annual audit, managing external accountants, tax advisers, and legal partners.
- Owning treasury and cash management: cash flow forecasting, working capital optimization, banking relationships, payment controls, and understanding cash impact of commercial and operational decisions.
- Accountability for end-to-end payments, receivables, and payroll cycles, setting standards and controls the team operates to.
- Owning NetSuite and the finance systems stack, leading the transition to an automated, AI-native finance function.
- Leading and developing the finance team: hiring, coaching, performance management, and succession planning across managers and individual contributors.
You will work closely with Product, Engineering, Legal, and Operations teams, and own external relationships with auditors, tax advisers, and HMRC.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent) with substantial post-qualification experience.
- Experience in technology, marketplace, or high-growth businesses, ideally with high transaction volumes.
- Proven experience leading AI or automation change in a finance function: redesigning how work gets done, not just adding tools to existing processes.
- Track record leading finance teams through growth and change, developing people, with experience in both operational finance and strategic/transformation roles, plus solid project management grounding.
- Hands-on experience with month-end close, reconciliations, and management and statutory reporting under IFRS or UK GAAP.
- Working knowledge of UK tax compliance (VAT, PAYE, R&D relief) and experience managing advisers and HMRC correspondence.
- Experience owning a cloud ERP (such as NetSuite), automating manual finance processes, and using data and AI tools.
- Strong grasp of working capital and cash flow forecasting, and understanding of cash impact of operational decisions.
- Clear written and verbal communication, with ability to explain finance to non-finance colleagues, executive team, and external stakeholders.
