Finance Manager

We’re looking for a Finance Manager who combines technical excellence with a sense of purpose. At Oak, our work in finance helps power our mission, ensuring that public funds are used wisely, transparently, and to the greatest impact for teachers and pupils across the UK.

Oak is a fully remote, mission-driven organisation offering high levels of flexibility, autonomy, and purpose. We’re a national not-for-profit working in partnership with teachers to create the highest-quality, sequenced curriculum and lesson resources for pupils across all subjects and age groups.

Our culture has been independently recognised through:

• Flexa verified (93% overall score, including 95% for working hours and 97% for role modelling)

• Escape the City's Top 1% Employers – based on anonymous colleague reviews of culture, development, and impact

• Investors in People Gold - through external accreditation and colleague feedback

�� About the Role

This isn’t a traditional finance role. At Oak, finance isn’t just about managing numbers, it’s about enabling impact. You’ll work at the heart of a mission-driven, fully remote organisation that takes pride in the clarity, fairness, and transparency of its financial management.

You’ll oversee the day-to-day finance operations, ensuring Oak’s financial systems and reporting are accurate, efficient, and aligned with our obligations as an Arm’s Length Body of the Department for Education. You’ll lead the production of insightful management accounts, support audits and statutory reporting, and champion best practice in financial stewardship.

As a trusted deputy to the Head of Finance, you’ll help shape the continuous improvement of our processes, support budget holders across the organisation, and ensure colleagues have the financial insight they need to make sound, impact-focused decisions.

This is a hands-on role with wide influence across the organisation. Ideal for someone who enjoys the detail but also sees the bigger picture. You’ll bring a collaborative mindset, a commitment to high standards, and a belief that excellent financial management enables great work to happen.

�� What You’ll Be Doing

• Manage the day-to-day finance processes, fostering a culture of development and high standards. Ensure regularity, propriety, and effective stewardship, in line with the Nolan Principles of Public Life and the standards outlined in Managing Public Money.

• Lead the continuous improvement of Oak’s finance operations and systems

• Lead the production of monthly management accounts and board reporting packs, ensuring accuracy, clarity, and insight.

• Oversee monthly reconciliations, journal reviews, and payroll checks to ensure accuracy and compliance.

• Ensure timely and accurate financial information is available to support decision-making, audits, and annual reporting.

• Deputise for the Head of Finance and take on other general responsibilities as required.

• As a member of the Oak Team, contribute to the wider success of the organisation and support and role model our culture of inclusion, freedom, responsibility, and continuous improvement.

�� What We’re Looking For

• Accounting qualification (e.g. ACA, ACCA, CIMA) or demonstrable equivalent experience in financial management and reporting.

• Experience managing finance processes, with a track record of ensuring accuracy, compliance, and efficiency.

• Able to communicate effectively in written and verbal formats, and work independently to identify and act on opportunities or solve problems.

• Advanced skills in Excel or Google Sheets, including experience building financial models to support effective decision-making.

• You will be comfortable working at pace, with a range of digital systems (including proprietary ones as required) and you will continuously look at ways that the team can keep getting better. You will be excellent at working as part of a remote team, building relationships and managing your time effectively.

�� Our Benefits

• 25 days annual leave, plus one extra day for each year of service (up to 28)

• Additional Oak closure days over Christmas/New Year

• 11% employer pension contribution (with no minimum employee contribution)

• Fully remote working — we’ll support your home set-up and offer coworking options if preferred

• Twice-yearly in-person offsites to collaborate, connect, and have fun

• A culture that genuinely supports flexibility, autonomy, and trust

�� Inclusion and Belonging

We believe diverse teams build better products. We warmly welcome applicants from all backgrounds, particularly those who are underrepresented in the tech and education sectors.

We use the Applied recruitment platform to help reduce bias in our hiring process. 

�� Key Info

• Location: Remote, but you must be based in the UK with the legal right to work here

• Sponsorship: Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer visa sponsorship at this time

• Closing date: We’ll be reviewing applications as they come in and may close the role early

If this sounds like the kind of role and team where you could do your life’s best work, we’d love to hear from you.

Next steps

You’ll answer some questions related to the requirements of the role and the culture at Oak. After the advert closes, your answers will go through our sift process: all answers will be anonymised, randomised, and then reviewed by a panel of reviewers (real humans).

If you are shortlisted, we’ll invite you to a remote interview on Zoom.

We love giving feedback, so at the end of the application process we'll share how well you performed.

We are aiming to start interviews early November.

We are experiencing really good responses to our job adverts. This may lead us to close the role early, so if you are considering applying then please get your application in early to avoid missing out.

We are an equal opportunities employer.

We are committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or race, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.