HEAD OF FINANCE

 

Location: London (remote working within the UK is possible)

Hours: Full-Time or Part-Time (5 or 4 days per week)

 

About FILE

The Foundation for International Law for the Environment (FILE) was set up in 2018 to be the major philanthropic re-granter scaling up legal action globally to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises.

We work as movement enablers, campaign strategists, and impact funders, using the law in pursuit of three interconnected system-level goals:

 

• Reducing net greenhouse gas emissions to protect the climate
• Safeguarding nature
• Delivering climate and environmental justice

 

We pursue these goals not just by supporting legal action directly. We believe in growing the strength of the climate and biodiversity legal movement globally, and in enabling people and movements to use legal action to shift narratives.

 

As movement enablers, campaign strategists, and impact funders, we at FILE do not ourselves bring litigation. As a regrantor, FILE is not an endowed foundation, but rather we engage in fundraising to secure resources to support our partners globally.

 

The Role

The Head of Finance plays a pivotal role co-leading the Finance Team at FILE, ensuring strong financial resilience, investment and foreign exchange strategy, global finance policies, financial compliance, and internal financial controls. The role involves leading the finance operations, systems, and processes globally while providing strategic financial insights to key stakeholders to support decision-making. 

 

Key Responsibilities

Financial Strategy & Resilience (25%) 

• Lead the Global Accounting Team, setting the vision, annual team planning, and objectives.   

• Ensure key stakeholders across the Board, Senior Leadership Team, Partnerships Team and across FILE receive high value business partner support on financial resilience, reserves, cashflow, investments and foreign exchange to enable strategic decision-making, in addition to support with individual donor proposals 

• Develop and maintain best practice cashflow forecasting, foreign exchange management, and investment strategies to support financial resilience.   

• Ensure global finance policies are robust and align with FILE’s strategic ambitions and regulatory requirements. 

 

Financial Compliance & Control (25%) 

• Ensure robust finance policies support a strong control environment   

• Drive a prompt monthly close process across all entities in the FILE network, including full Balance Sheet reconciliations and moving towards automated reporting   

• Ensure financial systems have strong controls and data structures in place, collaborating with FP&A team. 

• Manage the Financial Controller, including overseeing banking, payroll, expenses purchase ledger, statutory financial statements, audit and tax compliance, and work with the Financial Controller to ensure high-quality support from external outsourced providers  

 

Team Leadership & Development (25%) 

• Foster a culture of collaboration, trust, and empowerment within the Global Accounting Team.   

• Set clear objectives and development plans for team members, ensuring continuous growth and performance improvement.   

• Provide training and induction materials to wider team to enhance financial literacy across FILE.   

 

Systems & Process Optimisation (25%) 

• Oversee finance systems and operations, driving automation and smart data utilisation to improve processes.   

• Collaborate with IT and finance teams to ensure systems align with business needs.   

• Ensure global processes are standardised and efficient. 

• Lead process improvements to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. 

• Create robust accounting, compliance environment, and processes that support the delivery of FILE’s strategic objectives and value for money while assets are safeguarded. 

 

Key Outcomes

• The Global Accounting Team has a clear vision, with ambitious but resilient annual planning  

• The Global Accounting Team has a strong culture of collaboration, trust, integrity and empowerment, and individual team members have clear objectives and development plans  

• High quality financial accounting supports senior stakeholders including SLT and FILE’s Boards in strategic decision making and ensures a robust compliance environment.   

• FILE’s global accounting processes are accurate, efficient, compliant and on time, supporting the delivery of FILE’s strategic objectives, and value for money while safeguarding assets 
• Best practice approaches to cashflow forecasting, foreign exchange management and investments are implemented to support FILE’s financial resilience.

• The Global Accounting Team has a continuous improvement mindset, with best practice processes and moving towards automation and integrated, streamlined systems 

 

 Travel and working hours  

• You will be expected to travel periodically, especially to either the UK or the Netherlands, depending on your location. 

• You will also be expected to provide some flexibility around availability as part of a team spread across multiple time zones, which will involve some meetings outside of standard working hours. This could mean early hours or late evenings at least once a week. 

• We will always return the same level of flexibility demonstrated by our team. 

 

Essential Criteria 

• Understanding of UK or Netherlands tax compliance for non-profits, particularly payroll taxes, corporation tax, and VAT.  
• Experience in complex financial accounting  

• Experience in strategic financial management  

• Experience with multiple finance systems  

• Knowledge of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) and UK GAAP or DASB  

• Proficiency in financial modelling using Excel and financial planning tools  

• Expertise in multi-jurisdictional tax compliance, including transfer pricing regulations.  

• Familiarity with data visualisation tools such as Power BI, Tableau, or similar.  

• Experience in managing global cash flow, working capital, and investment portfolios.  

• Experience with audit, ensuring compliance with statutory requirements.  

• Experience with donor compliance reporting requirements in the non-profit sector  

 

About you 

We know that long lists of criteria can be discouraging and that some candidates will not apply for a role unless they feel they are 100% qualified. If you feel you meet at least some of the essential criteria, we still encourage you to apply.   

 

We also recognise that skills and experience can be gained in unexpected places, so we welcome applications from candidates who feel they have relevant skills for the role, gained from a wide range of professional, lived and learned experiences. 

 

Location

FILE has offices in London and the Netherlands. We are advertising this role for candidates based (and with the right to work) in the UK, or the Netherlands.

 

Therefore, please note that this role will be advertised in multiple locations, but we are only hiring for one position. Please apply to the job post for your preferred location.

 

Working for FILE

FILE is a collaborative community of individuals who share a passion for climate, nature, and justice. We bring together knowledge and experience to support our mission. To find out more about FILE please follow our website. 

 

How FILE supports its staff

FILE is committed to creating a workplace that supports our staff to do their best work and develop professionally. FILE offer a generous annual leave policy and additional time-off work to support wellbeing. Amongst other benefits, FILE offers private healthcare and a contribution to a pension scheme.

 

FILE is committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued and empowered. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and encourage candidates who can contribute to the diversity of our team to apply.

Join us in making a tangible difference in the fight against climate change by creating spaces where diverse voices come together to drive impactful solutions.

 

Applications

Please apply on our website and upload your CV. This role is open for applications immediately and we accept applications on a rolling basis. If you are interested, we encourage you to submit your application as early as possible. The role will close on the 16th of March.

 

Diversity & Inclusion

As an equal opportunities employer, FILE is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership.