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The way companies innovate is broken. The systems built to create and protect ideas can’t keep up with the pace of change. Today, 90% of S&P 500 company value is intangible (e.g., IP) — yet R&D and IP teams spend half their time buried in manual work, sifting through patents and paperwork instead of pushing the frontier forward. The tools of creating and protecting are stuck in the past. We’re here to fix that.
Ankar is building the AI Platform for the Trillion Dollar Innovation Economy — a suite of tools that helps inventors explore, create, and protect ideas. We’re removing the friction from the invention process, starting with IP protection and expanding toward creation and exploration.
We’re already seeing this vision come to life:
- We’ve raised >$24M to date from Tier-1 VCs like Atomico, Index Ventures, Norrsken, Daphni, and angels like the Founder of Hugging Face, CEO from Datadog, and Leaders from DeepMind and OpenAI.
- We’re already working with the world’s most innovative companies including Fortune 500 company L’Oréal and global law firm Fenwick.
- Expanding our world-class team with alumni from Palantir, Amazon, and BCG to tackle the $1T+ innovation market. We’re just getting started.
Ankar is looking for a strategic and hands-on Finance hire to own our financial operations and planning. You will be responsible for building a world-class finance function that supports our growth, ensures financial discipline, and enables long-term success.
What you’ll be doing
You’ll work closely with the founders, operations, and revops team to shape financial strategy, manage investor relations, and ensure compliance with relevant standards. You’ll also help build scalable systems and processes to support a fast-growing, high-performance technology company.
Your responsibilities will include
- Leading financial planning, reporting, and forecasting
- Managing budgeting, reporting, and compliance processes
- Overseeing cash flow, capital allocation, and risk management
- Supporting fundraising (preparation of Series B round), governance, and investor communications
- Implementing scalable financial systems and controls, including invoicing and revenue collection
- Managing relationships with external accountants in the UK & US
- Ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and standards
- Owning payroll for our employees end-to-end
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What we are looking for
- Proven experience in hands-on finance operations role, for example:
- First or second finance hire at a high growth start-up or scale up
- Commercial finance, FPR&A, or Finance business partner in larger tech company
- Proven experience in a Finance role that required tactical execution as well as strategic judgment
- Strong understanding of financial regulations and reporting standards
- Excellent communication skills
- Attention to detail
- A pragmatic, hands-on approach to solving complex financial challenges
Ideally, you would also have:
- Experience working with venture-backed startups, supporting finance events such as equity fundraises and secondary transactions
- Experience using (or implementing) AI-native (and other relevant) tooling within the finance stack
- ACA/ACCA/CIMA qualified (or equivalent)
- Familiarity with financial modelling and scenario planning
- Exposure to international finance and multi-entity structures
- Experience with cashflow management strategies
What success in this role looks like in 6/12 months
- In 6 months, you will have a fully automated invoicing system in place, seamlessly connecting your CRM to your accounting platform for issuing and tracking invoices. You will also have completed a full review of finance partners and made any necessary changes to optimise performance and cost.
- In 12 months, you will have built a resilient treasury management system and, in collaboration with Revenue Operations, implemented a scalable reporting engine to support growth and decision-making.
Culture at Ankar
Culture at Ankar is how we think, build, and operate. We’re building a generational company that redefines how the world’s best R&D teams create and protect ideas.
- Contrarian - we think from first principles: We think deeply, question assumptions, and build from first principles. The best ideas come from clarity and rigour.
- Creative - we build with taste: We’re building the R&D tools for the AI era and shaping what applied research looks like over the next 20 years. We care about precision, quality, and systems that last.
- Competitiveness - we play to win: We move with urgency and set a very high bar for ourselves and each other. Every win raises the bar. Every challenge sharpens us.
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This role is not for you if...
- You need a highly structured environment, a predefined playbook, regular working hours, or a schedule that never requires travel. We operate with high autonomy and ownership, expect our team to go above and beyond, be obsessed with our mission, and thrive in ambiguity rather than wait for direction.
- You prefer long planning cycles and certainty before acting. We move quickly, ship often, and adapt based on customer feedback and new information.
- You want to manage the work rather than do the work. We're builders first, and everyone is expected to contribute directly to creating exceptional products.
- You take it personally when ideas are challenged, priorities shift, or work gets redirected. We care more about finding the right answer than defending a particular one.
What We Put Behind Our People
Building at the frontier takes exceptional people. We invest accordingly.
- Health Insurance : Full private health & dental coverage for you and your dependents.
- Pension : Flexible pension scheme with up to 5% employer matching on qualifying earnings.
- Food on us : Team lunches twice a week, plus dinner when working late in the office.
- Cycle to work : Green Commute initiative scheme (up to £3k) to help you get a new bike tax-free.
- Way we work : We combine deep, in-person collaboration (3 days/week in our Shoreditch office) with flexibility and trust. What matters is ownership, impact, and results, not where you work from.
What Else You Might Want To Know
- Location: Scrutton Street, London
- Contract: Full-time
- Compensation: We pay competitive salaries and will reward you with a substantial equity package.
- Hiring process (the process can be as fast as you want it to be):
- 30min introductory chat with operations lead
- 30 minute chat with founder
- onsite: 45min case study with founder and 1h case study with operations lead
- 20min meeting with advisor
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