Greensphere Capital
Financial Controller - Portfolio Businesses
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Financial Controller, Portfolio Business
Location: Full-time, based in or within regular access to London, with some travel to portfolio companies across the UK required.
Reports to: Greensphere Capital's Portfolio CFO for the Gaia Sciences Innovation Fund (GSI)
Start date: As soon as possible
Contract: Permanent, full-time basis (4 days or flexible hours could also be considered)
About Greensphere Capital
Greensphere Capital is a fund manager and the UK's largest female-owned venture capital firm, with more than 15 years at the forefront of pioneering sustainable investing. Gaia Sciences Innovation (GSI) is a science-led growth equity fund investing and scaling best in class profitable businesses that mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss. Alongside capital, Greensphere’s GSI fund provides its portfolio companies with shared operational infrastructure – including a Portfolio finance function – to help them build finance capability faster and more cost-effectively than they could alone. Portfolio companies range from fast-growing technology businesses scaling commercial operations across multiple entities and geographies, to smaller, earlier-stage teams still building out their finance function.
The Role
This is a broad, hands-on Financial Controller role, created to give portfolio companies across Greensphere's GSI fund the day-to-day financial management they need to scale – from setting up banking and finance infrastructure for newly onboarded companies, to reviewing management accounts and payments across the portfolio. You'll work closely with each company's CEO and GSI's Portfolio CFO and thrive on being genuinely on top of the detail without needing to be chased.
Time committed to any one company varies with its size and complexity – from a light monthly touchpoint up to three days a week for the most complex, multi-entity businesses – with the rest spent as embedded finance business partner across GSI's wider portfolio. You'll be comfortable as the primary finance resource across several businesses at once, moving between a month-end close, a board pack, and a bookkeeping tidy-up in the same week, and shaping how finance runs across a group of nature-positive businesses as they grow.
Key Responsibilities
The responsibilities below apply across the portfolio, with the depth of involvement in each area scaling according to the time committed to a given company. Where up to three days a week are committed to a single investee company, the role covers the full range below in depth, including multi-entity and intercompany work where that company operates overseas subsidiaries. Where time committed is lighter, the same areas apply on a lighter-touch, proportionate basis.
Bookkeeping & Financial Control
- Ownership of day-to-day bookkeeping, using Xero, for the portfolio company(ies) in scope
- Maintaining accurate and up-to-date records of all income, expenditure, assets, and liabilities
- Management of accounts payable and receivable, including supplier payments and client invoicing
- Monthly bank reconciliations across all relevant entities and currencies
- Preparation of timely monthly management accounts for review by the Portfolio CFO and each company's CEO
- Supporting the preparation of statutory accounts and liaising with external auditors
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Intercompany & Multi-Entity Accounting
- Where a portfolio company spans multiple entities – for example a UK parent alongside overseas subsidiaries – managing intercompany cross-charges, ensuring these are correctly documented, consistently applied, and appropriately reflected in each entity's accounts
- Experience of intercompany (ICO) accounting, including elimination entries and transfer pricing principles, is strongly advantageous
- Maintaining a clear audit trail across group entities and ensuring consistency of accounting policies
New Portfolio Company Onboarding
- Setting up operational finance infrastructure for newly onboarded portfolio companies – including banking, entity set-up, financial processes, and insurance
- Working alongside the Portfolio CFO to provide financial oversight and support to portfolio companies at critical growth stages
- Supporting financial due diligence and reporting through the investment lifecycle as portfolio companies are onboarded
Reporting & Analytics
- Producing regular management information including P&L, cash flow, and balance sheet reporting
- Supporting the Fractional Portfolio CFO on financial modelling, forecasting, and scenario analysis as required
- Preparing board-level financial summaries and packs in a clear, accessible format
- Tracking key financial KPIs and flagging variances or risks to each CEO and the Fractional Portfolio CFO promptly
Tax, Compliance & Statutory Obligations
- Supporting Tax and VAT return preparation and filing (UK), and liaising with local advisers on overseas compliance obligations where a portfolio company has entities abroad (e.g. in the US or Australia)
- Assisting with year-end close, statutory accounts preparation, and audit management
- Monitoring filing deadlines across all entities in scope and ensuring compliance
- Liaising with HMRC, Companies House, and equivalent overseas bodies as required
Operations & General Finance Support
- Handling a wide range of operational finance tasks as directed by each CEO and the Fractional Portfolio CFO – this is a flexible, generalist remit across start-up and scale-up environments
- Managing commercial insurance policies including annual requotes, renewals, and any mid-year changes
- Administering banking relationships and day-to-day account management
- Supporting procurement, contract management, and supplier relationship administration
- Contributing to process improvement as each company grows, including the development of finance policies and procedures
- Project work exploring new ways to make finance and operations functions across the portfolio more efficient
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About You
Essential
- Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent)
- Minimum two years' post-qualification experience in a similar hands-on financial controller or senior finance role
- Proven experience working with Xero as the primary accounting platform
- Strong working knowledge of multi-entity group accounting, including intercompany transactions and eliminations
- Confidence across the full finance cycle: accounts, reconciliations, invoicing, payments, and reporting
- Enough operational breadth to set up a bank account or sort a VAT query without waiting to be told how
- Comfortable managing multiple stakeholders and priorities across more than one business at once
- Excellent attention to detail with a track record of producing accurate, high-quality financial information, and a low tolerance for letting things slip
- Strong communication skills – able to present financial information clearly to non-finance colleagues and senior stakeholders across different businesses
- UK-based and able to travel to London or Cambridge for meetings when required
Desirable
- Experience in a start-up, scale-up, or founder-led business where breadth and flexibility are valued
- Experience in a fund, investment firm, or PE-backed environment
- Familiarity with portfolio company finance support or fractional CFO structures
- Prior experience working across multiple entities or clients simultaneously (e.g. practice, outsourced finance, or portfolio/group roles)
- Familiarity with multi-currency accounting and the practical challenges of managing overseas subsidiaries (particularly US and Australia)
- Understanding of FRS 102 (UK GAAP) and awareness of IFRS
- Experience managing commercial insurance renewals or other operational finance processes
- Comfort with financial modelling in Excel and supporting CFO-level analysis
- This role may suit a returner to finance who brings strong prior experience and is looking for a flexible, substantive role with real scope
What We Offer
- A broad, genuinely varied role with real responsibility from day one, and exposure across multiple nature-positive businesses
- Direct access to and collaboration with portfolio company CEOs and Greensphere Capital's Portfolio CFO
- The opportunity to build and shape the finance function across several growing technology and nature-positive businesses
- A supportive, entrepreneurial team that values pragmatism, initiative, and good humour
How to Apply
To apply, please send a CV and a short covering note explaining your interest in the role and relevant experience to gemma@greenspherecapital.com. We are reviewing applications on a rolling basis and encourage early applications.
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