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The Director of Business Operations at Smarkets will provide strategic leadership across finance, compliance, and people teams. Responsibilities include establishing a premier finance function, overseeing cost control and budgeting, managing risk, and supporting senior leadership in financial strategies and planning. This role requires expertise in regulatory compliance and experience in high-growth sectors, including technology.
Smarkets is a betting exchange for sports and political trading that has handled over £29 billion in volume since 2010. We are upending the sports betting industry by growing a platform that offers the best value for bettors, with not only the fairest odds but also the best technology, alongside a superior customer experience.
We believe the foundation to our success is attracting the best people to our organisation and creating a high performance environment where they can thrive. We are searching for an atypical candidate with a wealth of business experience to use their commercial mindset to put our people and hiring teams at the centre of our strategic success.
This is a key role working across the business at a senior level and reporting to the COO. You will be responsible for providing strategic leadership across our critical Core functions, Finance, Compliance, and People teams, with a primary focus on establishing a best-in-class finance function.
About You:
- A Director of Finance or Director of Operations with a finance background
- Prior experience as a senior leader in a technology-led venture or private equity-backed business
- Experience in a startup environment, as well as knowing what good looks like in a 250+ employee business
- Competitive mindset, with a demonstrable track record in creating high-performing business operations functions in a lean entrepreneurial environment
- Comfortable leading FPnA / Commercial finance / Strategic finance initiatives as well as partnering with COO and CEO on future fundraising activities
- Mentor multiple teams across finance, compliance and people functions and support their growth with a clear vision of what best practice looks like from larger company environments
- Happy to get your hands dirty in high-risk areas such as tax, financial audits and regulatory compliance to deliver results for the business
Responsibilities
- Provide senior strategic leadership to the Core functions of the business, Finance, Compliance and People teams.
- Be hands-on in establishing a best-in-class finance function covering all the key areas of strategic planning, Financial planning and analysis, BI, investor relations, management reporting, tax and treasury.
- Own the preparation of consolidated monthly management accounts with analysis and commentaries
- Support the rollout of effective and efficient cost control and budget processes across the business.
- Continue to evolve and improve existing processes, using technology as much as possible to automate
- Provide the CEO and COO strategic guidance and support on financial and tax strategies.
- Interface directly with the management team, Board and investors ensuring they have a clear sense of the overall financial health and potential risk areas of the company
- Establish themselves as a strong “co-pilot” by supporting the COO in strategic planning and driving the delivery of the business plan
- Ensuring the management team and Board have a clear view of risk, including regulatory risk stemming from licensed activities as well as general business risk
- Provide support and guidance to the leads of the compliance and people functions, acting as the senior internal advocate for these areas of the business
Desirable Attributes
- Personal interest in sports, exchanges, trading and betting
- Experience with regulated industries such as finance, payments or gambling
- Prior international exposure, including multi-currency and country accounts (UK and US)
- Previously developed robust financial practices and controls for a high-growth technology company
Our Values
- Push to win
- Make others better
- Give a shit
- Be a pro
- Bring the energy
Benefits
We offer a competitive salary package and benefits, along with a dynamic and collaborative work environment. Your work with us will make an impact and your voice will be heard.
We are a diverse team with a strong work ethic and plenty of hunger to win. We have designed our benefits offering around Health, Wealth, Lifestyle and Development.
These include:
- Stock options which vest over 4 years
- Pension scheme - An impressive pension scheme is available via Aviva. We will match 6% if you choose the same
- Health insurance
- Fresh fruit and snacks provided in the office every day (tea, coffee, soft drinks also included)
- We’re a member of a cycle-to-work scheme
- We want to continue to invest in all our employees and do so by providing a £1000 yearly education budget that can be used on courses, conferences, books or training
- 25 days paid holiday + bank holidays to enjoy - you have the choice to carry over 5 days to the next year
- 20 days a year of global working - we provide the ability to work from anywhere in the world for up to 20 days a year
- We will provide you lunch everyday in the office - you don't need to worry about what to make or buy for lunch as we have it sorted with top quality food served by our in-house chef Alex!
Top Skills
Business Intelligence
Compliance
Finance
Financial Planning And Analysis
Fundraising
People
Regulatory Compliance
Strategic Planning
Tax
Treasury
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