Head of Finance

• Salary: up to £95,000 per annum
• Location: Hertfordshire office 3 days a week / 2 from home
• Job Type: Full-time

An established and growing legal firm is seeking a Head of Finance to lead its finance function and support strategic growth. This is a high-impact leadership opportunity for an experienced finance professional who can combine strong technical expertise with commercial insight, while ensuring excellent financial governance, reporting, and operational control.

Working closely with the Managing Partner and Partnership, the Head of Finance will take ownership of both the strategic direction and day-to-day leadership of the finance department. The role offers the chance to influence key decisions, improve performance, and help shape the future success of the business.

Day-to-day of the role

• Lead and develop the finance function, ensuring strong financial control, compliance, and high-quality reporting.
• Oversee the monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting cycle, including management accounts, year-end accounts, and external audits.
• Produce budgets, forecasts, cashflow projections, and detailed financial analysis for senior stakeholders.
• Drive the annual budgeting and forecasting process to support wider business planning and growth initiatives.
• Manage banking, cashflow, reconciliations, supplier payments, payroll submissions, and wider transactional finance activity.
• Ensure compliance with accounting standards, tax legislation, regulatory obligations, and SAR Accounts Rules.
• Oversee VAT, PAYE, Corporation Tax, Partner Tax, and all statutory financial requirements.
• Provide commercially focused insight to improve profitability, support performance management, and inform decision-making.
• Maintain and improve finance systems, controls, reporting frameworks, and internal processes to increase efficiency.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• ACA, ACCA, CIMA, or equivalent professional accounting qualification.
• Proven experience leading a finance function within a professional services environment, ideally legal services.
• Strong knowledge of financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, taxation, audit, and financial controls.
• Understanding of SAR Accounts Rules and partnership accounting.
• Experience preparing management information and presenting financial results to Board, Partner, or Executive level stakeholders.
• Strong commercial awareness with the ability to turn complex financial data into clear business insight.
• Demonstrable people management experience, with the ability to lead and develop a finance team.
• Advanced systems knowledge and a track record of improving finance processes, controls, and reporting.
• Experience within a law firm or regulated legal environment would be advantageous.

Benefits

• Opportunity to join a respected and growing legal firm in a pivotal leadership role.
• Genuine influence over financial strategy, business performance, and future growth.
• Close collaboration with the Managing Partner and Partnership on key commercial decisions.
• Broad remit covering both strategic finance leadership and operational management.
• Chance to drive continuous improvement through process optimisation and technology enhancements.

How to apply

To apply for this Head of Finance position, please submit your CV and cover letter outlining your relevant experience and suitability for the role.