Head of Commercial Finance, UK and Germany

<h2><strong>Who we are</strong></h2> <p><span>Helsing is a defence AI company. Our mission is to protect our democracies. We aim to achieve technological leadership, so that open societies can continue to make sovereign decisions and control their ethical standards.</span><span> </span></p> <p><span>As democracies, we believe we have a special responsibility to be thoughtful about the development and deployment of powerful technologies like AI. We take this responsibility seriously.</span><span> </span></p> <p><span>We are an ambitious and committed team of engineers, AI specialists and customer-facing programme managers.<span> We are looking for mission-driven people to join our European teams – and apply their skills to solve the most complex and impactful problems. We embrace an open and transparent culture that welcomes healthy debates on the use of technology in defence, its benefits, and its ethical implications.</span><span> </span></span></p> <h2><strong>The role</strong></h2> <p>As Head of Commercial Finance you will be responsible for all business-related finance topics for our UK and DE business. You will have a chance to work with a diverse and highly motivated cross functional team across a plethora of projects and directly influence the success of the Helsing group. This is a rare opportunity to join the company at an exciting stage of its evolution and help set the conditions for rapid growth and success over the next few years.</p> <h2>The day-to-day</h2> <ul> <li> <p>Support Helsing’s commercial and functional leadership to set stretching financial objectives.</p> </li> <li> <p>Apply budget and schedule management principles and practices to ensure that budgets are set and attained for multiple projects.</p> </li> <li> <p>Monitor organisational financial and schedule metrics to support budgetary planning and to determine corrective action to maintain target performance levels.</p> </li> <li> <p>Work with the team to develop financial forecasts and report against them, completing programme estimates to assess the financial status of the programme throughout the life of the programme.</p> </li> <li> <p>Develop and implement high impact integrated organisational plans to ensure business, technical and customer requirements are achieved. This includes identifying growth opportunities across the company’s portfolio.</p> </li> <li> <p>Work closely with Commercial &amp; Legal to develop financial and negotiation strategies that reflect the agile nature and demands of a leading technology company, its customer base, and that drive profitability.</p> </li> <li> <p>Contribute to tender development as well as engagement with the customer down through the supply chain to ensure key financial issues are addressed.</p> </li> <li> <p>Provide critical due diligence with respect to company business dealings, financial risk and investment strategies.</p> </li> <li> <p>Coordinate financial audits and manage relationships with external stakeholders.</p> </li> <li> <p>Establish strong relationships with external customers in the UK and German Ministry of Defence.</p> </li> <li> <p>Work with other Finance leaders to streamline processes and improve communication across organisational and geographical boundaries.</p> </li> <li> <p>Coach and mentor employees, as well as providing development opportunities and support to expand the capabilities of the team.</p> </li> <li> <p>Create a culture of continuous improvement in the team by communicating and deploying best practice to improve cost, quality, delivery, employee job satisfaction and customer satisfaction.</p> </li> </ul> <h2>You should apply if you</h2> <ul> <li> <p>Have experience with building and managing internal and external stakeholder relationships.</p> </li> <li> <p>Have excellent attention to detail, and the ability to work independently and as part of a team.</p> </li> <li> <p>Have an accounting and/or commercial qualification or MBA.</p> </li> <li> <p>Strong technical background, with the ability to guide and develop the teams financial and commercial management skills</p> </li> <li> <p>Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written</p> </li> <li> <p>An adaptable and resilient character, able to cope with changing requirements and multiple priorities who can help their team remain effective.</p> </li> <li> <p>Strong business partnering and influencing skills; able to explain and troubleshoot financial issues with non-finance professionals and inspire them to achieve greater financial performance.</p> </li> <li> <p>Experience of providing financial management on large scale complex programmes within the defence sector.</p> </li> <li> <p>Experience of working in an international environment.</p> </li> <li> <p>Demonstrable business &amp; commercial acumen, and experience of commercial negotiations and contracting with the UK/DE Ministry of Defence.</p> </li> <li> <p>Experience in both the defence and technology sectors is highly desirable.</p>