Financial Controller

We’re building the next generation of employee benefits infrastructure.

At Happl, we help global teams design, manage, and scale benefits that actually work for their people by using AI, across flex allowances, benefits, insurance, recognition, and wellbeing, all in one intelligent platform.

Happl is backed by leading investors such as YCombinator, 6Degrees Capital, Haatch, Portage, and more, known for backing leading companies such as Deel, Rippling, Airbnb, Coinbase, Dropbox, and most recently was awarded a place in the UK’s top 100 startups for 2026.

About the role

As Financial Controller at Happl, you’ll own the financial engine of the business — everything from the cash in the bank to the numbers our board and investors use to make decisions runs through you. You’ll run the monthly close, the full revenue cycle, the compliance calendar across two jurisdictions, and our treasury position, and you’ll decide how all of it gets built, systemised, and automated.

This is a hands-on, high-autonomy role with a direct line to leadership. You won’t be managing a process someone else designed — you’ll be deciding what good looks like across revenue, cash, compliance, and reporting, then making it happen. You’ll work closely with the CEO, the board, our investors, and our outsourced bookkeeping, audit, and tax partners, holding all of it to a standard that matches the product we’ve built.

We’re FCA-regulated and YCombinator-backed, having raised $11m to date, and we give global employers a single place to design, deliver, and manage benefits across 160+ countries and 70+ languages — which means the finance function behind the product has to be just as sharp as the product itself. We’re entering our next phase of growth, with an ambitious revenue trajectory and an expanding international footprint, and this role sits at the centre of it.

What you’ll be doing

• Owning the monthly close on a fixed timetable — management accounts, balance sheet integrity, accruals, prepayments, and the revenue and cost reconciliations that sit behind them

• Writing the commentary that explains what’s actually happened in the business, not just what the numbers say

• Producing the monthly investor reporting pack and the financial sections of board materials — ARR and revenue analysis, cash and runway, burn efficiency, unit economics, cohort and retention metrics, and budget versus actual

• Owning the full revenue cycle — invoicing, collections, aged debt, and revenue recognition across a multi-currency, multi-contract subscription base

• Leading the rollout of automated billing and revenue recognition tooling, moving us from manual tracking to a system that scales without adding headcount

• Managing our two legal entities — a US TopCo and a UK operating company — including statutory accounts, audit preparation, intercompany accounting, transfer pricing mechanics, and FX exposure between them

• Owning the compliance calendar end to end across both jurisdictions — UK VAT returns, corporation tax, US federal and state filings, sales tax where applicable, and payroll taxes

• Supporting our FCA regulatory reporting obligations and the financial controls that sit behind them

• Running monthly payroll across jurisdictions, pension and benefits administration, employee expenses, and the finance side of onboarding and offboarding

• Owning the cash position and treasury strategy — cash flow forecasting, working capital, FX management, and structuring how we hold company funds to earn a sensible return without taking risk we shouldn’t

• Managing our outsourced bookkeeping, accounting, and tax partners — holding them to deadlines and quality, and pulling work in-house where doing so makes us faster

• Owning the finance tech stack and having a strong opinion on it, actively replacing manual work with automation and AI-assisted workflows across reconciliations, invoice processing, variance analysis, and reporting drafts

• Leveraging AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT to speed up your own work and build the systems that let finance scale without adding headcount

• Acting as the financial conscience of the business, with a direct line to the founders and a real say in how we grow

What we’re looking for

• Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA or CIMA), or qualified by experience with a track record that stands up to scrutiny

• Genuine ownership of a monthly close cycle and management reporting pack, start to finish

• Advanced Excel and financial modelling — you build statement models, scenario and sensitivity analysis, and reporting that holds up under investor questioning

• Strong technical grounding in revenue recognition, accruals accounting, and balance sheet control

• Comfortable with tax and compliance across VAT, corporation tax, and payroll, ideally spanning both the UK and US

• AI-native in your approach — you already use AI tools in your day-to-day work and can talk specifically about what you’ve automated and what it saved you

• Exceptional attention to detail, alongside the judgement to know when precision matters and when speed does

• A clear communicator — you can explain a number to a non-finance audience without patronising them or losing them

• Ideally, SaaS or subscription business experience, particularly ARR reporting and deferred revenue, and familiarity with modern billing infrastructure like Xero or Stripe

• Comfort with SQL, Python, or low-code automation tools is a bonus, not a requirement, but it will make your life here significantly easier

What to expect

Being Financial Controller at Happl is not a maintenance role. You’ll be building the finance function as you run it — choosing the systems, designing the controls, and deciding how billing, revenue recognition, and reporting should work as we scale into new markets and currencies. That’s not a caveat; it’s the role.

Some weeks will be genuinely rewarding — a reporting pack you built gives the board real clarity, a manual process you automated saves the team hours every month, a treasury decision you made puts real value on the table. Some will be hard — closing the books on a fixed timetable, holding partners and advisors to a deadline, and making judgement calls across two jurisdictions with incomplete information.

What you get in return is real scope. You’ll own the whole picture — revenue, cash, compliance, treasury, and reporting — across two jurisdictions and 160+ countries of operations, with a direct line to the founders and reporting that goes straight to the board and our investors. This is the foundation of a finance function that will grow with the business, and the right person grows with it.

Why join Happl

• Be part of building something that genuinely matters — the future of how companies support their people

• Competitive salary that reflects the impact you’ll have

• Real equity — a meaningful stake in what we’re building together

• Hybrid working from day one, with the trust and flexibility to do your best work

• Your own Happl account — use the platform you’re helping to build and shape

• Private Health Insurance, because we genuinely care about how you’re doing

• Dental insurance, including family cover

• A personal Wellbeing budget to spend however wellbeing works for you — no questions asked

• A dedicated L&D budget to grow in the direction that excites you

• Pension — we’re invested in your future, not just the short term

About the Interview

• Stage 1: 20-min Intro call with Ben Shorrock (Head of Operations)

• Stage 2: Short task

• Stage 3: 30-min deep dive and task review with Ben T (CEO) & Ben S (Ops)

Additional Details

• Location: London, Holborn

• Team: Finance

• Reports to: CEO

• Working arrangement: Hybrid (4+ Days in Office)

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