Finance Director
Ably
Our everyday digital experiences are in the midst of a realtime revolution. Whether attending an event in a virtual venue, receiving realtime financial information, or working with colleagues in an online collaborative environment - consumers simply expect realtime digital experiences as standard. At Ably we’re not just witnessing this revolution - we’re powering it.
At the heart of our mission lies a commitment to putting developers first. Ably provides a suite of APIs to build, extend, and deliver powerful digital experiences in realtime, delivering billions of messages for millions of devices every day and supporting organizations like Split, Hubspot, Toyota and Genius Sports.
Working at Ably means helping to build the infrastructure and technology that will power and shape the future of the internet. The opportunity in front of us is immense. And we’d like your help.
About this role
As Finance Director, you’ll play a key role in formulating, developing and delivering Ably’s financial strategy. You’ll be responsible for the company’s financial vision and direction, with an emphasis on scalability, operational efficiency and growing long-term shareholder value. You’ll provide financial and operational expertise to all teams across the business, lead and manage our Finance department, and partner closely with other leaders and managers to ensure compliance and drive business results.
We’re a lean team and we believe in hands-on leadership. You’ll be just as comfortable serving the day-to-day needs and operation of the business as you will guiding strategy and engaging with stakeholders at board level.
Day to day you will
- Play a leadership role in Ably’s growth. You’ll form part of the company’s senior leadership team, reporting to our CEO and partnering with our other executives to achieve key financial objectives and drive business performance.
- Create and execute financial strategies that drive success. You’ll play a key role in the overall strategic direction of the company through the development of effective financial strategies, and provide insights and guidance on the long-term financial implications of business decisions.
- Act as an interface between Ably’s investors and leadership. You’ll build important relationships with Ably’s board and investors, with responsibility for fundraising and M&A activities, investor communication and reporting on financial performance and key metrics.
- Oversee Ably’s ongoing financial health. You’ll be responsible for financial reporting, budgeting, planning and analysis, working to maximize profitability and efficiency, and supporting effective decision-making with variance analysis and scenario planning.
- Lead a high-performing Finance team. You’ll lead and manage the Finance department, fostering a culture of collaboration and improvement and ensuring we have the processes, systems and capabilities to provide accurate and timely financial information.
- Impact high value cross-functional initiatives. You’ll partner with teams across the business to deliver key business objectives; for example, collaborating with Product and Engineering to develop customer pricing strategies, and working with Infrastructure to to manage and reduce AWS spend.
- Provide legal and commercial insight and expertise. You’ll provide proactive input into legals, customer negotiations and contract decision-making.
- Drive operational excellence and efficiency. You’ll play a key role in ensuring the effectiveness of our revenue and marketing operations, and strive to increase efficiency across the business, identifying risk and opportunities and providing insight at both a company and team level.
It's important that you have
- Significant previous experience in financial management at a technology-focussed software or infrastructure business, with a deep understanding of subscription and usage-based revenue models, SaaS metrics and revenue recognition.
- Experience in managing and optimizing AWS spend, with the ability to analyze costs, identify efficiencies, and implement cost-saving strategies.
- Hands-on and material experience with M&A and/or VC fundraising across all stages of the process, and can show capabilities to lead this process.
- Expertise in FP&A processes, with proficiency in financial modeling to budget and forecast revenue, expenses and cash flow, variance analysis, and scenario planning.
- Proven ability to drive operational efficiency through data-driven insights and process improvements, including leveraging BI tools and other software and technology solutions deployed across the business.
What’s it like to work at Ably?
We’re tackling planet-scale problems and our ambitions are a testament to that. You’ll join a successful, deeply motivated and collaborative team that thrives on innovation, experimentation and autonomy. To get a sense of life at Ably, visit our careers page. You can also read about the origins of Ably's core values on our blog.
We believe in fostering a culture that's built on inclusivity and mutual respect among all team members, and we recognise that each individual is different and will want to be supported in their role in different ways. We provide a range of perks and benefits to aid folks' development and wellbeing, allowing them to be their best selves and do great work.
- A remote-first and flexible work environment. UK-based teams come together in person once per month in our London hub (next to Old Street) and we get together as a company twice per year. Aside from that, you’re welcome to work wherever suits best for you.
- Equity. We’re a growing start-up and we want all team to members to share in the success of the company through our EMI share options programme.
- Enhanced holiday allowance. Our policy provides Ablyans with 28 days of paid annual leave (27 regular days, plus a day off to enjoy your birthday).
- Enhanced parental leave package, so that you can take the time you need to get to know your new family member, rest and recover.
- Home workstation budget of £500 on joining (and £150 p/a thereafter), so that your home office is set up to serve you well and that you have everything you need to work comfortably.
- Personal learning and development budget of £1000 annually, and 5% L&D time during working hours to focus on improving your skillset.
- Private healthcare with BUPA.
- Medical cash plan to cover a range medical and dental costs.
- Mental wellbeing coaching and counselling from Self Space.
- Monthly wellbeing budget via Juno.
- Life assurance and income protection.
- Access to Tech & Cycle to Work schemes.
- Weekly snack allowance for our end-of-week “Need To Know” meeting.
- A fully-paid one-month sabbatical after five years with Ably.
Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging at Ably
We believe our differences as individuals is what makes us great. Our people are at the heart of what we do, and we encourage everyone to be their most authentic self at Ably: we see inclusivity and openness as fundamental to creating long-term success as an organization. We encourage applications from all backgrounds regardless of age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, parental status, race, religion, educational background or neurodiversity. Ably has an amazing opportunity ahead of us, and we want anyone to be able to contribute to that opportunity.
If you enjoy working as part of a technology company, value open source, and love solving hard problems - then we’d love to hear from you, regardless of whether you fit the job description exactly or not. If in doubt, drop us an email; we’d be more than happy to give you some advice on your application.