Financial Controller

Harper May is partnering with a UK-headquartered, clinical-stage life sciences business based in central London. The business has developed a differentiated therapeutic platform and is now progressing through a critical phase of clinical development, alongside continued investor engagement and the build-out of its US operating footprint. With a growing US subsidiary already established and further scale-up planned, the finance function is now being strengthened and a US Financial Controller is being appointed to take ownership of the US entity end to end, working closely with the Group CFO and the wider UK finance team.

The Role
Reporting into the Group CFO and based out of the London head office, the US Financial Controller will own the US entity accounting and reporting, working alongside outsourced providers on the ground in the US. The role blends technical US GAAP depth with hands-on, close-to-the-numbers ownership across a growing multi-entity, multi-currency group. It is a genuinely broad remit with real scope to shape process and controls as the US subsidiary continues to scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the month-end close, management accounts and reporting for the US entity
• Prepare US GAAP reporting and support the group consolidation under IFRS or UK GAAP
• Manage the relationship with the outsourced US bookkeeping, tax and payroll providers
• Own US statutory reporting, federal and state tax compliance in partnership with external advisors
• Manage multi-currency accounting, intercompany balances and FX exposure across the group
• Support R&D tax incentive claims, clinical trial accounting and grant reporting where relevant
• Strengthen financial controls, policies and process across the US entity
• Support budgeting, forecasting and cash management for the US business
• Partner with the Group CFO on funding rounds, investor reporting and ad-hoc strategic work

What we are looking for

• Fully qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, CPA or foreign equivalent)
• Strong technical foundation with prior experience of US GAAP reporting
• Experience of multi-entity, multi-currency group structures
• Prior exposure to life sciences, biotech, pharmaceuticals or a scale-up environment is preferred
• Comfortable owning close, statutory reporting and tax compliance end to end
• Confident partnering with senior stakeholders, external advisors and outsourced providers across jurisdictions
• Practical, hands-on and organised, with a real appetite for building process in a growing group