Financial Controller

About the role

Padel Social Club is redefining what it means to play, connect and belong. We're building a new generation of premium padel clubs, bringing together sport, hospitality, wellness and community in stylishly designed spaces.

Our clubs are about more than the game. From exceptional courts and coaching to curated events, social experiences and spaces designed to stay a while, we're creating destinations that people want to be part of, both on and off the court.

We're at an exciting stage of growth, expanding our footprint across London and the UK and building a distinctive lifestyle brand around one of the world's fastest-growing sports.

We're looking for ambitious, creative and commercially minded people to join our entrepreneurial team, help shape what comes next and make a real impact as we grow.

We're hiring a Financial Controller to own financial control across a fast-growing, multi-site leisure and hospitality business. We run padel clubs with courts, coaching, bar and food, retail and events, and we will have seven sites trading by the end of FY27, with more in the pipeline.

You will report to the CFO and lead the day-to-day finance function: month-end close, cash flow, lease accounting and assist with data analysis and reporting.

This is a hands-on role in a small team at an early stage of scaling. You will build and improve processes rather than inherit them, and you will work closely with site General Managers, the property team and our external accountants.

Location: Remote with some travel required to our London locations . Contract: Full-time, permanent.

Key responsibilities

Financial control and reporting

• Own the month-end close across all entities and sites, with a target of five working days, and deliver accurate management accounts and board reporting
• Maintain balance sheet integrity: reconciliations, accruals and prepayments, intercompany, fixed assets and VAT
• Lead the year-end audit and statutory accounts process with our external accountants and advisers
• Design, document and enforce financial controls, approval limits and the purchase-to-pay process as the group grows

Cash flow

• Own the 13-week cash flow forecast and the longer-range cash plan, reflecting the seasonal trading profile and the site opening pipeline
• Manage working capital, supplier payment runs, deposits and covenant reporting to lenders
• Give the CFO and board early visibility of cash pinch points and the options to manage them

Cost of sales and site profitability

• Own gross margin reporting across bar, food, retail and coaching: stock counts, wastage, concession and supplier reconciliations
• Own labour analysis, reconciling payroll reports to labour actuals
• Produce site-level P&Ls with the GMs each month and challenge variances in labour, cost of sales and overheads
• Keep pricing, POS and booking-platform data reconciled to the ledger so revenue is reported on a consistent basis

Leases and property

• Account for all site leases under FRS 102 or IFRS 16 as applicable: rent-free periods, step-ups, landlord contributions, deposits and dilapidations
• Check rent and service charge demands against lease terms and manage the rent review and break-date calendar with the property team
• Support the appraisal and financing of new sites, including asset finance and landlord contribution structures

Multi-site growth and rollout

• Stand up the finance set-up for each new club before opening: entity, bank, VAT, POS, booking platform, supplier accounts and controls
• Track capex against budget on each build, including contractor variations and retentions, and capitalise cost correctly
• Help drive the finance systems roadmap, including the move to a single ERP, and lead process standardisation across sites

Team

• Manage the transactional finance staff and external accountants, and set clear standards for close quality and timeliness
• Be the finance point of contact for site GMs, the property team and external advisers

Essential requirements

• ACA, ACCA or CIMA qualified with at least five years' post-qualification experience
• Financial controller or senior finance manager experience in a multi-site business, ideally hospitality, leisure, fitness or retail
• Strong cash flow management: you have owned a 13-week forecast in a business where cash was tight or seasonal, and can explain the decisions you drove from it
• Hands-on cost of sales experience: stock, margin, wastage and supplier reconciliation in a food, drink or retail environment
• Lease accounting experience: rent-free periods, incentives, step-ups, deposits and dilapidations, with a working grasp of FRS 102 and IFRS 16
• Proven ownership of a multi-entity month-end close and the controls around it
• Confident with VAT across multiple entities and revenue streams, and with group consolidation
• Advanced Excel and comfortable working across cloud accounting, POS and booking or membership platforms
• Clear communicator who can explain the numbers to non-finance managers and challenge them constructively

Desirable

• New-site rollout experience: setting up the finance infrastructure for new openings and tracking build capex, variations and retentions
• Experience of an ERP or finance-systems implementation, especially consolidating several systems into one
• Exposure to lender reporting, asset finance or a debt raise
• Experience managing a small team and an outsourced or offshore bookkeeping resource
• Interest in sport, hospitality or the padel community

What we offer

• Competitive salary, dependent on experience
• A senior finance role in a business opening new sites every year, with direct exposure to the CFO, board and investors
• Real ownership: you will shape the controls, systems and reporting the group scales on

How to apply

Send your CV and a short note on your multi-site and cash flow experience. We review applications as they come in however due to the large volume of CVs may not be able to respond to all applications.