role brief
Role brief · Confidential

FP&A Lead

We're hiring the person who owns Nory's FP&A end-to-end into Series C — Head of FP&A-level ownership in a founding, hands-on seat, with a path to building the team.

Nory · London (hybrid) · FP&A end-to-end · Reports to Amy Chichester (Head of Finance)

Priority P1 Founding seat
Why now

Series C is coming, and FP&A needs an owner.

As we approach Series C, board and investor scrutiny is rising. Our planning and reporting have grown piecemeal — similar reports built fast for different asks — and we need one person who owns the plan, the metrics and the story behind them, so everyone trusts the numbers.

We've titled it Lead because a Head of at Nory owns a team, but the ownership is Head of FP&A level from day one. It starts as a hands-on, founding seat and grows into hiring FP&A managers as we go through Series C and D.

Founding seatSeries C readiness
0+
People across Nory
0
Countries we operate in
0
Business functions to partner
What they won't own
  • Top-down targets for the equity story (Amy sets these)
  • Leading the fundraising narrative (Amy leads, they co-build)
  • Finance operations and controllership
  • Day-to-day coordination of the numbers across the business (Chief of Staff, a customer of FP&A)
What they own

FP&A, in full.

1 They'll own the annual budget and reforecasts — running the calendar and driving the conversations with every SLT member, debating the numbers and the trade-offsdirect
2 They'll build the long-range plan bottom-up against the top-down targets Amy sets for our equity storydirect
3 They'll take the plan through exec and board sign-offdirect
4 They'll own monthly management reporting and board packs — and simplify duplicated reporting into one source of truthdirect + build
5 They'll partner with leaders across Sales, Marketing, CS, People, Product and Engineering on targets, KPIs, and headcount and spend trade-offsdirect
6 They'll be the source of truth for our SaaS metrics — ARR, NRR, CAC payback, burn and runwaydirect + build
7 They'll build the models behind fundraising, pricing, new-market expansion and other strategic betsdirect
8 They'll build FP&A's tools, data and processes — scrappily, with AI and automation, because there's no data team behind thembuild
9 They'll shape and hire the FP&A team as we scale through Series C and Dbuild
Who we're looking for

The candidate

Someone who wants to both build the models and drive the conversations. We'll consider two archetypes: the been-there-done-it operator who has owned FP&A at a scale-up and wants a founding seat to build again, and the rising rock star who hasn't led the whole cycle yet but is highly commercial, a strong communicator and has been tested hard.

Builds from scratch
Driver-based, three-statement models that others can use — and a pragmatic vision for simplifying what's already there.
Leads with the so-what
Insight and recommendation first, not the variance. Can point to decisions their analysis changed.
Credible at SLT level
Diplomatic, a slick operator, and able to have tough conversations about other leaders' numbers.
Drives it themselves
Doesn't need to be pushed. Wants the lift that comes with a founding seat.
Trade-offs we'll accept
✓ Hasn't led a full planning cycle end-to-end — if they're really commercial and communicate exceptionally well
✓ Limited direct board or investor exposure — for a rising rock star with strong signals (top uni, consulting, banking)
Not what we're looking for
The PLC accountant
Used to a big team, heavy process and five direct reports. Won't be hands-on.
The pure modeller
Great spreadsheets, can't partner or influence.
The controller
Hands-on and rigorous, but less SLT-facing — a different kind of finance person.
The corporate finance specialist
M&A and deal work. We're not doing M&A right now.
The title-first Director
Won't accept a Lead title, whatever the scope.
The order-taker
Produces what's asked, never challenges the number.
Hard no's
No UK right to work
Not able to work hybrid from the London office
No hands-on FP&A in a start-up or scale-up
Can't build a model from scratch
Can't explain the drivers of a forecast they say they owned
Can't turn numbers into a recommendation, or needs to be driven
Scorecard — six competencies

Scored 1–4. Click one to see the bar.

What "AI-first" means for this role

Built scrappy, with AI.

Data support is light, so this hire builds the data foundations themselves — pragmatically. SQL is a nice-to-have; AI and automation fill the gaps, and there's real room to build something cool.

AI in daily workflow
Agentic data tooling
SQL a plus
Comfort in source systems
Non-negotiable

Uses AI or automation in their own workflow today — at our stage, without a data team behind them, it's how this role keeps pace.

What we're testing, by stage

Five stages, each testing something specific.

1 Screening Talent (Sian) Motivation, right to work, location, hands-on FP&A in a start-up or scale-up, and which archetype they fit. Openness to a Lead title and a founding, no-reports start.
2 HM Interview Amy 45 minutes. Deep-dives on a model they built and a planning cycle they led — whether they really did it themselves, and whether they want to both build the models and drive the conversations.
3 Task / Case Study Amy + one other (TBC) A simplified SaaS dataset: a 12-month forecast with scenarios, then three insights and a recommendation presented live, with challenge.
4 Culture A business leader they'll partner with (TBC) Nory values, plus business partnering from the view of a future stakeholder.
5 Final Conor Commercial judgement, credibility with the board and investors, and ambition to grow with Nory through Series C.

For the Task stage interviewer

The dataset covers ARR, churn, headcount and costs. We're testing model quality and structure, the so-what, and how clearly they present and handle challenge. *TBC — Amy is finalising the full task by 28 Oct.*

For Culture and Final

A 30-minute session focused on Nory's four values — it doesn't re-test anything covered at the HM or task stage. Run by a leader they'd partner with, so it doubles as a read on how they'd challenge and support a non-finance stakeholder. Ops/G&A lens: listen for efficiency and decisions changed, iterating rather than waiting for perfect data, fixing root causes, and shared ownership across functions. Full culture stage guide →

For Final: Commercial judgement and credibility with the board and investors — a genuine two-way sell, not a re-test of earlier stages. Covers what they think matters most in our numbers going into Series C, how they'd handle a steady stream of new reporting asks, and whether they're building for the next few years and the team they'd lead.

Selling Nory

A founding seat, close to the big decisions.

Hospitality runs on thin margins. Nory gives operators control of them with real-time data and AI — and FP&A here helps decide how we scale that.

A founding seat. There's a lot of blank space. The planning cycle, the reporting and the tooling are theirs to design, not inherit.

Close to the big decisions. They'll co-build the Series C story with Amy and sit at the table for the fundraising, pricing and expansion calls.

Room to grow. Hands-on to start, with a path to leading an FP&A team as we go through Series C and D.

A strong sounding board. They'll report to a finance leader with a deep FP&A background — real support, but this is their function to drive.