Finance and Operations Lead

Organisation:
Niyo Labs (part of Niyo Group)

Location:

Virtual with occasional meetings in Birmingham

Contract:

Part Time 2 days / week - 18 month contract with possibility to go full time in 2027

Reports to:

Founder and CEO

Start date:

As soon as possible

Niyo Labs builds the skills infrastructure that moves people from where they are to where they want to be. Over the past decade we have grown from a bootstrapped community platform into a technology and workforce development business generating sizable revenue, serving 7,000+ learners at progression rates above 80%, and delivering with partners including the Department for Education, GCHQ and many more with learners across Europe and Africa.

We deliver Skills Bootcamps, accelerator programmes and AI-enabled learning products across the West Midlands and beyond, funded through a mix of public contracts, grant awards and commercial revenue. That funding mix is our strength and our complexity. It is also why this role exists.

Niyo Labs runs multiple funded programmes at once, each with its own claim cycle, evidence requirements, audit trail and reporting deadline. Today too much of that sits with the founder and is held together by effort rather than by system.

We need someone to own the financial and operational engine end to end: the management accounts, the grant claims, the funder audits, the supplier stack, the internal controls. Someone who makes the numbers accurate, the compliance airtight and the operating rhythm predictable, so the leadership team can spend its time on growth rather than on reconciliation.

• Monthly management accounts, budget versus actual reporting and variance commentary, delivered to a fixed calendar
• Rolling 13 week and 12 month cash flow forecasting across the entity, with scenario modelling for new contract wins and drawdown timings
• Programme level P&L, so we know the true unit economics of every cohort, contract and product line
• Purchase ledger, sales ledger, credit control and supplier payment runs
• Payroll processing and pensions administration, working with our external providers
• Year end preparation, VAT returns and the relationship with our accountants and auditors
• Grant and funder compliance
• Full ownership of claims and drawdown across our funded portfolio, including Innovate UK, WMCA, ESFA, DfE and social value funds
• Maintaining audit ready evidence packs for every funded project, including timesheets, eligibility evidence, learner records and expenditure trails
• Quarterly and milestone reporting to funders and monitoring officers, submitted early and defensible on inspection
• Managing funder audits, monitoring visits and due diligence reviews from first request to sign off
• Tracking match funding, eligible cost categories and spend profiles against approved budgets, and flagging drift before it becomes a clawback risk
• Supporting bid and tender submissions with financial schedules, viability evidence and cost modelling

• Owning the operational calendar: claim deadlines, reporting dates, contract milestones, renewal points
• Supplier and vendor management, including contract renewals, procurement decisions and cost control
• Governance and people operations
• Preparing board and investor reporting packs
• Maintaining company records, registers and governance documentation across the group structure
• Acting as a first point of escalation for operational risk

• Qualified or part qualified accountant (ACCA, CIMA, ACA) or equivalent experience in a hands on finance leadership role
• Eligible to work in the UK. You must have the right to work in the UK from day one, as we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role
• Demonstrable experience of grant funded or publicly funded environments, and confidence with claims, drawdown, eligible costs and funder audit
• Strong management accounting and cash flow forecasting skills, with the judgement to know what the numbers are actually telling you
• Comfortable owning both the strategic view and the transactional detail, because in a business our size you will do both
• Highly organised, deadline driven and calm under audit pressure
• Excellent written communication, particularly for funders, auditors and board audiences
• Advanced Excel and confidence with accounting software such as Xero or Quick Books
• Experience with ESFA, DfE, Innovate UK or combined authority funding regimes
• Familiarity with government funding rules and provider compliance
• Experience in education, training, technology or social impact sectors

How You Work

• You value clarity and structure. You would rather build the system once than firefight the same problem twelve times. You are direct about risk and early about bad news. You believe operational excellence is a form of respect for the people the work serves.

• A genuine leadership seat in a business with real revenue, real contracts and real growth
• Direct working relationship with the Founder and CEO, and visibility with the…