Finance Lead

TL;DR: Are you a finance head with an entrepreneurial spirit?Join Komodo, one of the fastest-growing wellbeing tech startups, and play a defining role in scaling our impact. We’re looking for someone who thrives in the startup world - confident leading financial direction, building scalable processes, and partnering with our leadership team to plan, invest, and grow with confidence.Komodo is helping schools across the world lead with wellbeing through insight, education, and a platform built to scale (we're in 160+ schools across 30+ countries).Why should you join us? You’ll work on purposeful problems that matter, alongside a team who care deeply about impact, culture, and doing good work with good people. Your contribution won’t just move the needle, it’ll shape the whole dial.At a Glance🪪 Role: Finance Lead🗓 Start date: Immediate💻 Location: Christchurch, NZ (office-based, WFH entitlement tier after 3-6 months)🕐 Hours: Full-time, permanent, 40 per week💰 Salary: NZD 100,000-110,000 depending on experience + ESOP🎁 Benefits: Professional development allowance, wellbeing allowance, employee assistance programme, anniversary and birthday gifts, monthly social activities, office snacks + beverages, dog-friendly officeThe RoleThis is a newly created senior-level position and the first of its kind at Komodo.It exists to bring financial clarity and confidence to the founders, board and leadership team, so we can make confident, evidence-based decisions that drive impact.You’ll turn financial data into direction. Every model, forecast and insight you create will help us move from subjective decisions to data-backed strategy. You’ll know when to pull back, when to invest, and how to balance short-term performance with long-term value.You’ll build and manage the finance function end to end. That means creating clarity on the ROI of every decision, from hiring to market expansion, and building frameworks that help us invest with purpose.You’ll report to our Head of Ops & People (Nicole) and work closely with the founders (Chris and Jack) to establish and evolve Komodo’s finance function.As Komodo grows, the scope of this role has the potential to grow with it. There will be opportunities to prove your capability, take on greater strategic influence, and in time, build a small team and step into an executive leadership position.What You’ll OwnYou’ll take ownership of the company’s financial engine, building processes that support our current stage while laying the groundwork for what comes next. You’ll know what systems and tools are needed now, and what can wait until we reach the next milestone.Financial management: Own all aspects of finance operations across our three entities, with your priorities on ensuring our numbers are right, our books are reconciled and decisions can be made with confidence. Reporting is timely and you deliver insights that drive confident decision-making.Budgets: Build budgets that work and provide guidance for decision making. Partner with key team members to ensure ownership of spend is where it needs to be and accountability is high.Procurement & compliance: Oversee purchase orders, invoices and payments, supporting procurement documentation and approvals with external vendors and customers.Forecasting & scenario modelling: Evolve forecasting models that translate monthly results and annual budgets into forward-looking insights that help the team plan growth, hiring, and investment with clarity.Strategic support: Partner with the leadership team to shape decisions on market entry, fundraising, entity structures and hiring forecasts, balancing what’s needed now with what will get us to the next stage. You will also liaise with external accountants based in our entity regions to ensure smooth financial processes regarding transfer pricing and tax credits.Process improvement: Automate and streamline workflows across payroll, expense management and other financial processes.System ownership: Manage and optimise Xero while exploring third party tools and integration solutions that enhance forecasting and insight generation. You’ll also own the pace of our financial maturity. We don’t need systems built for where we’ll be in five years. What we need is someone who knows what matters now, what will help us take the next step, and what to start planning for beyond that.What Success Looks LikeYou ensure our financials are accurate and timely, and can always be relied upon.You bring financial clarity and confidence to the founders, board and leadership team, enabling objective, data-backed decisions.You build financial systems and processes that scale smoothly with Komodo’s growth, driving efficiency and stability.You help the business spend with intention, reducing waste and directing investment into areas with clear, measurable ROI.Your forecasts and models give leadership real-time visibility into burn, runway and performance.You automate and streamline key financial processes, freeing time for higher-value, strategic work.You strengthen Komodo’s financial foundations, ensuring compliance, accuracy and continuous improvement through smarter tools and insights.RequirementsMust havesAbout You: You’re passionate about the entrepreneurial world, you love responsibility and thrive in an environment where you can take on significant accountability for the finance function. You’re not someone that sees finance as a book keeping function but instead an opportunity to grow a business.Qualifications: Professional accounting qualification (CA, CPA, CIMA, or equivalent). You must be Xero Certified with current, hands-on experience working across multiple currencies and entities. Strong experience with payroll systems (Xero preferred), comprehensive knowledge of GST and PAYE.Experience: 3–5+ years in senior finance roles, ideally within a high-growth startup environment, with a proven record of partnering effectively with leadership. A solid background in accounts payable, accounts receivable and cash flow control is required.Expertise: Skilled at introducing automations, integrations and alternative platforms to improve efficiency.Mindset: Adaptable, proactive and ready to build. You’ll be comfortable being hands-on as the solo finance hire in a fast-moving environment.Nice to havesFamiliarity with our existing toolstack: Wise, Deel, SaaSGrid, and Slack.Experience in managing, coaching and developing team members. (This would provide you an advantage as you build a team down the line but is not a requirement.)BenefitsProfessional development allowance, wellbeing allowance, employee assistance programme, anniversary and birthday gifts, monthly social activities, office snacks + beverages, dog-friendly office.