Senior Fund Accountant – 15 Month FTC
Company Description
At Octopus, we’re entrepreneurs and we’re investors, on a mission to back the people, ideas and industries that will change the world.
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Job Description
About the Role
What’s in it for you?
This is a fixed term contract role of 15 months to ideally start in December 2024.
The Senior Fund Accountant will take full ownership of finance and reporting for three institutional real estate funds, building a thorough knowledge of the funds assigned to them and becoming a key point of contact for stakeholders including investment teams, fund administrators, external joint venture finance teams, and external investors. The role will also support the launch of a fourth fund in the retirement rentals sector.
This role will be suitable for a self-starter, comfortable working predominantly individually, but also on projects or collaboratively within a team, and someone who will be able to demonstrate strong organisational skills to manage the requirements of multiple funds simultaneously. As they will be working closely with the Investment Management teams and will have exposure to institutional investors, the successful candidate will need to be adaptable, demonstrate strong technical skills and be ready to manage a wide range of stakeholder relationships.
The team:
This role sits within the Octopus Real Estate finance team, with responsibility for managing fund accounting and transaction support across the retirement and affordable housing funds.
What will you be doing?
Commercial
Develop and maintain a thorough understanding of assigned funds and a strong working knowledge of their portfolios and fund structures. As well as supporting with the launch of a new retirement rentals fund.
Maintain good working relationships with the investment teams, fund administrators, auditors, tax advisors and other teams both within Octopus and externally, ensuring that Finance play a leading role in ensuring the seamless management of the funds, including supporting the investment teams on transactions.
Reporting
Liaise with and manage the relationship with the administrators and external joint venture finance teams to maintain accurate books and records for the funds at all times and ensure reporting is delivered to the funds’ deadlines.
Own the complete regulatory reporting cycle for assigned funds, ensuring timely delivery of high-quality statutory reports, including annual accounts filings, tax filings, REIT compliance reporting and FCA reporting as required for the funds.
Input into quarterly fund reports and board reports.
Other
Be the key point of contact on the funds for internal stakeholders including Finance Director, Head of Finance, Fund Managers, and Investment Directors.
Critically review all existing processes being confident to suggest and, where relevant, implement enhanced and automated processes to drive efficiency throughout the team.
Qualifications
Ideally, you’ll have:
Qualified Accountant (ACA/ACCA or equivalent).
Institutional fund accounting experience with exposure to financial services and/or real estate essential.
Proven track record of delivering results.
The successful candidate will need to demonstrate good interpersonal skills and the ability to quickly build relationships within their team and across departments.
Previous experience with the REIT regime would be an advantage.
We encourage you to apply even if you don’t tick every box. What’s the worst that can happen?
This role will evolve as we grow and develop. So, if you are looking for a challenge in a fast paced and dynamic business, we can deliver on that.
Additional Information
What we offer
💰 A competitive salary and pension
🏡 Hybrid working – this role requires 3 days a week in the office with 2 days to work from home
⚓ Anchor (our wellness hub) which includes Headspace, one to one coaching through Wellness Cloud, Digital GP, Shout & more
Our Values
At our core, we believe that how a company behaves is just as important as what it does. That’s why we chose to become an accredited B Corp (the equivalent of a Fairtrade coffee stamp but for companies) and to change our Articles of Association so that the interests all our stakeholders – employees, customers, communities, environment and shareholders – are considered in every decision we make.
We are committed to building a workplace where diversity is valued, and inclusion is a priority. By providing equal opportunities for growth and development, we embrace and celebrate all races, genders, religions, sexual orientations, ages, disabilities, and socio-economic backgrounds. We believe teams achieve their best when every member feels safe, respected and empowered to be their authentic selves.
We're proud to be disability confident and are committed to supporting candidates with a disability, including neurodiversity and mental health conditions, throughout the recruitment process. Applicants are welcome to opt-in to the disability confident scheme as part of our application process. If you require any adjustments to the interview process, we’ll be happy to accommodate where possible.