Chief Finance Officer

Who are Kido?

At Kido we pride ourselves on being one of London's larger, more dynamic, independently owned nursery groups. Our mission is to offer the very best in early years education and care, blending the benefits of our size with the personal touch typically found in owner-operated businesses.

We strive to create enchanting and engaging learning environments enriched with innovative teaching methods, brought to life by our wonderful teachers. They are dedicated to nurturing and enhancing every child's natural curiosity, creativity, and lifelong love for learning. We believe that a harmonious mix of both free and structured play, along with an interactive and inviting learning atmosphere, filled with love, care, and attention, lays the strongest groundwork for children in their formative years. 

Since we first launched in London in 2017, we have grown to 18 nurseries, employing over 500 people.  As we continue to expand our presence in the UK, we are seeking a strategic, commercially minded Chief Financial Officer to join our leadership team and drive financial performance, strategic growth, and operational efficiency across our UK portfolio.

The role of Chief Finance Officer

The Chief Finance Officer at Kido will lead our financial strategy, planning, reporting and risk management.  You will take permanent leadership of the Finance department, working closely with our Global CEO and UK CEO. You will take ownership of our strategy, reporting and analysis, feeding financial insight into our wider business plans.  You will manage our UK based Billing Manager and a back end office in India. As a department you will take complete ownership for the financial management of Kido UK. 

Familiarity with the Early Years/Education sector would be beneficial, or another multi-site scaling business.  Kido are growing through a mixture of buy and build, as such, you should have a keen interest in acquisitive growth. You will lead on shaping and building our reporting processes and bring experience of financial modelling to the role. 

You will be responsible for overseeing financial planning and analysis, cash flow management, funding, compliance and commercial strategy.  As part of the UK leadership team you will present monthly, quarterly and annual reporting, and use this to inform and shape our business strategy, ensuring Kido’s growth in the UK is sustainable, efficient and aligned with our mission.  You will manage your team’s performance and be responsible for the development of the individuals within your department. With a strategic mindset you will empower and support Kido to reach our growth aims and bring commercial insight and acumen to our decision making.

Requirements

You will be a highly strategic thinker with an exceptional eye for detail, willing to get involved in every aspect of the finance function. You will be able to translate financial analytics into actionable, digestible operational strategy.

You will be inspiring, able to lead a team and a great addition to our values led culture. The role will evolve over time but will certainly include:

• Development and implementation of financial reporting strategies. Translating financial analytics into business operations
• We are extremely proud of our culture and values. We will look for this role to maintain and build upon our existing Kido values led culture 
• Leading on financial modelling
• Being hands on and happy to get stuck into all aspects of the finance functions
• Providing leadership and guidance for the finance team, supporting and role modelling with integrity, enthusiasm and passion
• Preparing and presenting accurate and timely financial reports, ensuring compliance with accounting standards and regulations
• Identifying, assessing and managing financial risk, including credit risk, market risk and operational risk
• Developing and managing budgets, forecasts and financial models to aid strategic decision making
• Ensuring Kido complies with HMRC tax laws, Companies House and regulatory reporting requirements
• Overseeing audits and statutory accounts, working with our external auditors
• Collaborating with other departments, such as Sales, Marketing, Operations, Property and Quality to achieve financial alignment with business objectives
• Working with our existing finance platforms and tools, including Xero and Fathom

You should have:

• A chartered accountancy qualification, ACA, ACCA or CIMA 
• Entrepreneurial drive and mindset
• Familiarity with PE backed buy and build platforms ideally in Nursery/Education or other multi site business such as retail, hospitality or healthcare
• Keen interest in acquisitive growth
• Experience in managing a remote back office would be beneficial
• Strong leadership skills, able to inspire and motivate your team and communicate effectively at all levels of the organisation
• Strategic mindset with an exceptional eye for detail
• Outstanding analytical skills, ability to analyse and use data to make informed decisions and shape objectives
• Interpersonal skills, you must be able to get on with anyone and build relationships with people at all levels of the business

The role will be hybrid with a mixture of home working and visiting our sites in and around London and the home counties.  

Salary £80,000 - £110,000 experience dependent + bonus

• Opportunity for excellent career development
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays rising to 30 days after 5 years service
• Your birthday off if it falls on a working day
• 70% off childcare at Kido (subject to available spaces)
• £1000 refer a friend bonus
• Enhanced sick pay
• Annual performance-related pay increases
• Brilliant career progression opportunities 
• Company awards, celebrations and team social events
• Access to a healthcare cash plan
• Early access to pay through the Hastee app
• Perkbox discounts and savings on thousands of retailers
• Your wellbeing matters – we provide a confidential employee assistance programme and access to our wellness hub
• Cycle to work scheme

All posts involving direct contact with children are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. However, amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975 (2013 & 2020) provide that certain spent convictions and cautions are 'protected'. These are not subject to disclosure to employers and cannot be taken into account. Guidance and criteria on the filtering of these cautions and convictions can be found on the Ministry of Justice website or see here.

Shortlisted candidates will be asked to provide details of all unspent convictions and those that would not be filtered, prior to the date of the interview. You may be asked for further information about your criminal history during the recruitment process. If your application is successful, this self-disclosure information will be checked against information from the Disclosure & Barring Service before your appointment is confirmed.

*If you are unsure whether you need to disclose criminal information, you should seek legal advice or you may wish to contact Nacro or Unlock for impartial advice. There is more information on filtering and protected offences on the Ministry of Justice website.
Unlock –http://hub.unlock.org.uk/contact/ phone 01634 247350 text 07824 113848

*Kido is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children. Kido will ensure that our recruitment procedures meet the standards set out in our safer recruitment policy (available upon request) and our selection criteria prevents unsuitable people from gaining access to children. As part of our commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in our care successful candidates are expected to undergo pre-employment checks including an enhanced DBS and barred lists check.