Head of Trust Accounting

Head of Support Services - Insurance Group

Location: Sydney CBD (Hybrid working available)
Salary: $140,000 - $150,000 + super + discretionary bonus
Reports to: CFO (Insurance Agencies Division)
Direct Reports: 4

About the Business

This is a confidential opportunity with a leading Australasian insurance distribution and underwriting group operating across Australia and New Zealand. The organisation is part of a larger global insurance platform and supports a diversified portfolio of insurance brokers, underwriting agencies, and financial services businesses.

The group is highly acquisitive, having expanded significantly through M&A activity and continues to invest heavily in finance transformation, shared services, automation, and operational scalability.

A key focus of the business is the management of high-volume insurance premium flows and trust monies across multiple regulated entities, requiring strong financial governance, reconciliation integrity, and robust operational controls.

The Opportunity

A newly created Head of Support Services role has been established to lead centralised transactional finance operations across the group.

This is a highly visible leadership position responsible for overseeing trust accounting, accounts payable, and broader finance operations support functions across a complex multi-entity environment.

You will play a critical role in strengthening financial controls, improving operational efficiency, and driving standardisation and automation across finance operations.

Key Responsibilities

Trust Accounting & Financial Control

• Oversee end-to-end trust accounting across multiple entities and insurance products
• Ensure accurate processing of trust receipts, payments, journals, and reconciliations
• Manage daily, weekly, and monthly trust reconciliations and exception resolution
• Maintain compliance with regulatory requirements and client money safeguards
• Monitor trust balances, cash flow, and liquidity requirements
• Act as escalation point for trust-related issues and breaches

Accounts Payable Leadership

• Lead a centralised accounts payable function across the organisation
• Oversee supplier invoice processing, payment runs, and reconciliations
• Ensure strong governance over supplier onboarding and payment controls
• Maintain accuracy in GST coding and financial treatment
• Manage supplier queries and escalations

Governance, Risk & Compliance

• Maintain strong internal controls across all transactional finance activities
• Ensure compliance with trust accounting regulations and internal policies
• Support internal and external audit processes
• Drive breach management, remediation, and reporting
• Strengthen fraud prevention and segregation of duties frameworks

Leadership & Transformation

• Lead and develop onshore and offshore finance operations teams
• Drive process improvement, standardisation, and automation initiatives
• Support finance transformation and shared services optimisation
• Partner with technology teams on systems enhancements and ERP initiatives
• Deliver operational reporting and insights to senior leadership

What We're Looking For

• 5-10+ years' experience in trust accounting, accounts payable, or transactional finance leadership
• Strong background in insurance, financial services, legal, or other regulated environments
• Proven experience leading high-volume finance operations teams
• Strong understanding of trust accounting principles and financial controls
• Experience with ERP systems and finance workflow tools
• Advanced Excel and strong analytical capability
• Demonstrated leadership and stakeholder management skills

Highly desirable:

• Experience with offshore/shared services teams
• Exposure to finance transformation or automation projects
• CPA/CA qualification (or equivalent)

Why This Role

• Newly created leadership role with genuine scope to shape the function
• Highly acquisitive and fast-growing insurance platform
• Strong backing from a major global insurance group
• Significant exposure to M&A integration and operational scaling
• Opportunity to drive finance transformation and automation initiatives
• Hybrid working model with flexibility

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