Finance Manager

About us

Pythia Sports is a fast-growing technology company, delivering innovative solutions to the gaming industry since 2014. 

Our business is all about predictive sports modelling, underpinned by extensive use of a wide and ever-expanding array of real-time feeds and inputs. If that sounds both complex and hard, it is, but it’s also a huge amount of fun! 

We strive to be the best at what we do every day, and we know that our success comes from our most important resource - our people. We pride ourselves on hiring talented individuals who challenge the status quo and help us to build exceptional, high-performing teams. 

Based in London Victoria, we’re working to a hybrid work-from-home/office model with 2 days a week in the office. We offer private health and dental insurance, a cycle to work scheme, enhanced parental leave, enhanced sick pay, increased holiday allowance and plenty of career development opportunities. 

At Pythia, you will find a relaxed atmosphere, regular social events and remarkable colleagues looking to push technology boundaries - come and join us! 

The Role 

Pythia operates a revenue-share model at the heart of horse and greyhound racing, providing data and managed risk services to gambling operators while working alongside the rights holders who license the underlying racing content. Money flows in multiple directions and on multiple timelines, and getting it right - every month, with every partner and rights holder - is fundamental to the business. 

With multiple counterparties, revenue streams and reporting deadlines to stay on top of, disciplined and accurate finance operations are what keep the whole model running. 

We're looking for a hands-on Finance Manager to own that flow end to end. You'll run our monthly invoicing and revenue-assurance cycle, keep our management accounts clean, partner with the management team on forecasting and cost control, and build the financial KPIs and reporting that help our trading and leadership teams understand performance. It's a broad remit with real ownership: equal parts careful operator and commercial thinker. You'll be our finance anchor, reporting directly into the General Manager.

3 Best Things About the Job 

• Real ownership: This is the finance function. You'll own the full cycle end to end and be the person leadership relies on for the numbers - not a cog in a large team.


• Commercial impact: You'll sit close to trading and the management team, turning revenue and cost data into the insight that drives real decisions in a fast-growing business. 


• Variety and breadth: This role spans the full finance picture - invoicing and revenue assurance, management accounts, VAT, forecasting, cost control and KPI reporting. No two days look the same, and you'll build a genuinely well-rounded view of how the business runs. 

What you will be doing 

• Responsible and accountable for the delivery of the management accounts on a monthly basis in a timely manner, keeping the books clean and current in Xero and running regular reconciliations. 


• Own the monthly invoicing and revenue-assurance cycle. Work with rights holders and operator partners to validate revenue figures derived from our trading reporting, issue invoices, ensure they're paid, and run reconciliation exercises to resolve discrepancies. 


• Manage accounts payable and credit control, ensuring suppliers and obligations are paid accurately and on time, and that money owed to us is collected promptly.


• Manage the balance sheet, including balance sheet reporting and review.


• Maintain cashflow forecasting to give the business a clear view of its position.


• Review and manage all bank account reconciliations. 


• Own VAT and statutory accounts, managing the relationship with our external accountancy firm and acting as the internal point of accountability for compliance and deadlines. Take charge of the process, challenge it and improve it - bring it in-house yourself if that's best. 


• Support forecasting and budgeting alongside the management team, turning revenue trends and cost data into reliable forward views. 


• Stay on top of costs, monitoring spend across the business and flagging risks and opportunities. 


• Own finance KPIs and reporting, working closely with the trading team to analyse revenue performance, produce meaningful KPIs, and give leadership clear, timely insight into the numbers. 

Measures of Success 

In the first three months, you will have: 

• Taken full ownership of the monthly invoicing and reconciliation cycle, running it independently and on time across all partners and rights holders.


• Got fully up to speed on our Xero management accounts, with supplier payments and reconciliations under control.


• Established a clear, repeatable set of finance KPIs and a reporting rhythm that the management and trading teams rely on.


• Built strong working relationships with our external accountants, our partners, and our rights holders. 

What you need for this role 

• Part-qualified or newly qualified in CIMA, ACA or ACCA, or qualified by experience with a strong track record in a hands-on finance role. 


• Excellent attention to detail and a methodical, organised approach to managing multiple deadlines and counterparties. 


• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the confidence to deal directly with external partners, rights holders, and suppliers. 


• Ability to work well in a dynamic, fast-paced environment and adapt quickly to new requirements. 


• Experience in gaming, betting or sports data industry - ideally in horse racing. 

Who you are 

• Detail-obsessed: finance lives and dies on accuracy - you take pride in getting the numbers exactly right, every time. 


• Organised: staying on top of multiple counterparties, deadlines and reconciliations is the core of the job. 


• Analytical: you're comfortable digging into revenue and cost data to spot inconsistencies, validate figures and explain what's really going on. 


• Questioning: you don't take numbers at face value - you like understanding where they come from and whether they're right. 


• Customer-focused: you deal confidently and professionally with partners, rights holders and suppliers. 


• Comfortable under pressure: Pythia is growing quickly and we work hard, so we want you to enjoy being challenged. 


• A team player: you work well across trading, management and external partners to get things done.