Head of Group Reporting

About the role

We are champions of rail, inspired to build a greener, more sustainable future of travel. Trainline enables millions of travellers to find and book the best value tickets across carriers, fares, and journey options through our highly rated mobile app, website, and B2B partner channels. Great journeys start with Trainline. Now Europe's number 1 downloaded rail app, with over 135 million monthly visits and £6.3 billion in annual ticket sales, we collaborate with 270+ rail and coach companies in over 40 countries. We want to create a world where travel is as simple, seamless, eco-friendly and affordable as it should be. Today, we're a FTSE 250 company driven by our incredible team of over 1,000 Trainliners from 50+ nationalities, based across London, Paris, Barcelona, Milan, Edinburgh and Madrid. With our focus on growth in the UK and Europe, now is the perfect time to join us on this high-speed journey. Introducing the Trainline Group Reporting Team As a fast moving FTSE 250 business, we're looking for an experienced and technically excellent Head of Group Reporting to join us for a 6 month contract. This is a senior role at the heart of our external reporting and financial control framework, calling for deep IFRS expertise and the confidence to navigate complex and judgemental accounting areas. It's a role that goes beyond a typical Group Reporting position, suited to someone who thrives in a varied, fast paced environment, is always ready to get involved, and loves learning new things. Our business changes daily, so we need someone who stays close to the operational side of things and can help us respond quickly and effectively. Technical rigour is non negotiable here. You'll be the go to person for complex and judgemental accounting questions, expected to research positions thoroughly, form a clear view, and defend it with auditors and advisors, while translating that thinking into clear, accessible communication for senior non financial stakeholders. You'll also bring commercial awareness, particularly around cashflow, liquidity and capital, along with the analytical instinct to spot when the numbers don't add up. In this role as the Head of Group Reporting, you will...

Key facts

What you'll do

Take ownership of producing the Group's IFRS annual and half yearly listed financial statements and annual report.

Lead the year end and half year external audit and review processes end to end, keeping key stakeholders informed and preparing and presenting Audit Committee papers.

Oversee the production and filing of subsidiary statutory accounts across our UK and international entities.

Own the Group's cashflow forecasting process, providing insight and analysis on liquidity, capital allocation and capital structure to support CFO and Board decision making, working closely with treasury on execution.

Act as the Group's primary technical accounting authority, researching and forming well reasoned positions on complex and judgemental areas such as multi currency consolidations, share based payments, EPS, impairment, revenue recognition, leases and business combinations.

Take the lead on one off projects, partnering with teams across the business, while contributing to monthly reporting, annual budgeting, and ownership of specific balance sheet, cashflow and working capital areas.

Build and support strong external relationships, including with auditors, loan providers and banking partners, and work closely with legal and CoSec to ensure reporting requirements are met on time.

Lead Finance's contribution to the Group's material controls framework under Provision 29, maintain and develop the Group's accounting policies including for acquisitions and legal structure changes, and guide reporting systems and process change to protect the integrity of our control environment.

Champion the use of data and insights to drive more informed decision making and improve the clarity of our reporting narratives.

Collaborate closely with business unit leaders to ensure timely consolidation of local results and alignment with group standards.

Drive consistency and transparency in reporting methodologies across all jurisdictions to enhance comparability for investors and stakeholders.

Partner with Tax to ensure accurate reflection of tax positions and compliance within group accounts.

Support the identification and evaluation of strategic initiatives, providing financial analysis to assess viability and impact on group reporting requirements.

Promote best practice and continuous improvement across the reporting function, leveraging technology to automate where possible and reduce manual effort.

Requirements

You're a qualified accountant with significant post qualification experience, including meaningful time spent in industry within a listed business, and you are comfortable with the reporting obligations and scrutiny that comes with that environment; you have a consistent record of delivering to deadline.

You bring extensive IFRS expertise and a strong technical accounting grounding, confident researching and forming defensible positions on complex areas such as multi currency consolidations, share based payments, EPS, impairment, revenue recognition, leases and business combinations.

If you're currently in practice, you'd be operating at Director level or above, with substantial experience advising listed groups on complex technical matters and be ready to step into a senior in house leadership role.

You have experience researching and implementing new accounting or reporting standards.

You're analytical and thorough when reviewing financial information, quick to spot errors in accounting treatment or anomalies.

You communicate clearly and persuasively, translating technical accounting jargon into accessible narratives for non financial leaders.

You work effectively under pressure, managing multiple priorities and tight deadlines without compromising accuracy.

You demonstrate strong commercial awareness, particularly around cashflow, liquidity and capital structure.

Practical notes

This is a 6 month contract role based in London.

Hours: Please refer to the job description for expected working hours.

Travel: No specific travel requirements mentioned.

Visa: No specific visa requirements mentioned.

Deadline: Please apply as soon as possible to secure this opportunity.