Senior Finance Manager

About the role

Wise is hiring a Senior Finance Manager to help scale the finance function as we grow products, customers, and our regulatory footprint. This includes geographic expansions as well major initiatives to gain direct access to local payment rails in the US and Canada.

Responsibilities

• Accounting, Close & Controls (Controllership): Own the integrity of the general ledger, ensuring transactions are recorded accurately and in line with company policy and US GAAP (IFRS knowledge a plus).

• Lead month-end and year-end close activities, including reconciliations, journal entry review, balance sheet substantiation, and close governance (calendar, checklists, review/sign-off standards).

• Maintain audit-ready documentation and support clear accounting positions/memos for complex or judgmental areas.

• Design, operate, and continuously improve key financial controls with strong evidence standards and repeatable processes; lead remediation for any control/audit findings.

• Develop a firm understanding of internal controls, inter-company transactions, capital requirements, funding and transfer pricing agreements.

• Regulatory Reporting & Audit / Examiner Management: Serve as the primary accounting/process contact for regulators, external auditors, and internal audit. Lead initial setup and ongoing quarterly/periodic regulatory reporting: planning, data collection, validation, preparation, and submission with a high bar for accuracy and integrity.

• Build and maintain a regulatory reporting playbook and evidence repository to reduce rework and improve consistency as the business scales. Coordinate responses to information requests and manage stakeholders to ensure timely, high-quality delivery.

• Annual Statutory Audit Management: Lead the annual statutory audit for the entity, including audit planning, PBC coordination, timeline management, and stakeholder communication. Prepare and review statutory financial statements and supporting schedules; ensure consistency with underlying books and agreed accounting policies.

• Partner with Tax, Group Accounting, and external advisors to resolve technical accounting and disclosure matters. Drive timely resolution of audit findings, management letter points, and control recommendations.

• FP&A, Forecasting & Performance Management: Work with global FP&A and analytical teams to support budgeting and rolling forecasting in Anaplan and Planful, including assumption management, scenario analysis, and risks/opportunities tracking. Partner with Product, Banking, Ops, and Compliance to connect operational drivers to financial outcomes (unit economics, cost-to-serve, efficiency metrics, and investment trade-offs).

• Improve KPI definitions, reporting cadence, and decision-useful insight (not just reporting).

• Selling the function: Partner with regional and global teams to ensure systems, processes, and controls are ready for new products, regulatory requirements, and entity/geography expansion. Drive process improvements and automation using practical tooling (advanced Excel, planning tools, improved templates/workflows).

• Scaling the Function: Start as a senior individual contributor with an expectation to build out a team and/or manage external providers.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance.

• CPA strongly preferred.

• 7+ years in accounting/controllership, ideally in banking, fintech, payments, or other regulated environments (Big 4 experience a plus).

• Experience setting up and producing regulatory reporting for federal or state regulators and working directly with regulators/auditors.

• Experience managing annual statutory audits, including coordinating external auditors and preparing financial statement support.

• Proven ownership of close processes, reconciliations, and financial reporting quality.

• Strong knowledge of US GAAP (IFRS familiarity a plus) and mature financial controls.

• Strong analytical and communication skills—able to translate complex finance topics to non-finance audiences and create crisp leadership narratives.

• Comfortable operating in ambiguity, building scalable processes, and driving cross-functional alignment.

• Strong working proficiency with Excel; hands-on experience in Anaplan and/or Planful preferred (or strong ability to ramp quickly).

Nice to have's

• FFIEC call report exposure.

• Experience building finance infrastructure in high-growth, multi-entity, regulated environments.

• Experience improving reporting through better data models, automation, and standardized operating procedures.