Finance Manager
About Agora
We are a different kind of education institution, dedicated to transforming learning experiences for children of all ages. We combine our own programmes with a wide selection of tuition and enrichment programmes so as to offer our community the best possible learning opportunities, empowering families to tailor their child's unique learning journey.
If you are excited by helping create the future of education and enjoy working in a fast-paced, innovative environment, we would love to meet you!
Role
We're looking for an experienced Finance Manager to lead the finance function of Agora Colearning, a Singapore education group of 120+ people across 3 brands: Agora, Josiah Montessori and Les Petits Gaulois (LPG).
This is a Singapore-based role reporting directly to the CEO on all matters relating to finance. You'll lead a remote team consisting of a senior accountant, a senior accounts executive, an accounts executive and a finance analyst, and own reporting, statutory and control outcomes across every entity in the group.
Responsibilities
Statutory, audit and tax
- Prepare monthly, quarterly and annual accounts for every entity
- Own the statutory audit across all entities, as preparer and as the auditors' main counterpart
- Own quarterly GST filing
- Own the annual corporate tax filing, with support from our external tax adviser
Group reporting and cash
- Own the group consolidation
- Deliver the monthly management pack withinan agreed time frame
- Own the cash position and the rolling cash forecast
Controls and governance
- Set and maintain the control environment, including approval thresholds and bank mandates
- Make sure the transaction team applies one set of rules across all entities
- Keep finance process documentation current as a standing duty
Team leadership
- Manage the offshore team's training, performance and cover arrangements
- Review the team's work for accuracy and timeliness
- Step into processing only during absences or a genuine crunch
Automation and continuous improvement
- Use Claude and similar AI tools to automate workflows, build checks and improve our processes
What we're looking for
- Degree in Accountancy, Finance or a related field, and a recognised professional qualification (CA Singapore, ACCA, CPA or equivalent)
- At least 8 years of accounting experience, including multi-entity month-end close and group consolidation
- Hands-on experience with Singapore GST filing, and statutory audit experience as preparer
- Experience supervising offshore or outsourced finance staff
- Proficiency in Xero
- Comfortable using AI tools to automate workflows and build checks
- Hands-on and process-minded, with the judgement to know when to step in and when to delegate
Why join Agora
- You'll run the finance function of a group that is still growing through acquisition, with a direct line to the CEO
- We're a tech-enabled business and expect finance to use AI tools as part of the day-to-day work
- We take input from the team seriously and change how we work when someone finds a better way
- We support professional development, including courses to advance your career