Business Manager Portugal

⌘Role Overview Timeleft has a Portuguese subsidiary, Hello Stranger Timeleft Portugal, Lda: it carries marketing investment, employs people, works with freelancers, and manages its own bank accounts and accounting with a local certified accountant. You are the person who makes sure the Portuguese entity runs: you close the books on time with the accountant, you deliver P&L and cash position, you pay suppliers and people, you produce reporting for the investors , and when anyone asks a question about this company, you are the one who answers it. This is a finance and administration role with real ownership of a live entity. You report to the VP Finance in Paris, and work directly with the Head of People and the CEO. Your mission: make the Portuguese entity reliable and documented: financially, administratively and legally. Employment type: Part-time — 80% FTE (full-time equivalent) ⌘

Key Responsibilities
1. Own the monthly close and financial reporting of the Portuguese entity Close the month — accruals, supplier invoices, payroll entries, intercompany elements, bank reconciliations. Manage the accountant — own the relationship with our external accounting provider and our certified accountant: brief them, set expectations, review what they produce, challenge what looks wrong. Produce the entity P&L every month, with month-over-month evolution and comments : material variances, their cause, your recommendations. Reconcile the bank accounts and explain every material movement. Prepare the statutory accounts and annual filings with the accountant, on the Portuguese calendar (financial year closes 31 December). Maintain the audit trail — every euro in and out of this entity must be documented, justified and retrievable. 2. Supervise payments and treasury Control the payments made from the Portuguese entity: invoices issued for the correct entity, amount matches spend, payment executed on time, correctly booked. Supervise freelancer and supplier payments — verify invoices, prepare payment runs, confirm execution, resolve disputes. Manage the banking relationship — account setup, payment limits, user rights, onboarding of signatories, escalation when a transfer is blocked. Monitor entity cash — available balance, committed spend, upcoming obligations. Flag any risk of shortfall before it becomes one. Maintain the payment calendar so no deadline (Meta, payroll, tax, social security) is missed. 3. Supervise the EOR employees and freelancers on the entity Verify monthly that every EOR employee and freelancer attached to the Portuguese entity has been paid correctly and on time, via Deel. Interface with Deel on contracts, amendments, onboarding, offboarding and invoicing for the Portuguese entity. Support the setup of local Portuguese payroll with the Head of People and the accountant, then run it once live. Hold a monthly review with the Head of People: headcount, contractors, open issues. 4. Own local administration, compliance and corporate housekeeping Be the Portuguese-language interface for the accountant, the bank, Autoridade Tributária, Segurança Social and any local counterparty. Handle the entity's administrative obligations — registrations, declarations, certificates, RCBE, certidão permanente renewals. Manage the registered office in practice — collect and process mail, handle in-person steps, keep the corporate file complete. Maintain the corporate document set — statutes, minutes book, powers of attorney, intercompany agreements, contracts: organised, current, retrievable. Handle Portuguese contracts and suppliers — review, track, renew, archive. 5. Advise on local budget allocation Track budget consumption by cost centre, with landing forecasts against plan. Present variances and their causes to the VP Finance. Produce a formal allocation recommendation each quarter: where the budget should go next, with the reasoning — plus an ad-hoc one whenever consumption or performance diverges materially from plan. 6. Contribute to cross-entity finance and admin projects Support FP&A work with the VP Finance — cost-centre budget reviews, landing forecasts, reporting improvements. Take on group administrative work where capacity allows — finance operations, HR administration, workflow documentation, tooling. Document what you build — every process you set up should be written down so it survives you. ⌘Expected Outcomes Monthly close delivered on time, twelve months out of twelve — target D+5 Zero late payment on Meta invoices, EOR payroll, freelancers, tax and social security. Zero unexplained bank movement at month end. A monthly entity report produced and read by the VP Finance, Head of People and CEO: P&L, cash position, budget consumption, written comments. A complete, current corporate and compliance file — any document requested produced within 48 hours. Statutory accounts filed on time, with no qualification and no penalty. Local Portuguese payroll live and running, with all eligible contracts migrated from EOR to local contracts. A documented operating manual for the entity — close checklist, payment calendar, compliance calendar, supplier list, contact list. Budget consumption tracked against plan with monthly variance analysis, and four quarterly allocation recommendations submitted. ⌘Skills & Competencies Must have: Accounting fundamentals — you can build and read a balance sheet and a P&L, and you know what sits behind each line. Monthly close experience — you have been accountable for a close cycle, not just contributed to one. Bank reconciliation and treasury basics — payment runs, cash monitoring, banking platforms. Portuguese accounting, tax and social security framework — working knowledge (SNC, IVA, IRC, Segurança Social). Working with an external accountant — you know how to brief one, review their output and challenge. Excel or Google Sheets at a real level — pivots, lookups, building a model someone else can use. Fluent Portuguese and fluent English, written and spoken. Both non-negotiable. Soft

skills:
Rigour — you reconcile to the cent, and you notice when something does not tie. Autonomy — the deadlines are given, the method is not. Direct communication — you surface problems early, with a proposed solution attached. Ownership without a manual — half of what you need does not exist yet. You build it. Discretion — you handle salary, banking and investor information. Comfort with senior exposure — you present to the VP Finance and the CEO directly, in English, monthly. Nice to have: Experience in a startup or scale-up operating across multiple countries. Exposure to intercompany flows, transfer pricing or cross-border recharges. Familiarity with Deel, Qonto, Finthesis Experience with investor or fund reporting. Audit background (Big Four or local firm), or a first experience in a chartered accountancy practice. Automation instinct — you have used scripts or AI tools to remove repetitive work from your own job. ⌘Required experience Must have 4 to 6 years of experience in accounting, finance operations, or administrative and financial management. At least one experience where you were personally accountable for a closing cycle and for the accuracy of what was filed. Direct experience dealing with external counterparties — accountants, banks, tax authorities. Degree in accounting, finance, management or economics, or an equivalent professional path. Based in the Lisbon area, able to be physically present weekly. Fluent Portuguese and fluent English. Nice to have Experience as the sole finance person in a small entity or a foreign subsidiary. TOC / Contabilista Certificado qualification, or progress towards it. Experience setting up payroll, banking or accounting for a new entity. Experience in a consumer, marketplace, events or hospitality business. Deliberately not required Marketing, growth or commercial experience — this is not that role. Team management experience — this role has no direct reports. Prior general management or director-level experience. ⌘Objectives for the first 3 months Month 1 — Take control of the file Map the entity — read every corporate, banking, accounting and contractual document. Produce a written inventory of what exists, what is missing, what is out of date. Meet every counterparty — accountant, Joongle, bank contacts, Deel account manager, plus the internal owners (VP Finance, Head of People, CEO). Build the calendars — monthly close, payments, compliance and filings for the next 12 months. Deliver a written diagnostic of the entity's administrative and financial state, ranked by risk. Month 2 — Close a month yourself Run the monthly close end to end with the accountant, and deliver the first entity report: P&L, cash, budget consumption, comments. Take over payment supervision — Meta invoice checked and booked, freelancer and supplier payments verified, EOR payroll confirmed with the Head of People. Clear the gaps from the month-1 diagnostic — missing documents obtained, expired items renewed, corporate file completed. Set up the monthly rituals with the VP Finance, the Head of People and the CEO. Month 3 — Make it repeatable Second close delivered on time, faster than the first, with a documented checklist anyone could follow. First investor reporting pack prepared and reviewed. Budget consumption tracking live by cost centre, with the first formal allocation recommendation submitted. A written operating manual for the entity — close, payments, compliance, contacts. A prioritised list of what you would automate next, with your reasoning. ⌘Recruitment process Introduction Interview (30 min) with Talent Acquisition Lead Business Interview (30 min) with VP Finance Case Study (take-home, ~3 hours) Case Study Q&A (45min) with VP Finance Final Interview (30min) with CEO We might ask for references.