Finance Administrator & EA to the Director

Smith & Sons Construction Services Ltd

Part time, 25 hours per week (5 hours per day) with scope to grow to full-time almost immediately if workload and competency is proved

Remote (South Africa) | UK hours | Reports directly to Isaac Maynard-Smith, Co-Director

THE ROLE IN ONE PARAGRAPH

This is a finance-first role. You will own the day-to-day financial administration of a premium residential construction company: capturing every invoice and receipt, keeping Xero reconciled and clean, preparing supplier and subcontractor payment runs for Director sign-off, and being the person our external bookkeepers and accountants come to when something doesn't add up.

Around that, you will give the Director executive support with his inbox, diary and delegated admin. If you are the kind of person who notices a £14.40 difference and won't rest until you've found it, keep reading.

ABOUT SMITH & SONS

Smith & Sons Construction Services Ltd (SSCS) is a family-run, premium residential construction company delivering extensions, refurbishments and whole-house transformations across East London, Havering and Essex, with a particular focus on the Gidea Park conservation area in Romford and plans to expand into Emerson Park, Shenfield and Hutton. We are led by father-and-son co-directors Mike and Isaac Maynard-Smith and supported by a long-standing team of trusted trades.

We are a growing business with ambitions well beyond the next project. SSCS sits within a wider group that includes a property-owning entity and a serviced accommodation business, and we run the company with the systems, standards and technology of a much larger firm. We use AI throughout our operations, and we expect the people we work with to do the same.

This role exists because the Director's time is best spent on clients, sites and growth, and because a construction business lives or dies by the accuracy of its numbers.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING

1. Financial administration (the core of the role)

- Own the accounts@ inbox. Every supplier invoice, subcontractor application, receipt and statement is captured, coded and actioned promptly. Nothing sits.

- Process all invoices and receipts through DEXT, our receipting system, accurately and on time, with the correct supplier, project and cost category on every item.

- Reconcile Xero daily: match bank transactions, chase missing receipts, keep supplier and customer ledgers clean, and investigate anything that doesn't tie up until it does.

- Run supplier statement reconciliations and flag disputed or duplicate invoices before they are paid.

- Prepare supplier and subcontractor payment runs through our bulk payment processor for the Director's review and sign-off. You will never have direct access to company bank accounts; every payment is authorised by a Director before it leaves.

- Act as the main point of contact for our external bookkeepers and accountants: resolve their queries quickly, supply what they need for month-end and year-end, and keep them out of the weeds.

- Raise client invoices and statements from approved valuations, and chase overdue balances politely and persistently.

- Produce simple, accurate reports when asked: aged creditors, aged debtors, spend by project, and anything else that helps the Director make decisions.

2. Executive support to the Director

- Manage the Director's inbox: triage, draft replies, chase responses and make sure nothing important is missed.

- Run the Director's diary, scheduling site visits, client meetings, supplier calls and internal catch-ups.

- Keep a running action list across projects and follow up on outstanding items with the team and our trades.

3. General administration as delegated

- Document preparation using our templates, filing, research, supplier enquiries and ad hoc tasks as they arise.

4. Working with AI

- We consider AI fluency a core skill, not a bonus. You will use Claude daily to draft correspondence, summarise documents, build checklists and reconciliation aids, and generally make yourself faster and more accurate. We want someone who already works this way and will actively look for new ways to apply it.

WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Essential

- Demonstrated experience of bookkeeping-level financial administration for a small or medium business: purchase ledger, bank reconciliation, supplier statements and payment runs. You will be asked to talk through real examples with real numbers.

- Hands-on experience with Xero and DEXT. If you have used comparable tools instead (Sage, QuickBooks, Hubdoc, AutoEntry), that is fine; what matters is that you understand the workflow from a supplier invoice arriving to it being reconciled and paid, and can pick up our tools quickly.

- A detailed, numbers-first mindset. You check totals, you notice when something doesn't reconcile, and you don't move on until it does.

- Confident working with external accountants or bookkeepers and resolving their queries without hand-holding. - Experience supporting a director or business owner with inbox, diary and general administration.

- Exceptional written English and a natural, professional communication style. - Demonstrable, day-to-day use of AI tools such as Claude or ChatGPT in your work, with clear examples of how they have made you more effective. - Discretion. You will have full visibility of company finances, supplier pricing and client information. Preferred - Previous experience working with or for a construction, property or trades business, particularly with subcontractor payments, retentions or CIS. This is a significant advantage.

- A bookkeeping qualification or part-qualification (ICB, AAT or equivalent) is highly preferable.

- Familiarity with Google Workspace and WhatsApp Business. - A track record of suggesting and implementing process improvements. This is not a junior position. We will teach you how we work, but we need someone who already knows their craft, can run their own day, and will come to us with better ways of doing things.

HOW WE WORK

- You will work 5 hours a day, Monday to Friday, within UK business hours. [Fixed block, e.g. 9am to 2pm UK time / a block of your choosing agreed at the start.] South Africa's time zone alignment with the UK is exactly why we are recruiting there.

- We are flexible. If your tasks for the day are your own and do not depend on anyone else, you are welcome to work them earlier or later. What matters is that the work is done and that you are reachable during your core block.

- We communicate largely over WhatsApp. You will be expected to keep a light eye on messages outside your hours and respond to anything time-sensitive; we will be reasonable about this and expect the same in return.

- You will report directly to Isaac Maynard-Smith, Co-Director, with a weekly one-to-one and daily contact as needed.

- You will not be client-facing to begin with, but this is likely to expand as you settle in.

- We are starting at 25 hours per week because that is the workload we can hand over today. As you prove yourself, the hours will grow. We fully expect this to become a 40-hour role, and potentially more, as the work is there to support it.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

- Your own reliable laptop and a quiet, professional working environment.

- Fibre internet with a backup connection, and backup power sufficient to work through load shedding without interruption. - Two professional references from previous employers or clients, at least one of whom can speak to your finance work.

- The right to work as an independent contractor in South Africa.

THE PACKAGE

- Remuneration: [£700 per month for 25 hours per week (approximately R15,000 at current rates)] paid in GBP. Reviewed on successful completion of probation and again as hours increase. - Engagement: independent contractor, invoicing SSCS monthly in arrears.

- Hours: 25 per week to start, growing to 40 or more as the workload proves out.

- Probation: three months, with a structured onboarding plan and clear objectives from day one.

- Leave: 20 paid days per year (100 hours at 25 hours per week, pro-rated as hours grow). This includes the eight UK bank holidays (New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, early May, spring and summer bank holidays, Christmas Day and Boxing Day), which are off for everyone as the business is closed. The remaining 12 days are yours to use however you like, including South African public holidays. South African public holidays that are not UK bank holidays are working days unless you have booked leave. Leave is taken with reasonable notice and planned around month-end.

- Confidentiality: you will sign a non-disclosure agreement before starting.

- Tools: we provide access to Google Workspace, Xero, DEXT and a Claude subscription.

WHERE THIS ROLE CAN GO:

We are hiring for the long term. As you learn how we work and earn our trust, we expect this role to grow into full-time hours, broader finance responsibility across the wider group, client communications and project coordination. For the right person, this is a seat at the centre of a growing business with a Director who wants you to bring ideas, challenge the way things are done and build the role around your strengths.

HOW TO APPLY

Please apply through this platform. Alongside your CV, include a short covering note that answers three things: which accounting and receipting tools you have used and for how long; a specific example of a reconciliation problem you found and fixed, with the numbers; and one specific example of how you have used AI to work faster or better. Applications without this note will not be considered. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a video interview with Isaac, which will include talking through a short reconciliation exercise. We may also ask you to complete a short paid task before an offer is made.