Financial Controller

Lyka was founded in 2018 by Anna Podolsky, inspired by her dog, Lyka, who was suffering from chronic health issues despite being on “premium” kibble. Together with Gabriel Guedes (COO) and Dr. Matthew Muir (Integrative Veterinarian), they built Lyka from the ground up with one core belief: better food can radically improve a pet’s healthspan and quality of life.

Lyka’s meals are vet-formulated and gently cooked from real food ingredients. Delivered via a flexible subscription model, Lyka meals have driven remarkable improvements for tens of thousands of customers, supporting gut health, reducing intolerances, improving energy and mobility, and even promoting hair growth.

What began as home-cooked meals has since scaled into one of Australia’s fastest-growing consumer companies, a vertically integrated, tech-enabled brand that is transforming pet health nationwide.

Lyka now operates from two offices, Sydney (HQ) and Melbourne, with three state-of-the-art food production facilities (two in Sydney, one in Melbourne) and a growing national footprint.

At Lyka, we’re not just selling pet food—we’re pioneering a new standard of wellness for pets. With strong product-market fit, deep customer love, and a track record of rapid growth, we’re now entering our most ambitious chapter yet: building a generational brand and category-defining business with global impact.


What you will do:

You’ll oversee financial governance and compliance across multiple entities, ensuring everything runs smoothly and meets IFRS and local standards. From BAS and payroll tax to R&D claims and annual returns, you’ll keep us fully compliant while partnering with auditors and advisors to stay ahead of the curve.

You’ll lead the engine room of finance operations, managing general accounting, payables, treasury, cash flow, and month-end close. You’ll take ownership of key financial metrics like working capital, DPOs, and cash conversion, while supporting budgeting and forecasting with precise, timely insights.

Scalability will be your playground. You’ll drive system and process improvement across ERP (NetSuite) and related platforms, building stronger controls, data integrity, and automation so finance can move at the same speed as the business.

As a leader, you’ll inspire and empower a high-performing team, both local and offshore, creating a culture built on accountability, collaboration, and excellence. You’ll define clear roles, build capability, and ensure the team is ready for what’s next.

You’ll also manage key external relationships with auditors, tax partners, insurers, and banks, keeping governance tight, risks low, and reporting sharp for shareholders and investors.

Finally, you’ll be a true strategic finance partner, working alongside the leadership team to align financial operations with growth goals, capital strategy, and new market expansion.

Requirements

What you’ll bring

You’re CA or CPA qualified, with 8–12 years of progressive experience in accounting and finance, including at least a few years leading as a Financial Controller or Senior Finance Manager in a fast-growing or multi-entity business.

You’ve managed it all: accounting, audits, tax compliance, and statutory reporting, keeping operations smooth and stakeholders confident. You have a strong command of Australian accounting standards (AASB/IFRS) and hands-on experience managing complex tax obligations like BAS, IAS, FBT, payroll tax, GST, R&D, and corporate tax.

Ideally, you’ve also worked with Employee Share Schemes (ESS) and understand share-based payment accounting under IFRS 2, or you’re excited to learn.

You’re tech-savvy and love finding smarter ways to work. You’ve worked with ERP systems (NetSuite gets bonus points) and have driven system upgrades or automation initiatives. If you’ve explored how AI can level up finance operations, even better, we’re all about future-focused thinking.

Experience in manufacturing, FMCG, or other inventory-based environments will help you hit the ground running, and you’re comfortable leading both local and offshore teams. You collaborate naturally with auditors, tax advisors, and banking partners, and you bring a commercial mindset that balances accuracy with impact.

Benefits

• Work in a fast-growing start-up, experiencing what goes on behind the scenes to sustain hyper-growth for a start-up with a physical product!

• Growth and Development – Lyka is growing extremely quickly, which means you will have the opportunity to experience different challenges every day and progressively acquire more responsibilities as our facility and team expand. We provide an annual L&D budget for you to continue your personal development.
• Work for a sustainability-focused company – we care about the health of our dogs and our planet. We’re proud to be Australia’s only carbon-negative and plastic-negative pet wellness company and we’re always looking at ways for us to improve sustainability practices.
• Be part of a diverse top-talent team, coming from widely different backgrounds and geographies.
• Up to 18 weeks of paid parental leave top-up
• Wellbeing assistance and tools to take care of your mental and physical wellbeing so you can do your best work
• Pupper parent support to care for your furry friends – flexible arrangements for new pets, pet-friendly offices, discounts, and financial allowance for dog training and care to help them live their best life!

We are committed to building inclusive and diverse teams

Lyka is an equal-opportunity employer devoted to providing a working environment that embraces and values diversity and inclusion. We celebrate diversity, are devoted to creating an inclusive environment for all staff and encourage people of all backgrounds to apply. If you have any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of application.