Commercial Accountant

Wētā FX is a leader in creativity and innovation in visual effects and animation, attracting talent, partners and clients who strive to push the boundaries of what’s possible in pursuit of their artistic vision.

We are known for our performance‑driven animated characters such as Gollum, Kong, Neytiri and Caesar, as well as for creating iconic worlds like Middle‑earth, Pandora and many others. Throughout our journey, our ground‑breaking work has earned us many awards and accolades including eight Academy Awards for visual effects.

We are now looking for a Commercial Accountant to join our Finance team in a permanent capacity. This is a new position that has evolved to combine elements of financial accounting, FP&A and business partnering, with a particular focus on supporting our Information Technology and Research teams (IT&R). It plays a key role in bridging technical accounting, reporting, forecasting and commercial insight, helping to support investment decisions across the studio.

If you’re an experienced financial accountant who enjoys the story behind the numbers or who is interested in building your commercial skillset, a finance business partner looking to build on their technical skills, or someone who enjoys taking ownership for end to end financial processes, this may be the role for you.

What you will do

In this role, you will work closely with stakeholders across our IT&R teams, supporting both day to day financial activities and longer term financial decision making. The position combines commercial support with hands on accounting responsibility, allowing you to move between detailed financial work and higher level business insight across a typical month.

  • Partner closely with key stakeholders across the business, providing financial insight and supporting decision making.
  • Prepare, review and advise on business cases for capital investment, particularly across hardware, software and infrastructure spend.
  • Deliver monthly reporting to budget owners, highlighting performance, trends and key risks or opportunities.
  • Support wider budgeting and forecasting processes, translating strategy into clear, actionable financial plans.
  • Take ownership of key financial accounting responsibilities relating to software, R&D and non‑current assets, including capex accounting and asset registers.
  • Manage R&D accounting and support RDTI claims.
  • Support month‑end close activities, ensuring timely and accurate financial results feed into planning and reporting.
  • Identify opportunities to improve financial processes, reporting and tools, and contribute to wider finance initiatives and projects.

What you will bring

  • Ideally five years’ experience across financial accounting, FP&A or business partnering roles
  • CA qualification or equivalent
  • Strong technical accounting knowledge, with confidence across areas such as fixed assets, leases and cost recognition
  • Proven ability to apply a commercial lens to financial information and support business decision making
  • Experience working with modern cloud‑based ERP systems, ideally Dynamics 365 F&O, and reporting tools such as Power BI
  • Good communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to translate technical detail into clear, practical insight
  • Analytical, organised and detail‑focused, with a high level of accuracy
  • Honest, reliable and able to handle confidential information
  • Able to work well under pressure and manage competing priorities

Why join us

At Wētā FX you will be part of a team that pushes the boundaries of creativity and technology. This role offers the opportunity to work across both technical accounting and commercial finance, partnering with teams at the core of how the studio operates. Your work will directly support investment decisions that enable world‑class visual effects to be created and delivered to audiences around the world.

If you enjoy working across both detail and big picture, and want to make a meaningful impact, we would love to hear from you.

We are committed to providing a discrimination‑free experience throughout the recruitment process. If there is anything we can do to make the process easier, please let us know at recruitment@wetafx.co.nz.

Location: Wellington NZ

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