Chief Finance Officer

A fantastic career opportunity has arisen in our profitable Series C, HR Technology client who is looking for a strategic, analytical CFO with strong communication skills, business acumen and a growth mindset. The client is on a journey towards an IPO and your expertise in shaping the business, and adding value across their multiple revenue streams, will be valuable in contributing to the success of their ambition.

Key areas of the role are as follows:

Strategy & Investor Relations

• Play a key role in setting the strategic direction of the business alongside the CEO & other members of the executive/management team
• Manage investor/board relationships working closely alongside the CEO, with support from a strategy manager
• Ownership of the financial plan and forecast model
• Help prepare for and lead a successful exit, which may be in the form of an IPO, trade or PE sale

Transactions

• Planning and execution of all transactions from M&A to fundraising and ultimately exit
• Manage corporate finance, legal and other key supplier relationships
• Control and evaluate the organisation’s capital structure and funding
• Integrate and potentially manage the operations of new ventures

Commercial business partner

• Provide credible, commercial leadership as part of a strong executive team
• Develop and challenge business performance and plans across functions and business units, ensuring ROI on internal spend and great prioritisation of company growth resources
• Sponsoring or potentially leading new growth avenues, or ventures within the company

FP&A

• Develop and grow the FP&A function that can support decision making across all functions of the business
• Review performance measures that support the company's direction and ensure that all financial and non-financial KPI reporting and forecasting is accurate and insightful
• Develop a strong budgeting and forecasting process to support our growth in existing markets as well as potential new market entry
• Monitor cash balances and cash forecasts to ensure cash flow is healthy and appropriate for our operations

Accounting, Payments, Tax & Treasury

• Lead, develop and mentor a high quality finance team providing world class financial planning, international accounting and timely management reporting services suitable for a fast-growing tech business
• Manage accounting, payroll and tax management
• Develop a strong treasury management function; ensuring budgeting and cash flow management is aligned with business growth, free cash is earning positive interest and forex risks are low
• Ensure strong standards of financial accounting, reporting & compliance across a global business

Chief Financial Officer: Experience & Characteristics

The CFO will have experience of:

• Being a strategic sitting CFO or number 2 in a scaling, ideally profitable, well-managed growth tech business
• Managing investor relationships and presenting to board / external stakeholders
• Playing an integral role in executing transactions such as fundraising, M&A. Listed company experience is a bonus.
• Building and challenging growth plans, setting KPIs and managing spend/costs to achieve optimal business outcomes
• Operating in a business with similar unit economics, metrics and drivers that are key to a vertical search, adtech or b2b2c marketplace model is beneficial
• Business modelling, forecasting and forming the long-term strategic financial business plan
• Sufficient exposure to the accounting/financial operations side of a business to be a credible leader of the Finance Team
• Managing service providers like lawyers, bankers, accountants
• Ideally operating in an international business where they would have played a role in international market growth
• Exposure to M&A would be a plus, identifying strategic acquisition targets and leading the M&A and integration process
• Public Markets experience would be a nice to have

The CFO will be/have:

• A strong communicator who presents well internally and externally
• A team player who values respect, trust and collaboration in an informal culture where there is genuine contribution at all levels
• A highly commercial thinker, ideally having worked as a strategy consultant, in the VC or banking space or a functional role outside of finance in their career
• Highly analytical, fast moving, on top of the numbers and on top of to-do lists - we’re a team of ‘on-it’ people
• Excellent business acumen
• A strategic partner; able to challenge other members of the team and build trust quickly with our Founder/CEO
• A resilient, strong leader and people person; performs well under pressure, able to build and coach a best in class finance team and delegate appropriately
• Strong interpersonal skills; able to influence at all levels of the organisation
• A growth mindset; a hands-on, self-starter able to drive and initiate change and new ways of working
• An autonomous, agile thinker who is willing to take ownership of things