Finance Director

Our client is a Private Equity funded leading software company and following rapid growth and a significant capital raise, the business is now seeking to upscale the finance function to keep pace with the scale of business. They are looking for a hands-on leader who is comfortable at both 'hands dirty' aspects of finance as well as high-level financial planning, budgeting, and determination of appropriate management information.

KPIs and deliverables:

• Able to provide a strong platform for CEO, COO, and senior management to make optimal real-time business decisions
• Assuring management accounts are timely, accurate, and insightful
• Strong financial planning and analysis, including cashflow management
• Assuring an easy-to-use, real-time, and insightful level of management information
• Working with the senior managers and commercial teams to develop and produce insightful and actionable business intelligence reports

Associated deliverables include:

• Bottoms up, flexible financial model to be used for FP&A and as an annual budget
• Coordinate development of the initial budget
• 'At your fingertips' management information
• Standard reporting for board reporting and board packs
• Implement tight cash management and controls
• Oversee the accounting department to ensure proper maintenance of all accounting systems and function; supervise the company's finance team.
• Ensure maintenance of appropriate internal controls and financial procedures
• Ensure legal and regulatory compliance regarding all financial functions
• Develop and coordinate basic monthly accounting activities:
• Oversee preparation of month-end and year-end financial statements
• Review all month-end closing activities including general ledger maintenance, balance sheet reconciliations and corporate/overhead cost allocation.
• Enhance and implement financial and accounting systems, processes, tools and control systems.

Key Characteristics for success in role

• Highly self-motivated, a self-starter
• Excited by an extremely dynamic role with broad autonomy
• Strong intellectual curiosity
• Passionate about new and growing companies, emerging technologies
• Honesty, integrity, willingness to deliver difficult news when needed.
• Demonstrated high level of leadership and managerial skills
• Ability to hone in on key business drivers and risks, identify new opportunities
• Able to inspire confidence and respect, and exemplify high standards of conduct
• Adopt a flexible leadership style, able to move through visioning to implementation and collaboration/consultation to challenge as appropriate
• Build robust relationships both internally and externally
• Happy to work at both 'hands dirty' levels and board-level discussion
• Balance conflicting pressures and needs, including short and longer term trade-offs.
• Demonstrate strong commitment to innovation and performance improvement
• Happy to optimize what's already there rather than reinvent the business/technology/role

Competencies:

• Driven, resourceful problem solving approach
• Strong critical thinking and judgement, ability to go beyond the superficial and drill down into detail
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Ability to influence through earning respect and trust of management teams
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Effective under pressure
• Maintaining highest standards of professionalism and integrity

Qualifications and Experience

• 7+ years of relevant working experience, 2+ years in senior finance roles (head of, director, etc)
• At least 3+ years of recent senior SaaS experience
• Professional accounting qualification
• Demonstrably strong track record and career progression
• Experience of investor-backed business, either VC or PE, including board-level interactions
• Experienced in operational management
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.

Additional "wow" factors

• Multiple languages
• Identifying new areas of analysis for management that lead to better decision making
• Entrepreneurial experience
• Previous fund raising experience
• Finance function restructuring with limited resources

We know that diverse recruitment practices start with us. We encourage and celebrate applicants regardless of race (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origin), age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, sex, gender reassignment, disability, marital status, pregnancy and maternity or socioeconomic background. We are committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace by ensuring a diverse pool of talent, eliminating unlawful discrimination and recruiting the best person for each role. We review our practices on equality and diversity regularly.

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