Chief Financial Officer (first time CFO role)

Chief Financial Officer – For first time CFOs - High-Growth Technology Business

South London based - with excellent rail link from Sussex/Surrey/Greater London | Hybrid – 3 days office / 2 days home

We are exclusively supporting an exciting high-growth, technology-led business on the appointment of a commercially minded Chief Financial Officer.

This is a genuine first-time CFO opportunity for an ambitious Finance Director, Head of Finance or senior finance leader who wants to step into a role with real influence.

You'll be the right hand to the CEO, a key partner to the leadership team and an important voice in the company's commercial and strategic decisions.

The opportunity

The business is scaling rapidly and has a proven, cash-generative model. The finance function is now at an exciting stage where the successful CFO will have a genuine opportunity to build, shape and modernise the function.

You'll bring greater visibility around FP&A, forecasting, unit economics, KPIs and commercial performance, giving the CEO, board and investors a clear forward-looking view of the business.

You'll also be heavily involved in commercial decision-making — from pricing and contract economics to investment decisions, negotiations and strategic growth initiatives.

We're looking for someone who is commercial, pragmatic and hands-on. Someone who understands the detail but can also step back and explain the bigger picture.

Key responsibilities

• Act as the right hand to the CEO across financial, commercial and strategic matters
• Bring greater rigour and insight to growth and investment decisions
• Partner with the commercial team on pricing, negotiations and contract economics
• Build and own the FP&A, budgeting and forecasting capability
• Develop board and investor reporting to provide a clear forward-looking view of performance
• Establish meaningful KPIs, dashboards and financial metrics
• Own cash flow, working capital, capex and scenario planning
• Build, lead and develop the finance team as the business grows
• Introduce the processes, controls and systems required to support scale without unnecessary bureaucracy
• Partner with the CEO, board and investors on fundraising, refinancing and potential M&A
• Manage banking, treasury and key financial relationships
• Identify opportunities to use AI and automation to make finance faster, more efficient and more commercially valuable
• Continuously improve the contribution a lean finance function can make to the wider business

What we're looking for

We're particularly interested in candidates who can demonstrate:

• Experience operating at FD, Head of Finance, Senior Controller level
• The capability and ambition to step into a first CFO role
• Experience within a high-growth, scaling environment
• Strong commercial judgement — you understand the business behind the numbers
• The ability to build FP&A, modelling, forecasting and scenario planning
• A genuinely hands-on approach — you're comfortable getting into the detail
• Strong communication skills and the ability to make financial information meaningful to CEOs, boards, investors and non-financial stakeholders
• A forward-thinking approach to finance technology, AI and automation

Ideally, you'll also have

• Experience within a VC/PE-backed or investor-backed scale-up
• Technology, SaaS, fintech, paytech, marketplace or another data-led business background
• Experience supporting a fundraise, refinancing or M&A
• Experience presenting to a board and/or investors
• Experience building and developing a finance team from a relatively small base
• Experience with modern data/finance technology

However, we're deliberately open-minded on sector background.

The most important thing is the person — your commercial mindset, ambition, judgement and ability to operate as a genuine partner to the CEO.