Group Chief Financial Officer in Essex

Group Chief Financial Officer

High-Growth International Engineering Group

Essex | £170,000–£200,000 + bonus + equity

The CFO Practice is partnering with an established high-growth international engineering group to appoint a Group Chief Financial Officer as the business enters its next phase of growth.

The Group generates approximately £25m in revenue, employs around 180 people and operates across the UK, US and Asia. After a significant period of strategic repositioning and investment, the business is now focused on organic growth, with an ambition to approximately double revenues and prepare for an exit process over the coming few years.

The CFO will play a central role in helping to deliver the Group's growth ambitions, improving commercial insight and performance, developing its international operations and creating long-term shareholder value.

The opportunity

• Working closely with the CEO and Board, the CFO will lead the Group finance function while providing broader leadership across:
• Strategic planning, forecasting and scenario analysis to support the Group's medium and long-term growth ambitions
• Commercial performance, including product and customer profitability, gross margins, pricing and KPIs
• Financial evaluation of R&D, new product development and other strategic investment decisions
• Supply chain, inventory, working capital and the financial performance of the Group's international operations
• Capital allocation, treasury, liquidity and balance-sheet management
• Investor relations, shareholder communications and wider capital-markets activity
• Financial reporting, controls, governance, tax, risk and compliance
• Evaluating potential M&A, partnerships and other strategic opportunitiesContinuing to develop the finance organisation, systems and reporting as the Group grows
• Providing high-quality financial and commercial insight to the CEO, Board and wider leadership team

The business

The Group develops and supplies technically differentiated products for international communications, industrial and specialist markets.

It operates within an R&D-led environment where continued investment in technology, product development and engineering capability is fundamental to longer-term growth.

Over recent years, the Group has undertaken a significant strategic repositioning, including selective M&A and investment that has broadened its technology capabilities, product portfolio and international footprint.

With that repositioning largely complete, the focus is increasingly on organic growth: commercialising the investment already made, bringing new products to market, developing international opportunities and converting the Group's pipeline into sustainable revenue and profitability.

The Group has a strong balance sheet and is well positioned to invest behind its growth ambitions.

The candidate

For this appointment, we are particularly interested in CFOs and senior finance leaders who have operated within an engineering, manufacturing or other physical-product environment, where they have developed a strong understanding of the commercial and operational drivers of the business.

Relevant backgrounds could include electronics, industrial technology, engineering, aerospace & defence, automation, instrumentation, medical devices or other R&D-led product businesses.

Candidates should ideally demonstrate:

• Significant experience operating as a CFO
• Experience within an engineering, manufacturing or physical-product business
• Strong understanding of R&D and new product development, including evaluating investment and commercial returns
• Experience working closely with operations and supply chain, with an understanding of inventory, working capital, product costing and gross margins
• Strong strategic and commercial capability alongside a sound financial foundation
• Experience within an international organisation, ideally including meaningful exposure to the US
• Credibility with Boards, shareholders and investors
• Experience supporting organic growth, commercial improvement and longer-term value creation
• The ability to operate effectively within a relatively small, entrepreneurial organisation while contributing at Board level
• A collaborative, pragmatic and hands-on leadership style

This is an opportunity to join an established international technology and engineering business at an important point in its development and play a significant role in delivering its next phase of growth and longer-term shareholder value.