Head of Strategic Advisory in Manchester

Head of Strategic Advisory

Up to £150,000 | Fully remote | Senior leadership position

Help successful business owners build value ahead of investment, acquisition or exit

Most corporate finance advisers become involved when a business owner is ready to raise investment or sell.

This role starts much earlier.

Our client is creating a Strategic Advisory service that will work alongside successful entrepreneurs for three, six or twelve months—helping them improve performance, strengthen their businesses and increase enterprise value before an acquisition, investment or exit takes place.

The firm is looking for an exceptional senior adviser to build and lead that service.

Reporting directly to the Founder and joining the senior leadership team, you will shape the proposition, create the methodology, recruit an initial team of approximately two to three Strategic Advisors and personally lead the firm’s most complex and valuable engagements.

This is an opportunity to build something important within a firm experiencing exceptional growth.

The firm behind the opportunity

Our client is a high-growth, entrepreneur-led accountancy, tax and advisory firm working with successful founders, privately owned businesses and high-net-worth individuals.

The firm has doubled its revenue in each of the past four years and is continuing to invest significantly in its leadership, specialist teams and wider advisory capabilities.

Its ambition is to become recognised within the next three years as a leading independent alternative to the Big Four for successful entrepreneurs, privately owned businesses and high-net-worth clients.

The objective is not to recreate a traditional large accountancy firm. It is to combine exceptional advice with commercial thinking, faster decisions and direct access to the people actually leading the work.

Corporate clients typically have turnover of between £1 million and £30 million, while private clients have wealth ranging from approximately £3 million to £100 million.

The Strategic Advisory service will primarily work with ambitious businesses generating approximately £1 million to £5 million in EBITDA. These are substantial companies, but they are often underserved by the larger advisory firms.

Many are expanding rapidly, completing acquisitions, entering new markets, seeking investment or preparing for an eventual exit. They have reached a point where routine accountancy and historical reporting are no longer enough.

They need someone who can show them:

• Here is what your numbers are telling us.
• Here is where value is being created or lost.
• Here is what we should do next.

A genuinely connected advisory platform

Strategic Advisory will not operate as a standalone service.

The firm is building four specialist tax departments covering Mergers and Acquisitions Tax, Corporate Tax, International Tax and Private Client Tax. It is also investing in Strategic and Business Advisory and intends to develop Corporate Finance and Debt Advisory capabilities.

The current transaction pipeline already includes four live deals involving companies with turnover ranging from approximately £10 million to £60 million.

An established partnership with a major wealth-management firm creates further continuity for entrepreneurs whose business decisions and transactions have significant implications for their personal wealth.

Together, these services are creating a connected advisory platform capable of supporting founders through growth, acquisition, investment, sale and life beyond a transaction.

Strategic Advisory will sit at the centre of it—helping clients improve performance, build value and become properly prepared before the transaction specialists become involved.

Access to an exceptional entrepreneurial network

The network developing around the firm is one of the most distinctive parts of the opportunity.

The firm’s owner has personally created and organised an exclusive upcoming event on Sir Richard Branson’s private island. It sold out within two weeks, generated an extensive waiting list and will bring together entrepreneurs representing approximately £3 billion in combined wealth.

The business is also launching an exclusive private members’ community for successful founders and entrepreneurs.

Members will receive direct access to the firm’s advisory teams alongside a year-round programme of private dinners, high-profile speakers and exceptional UK and international experiences.

These are not simply marketing activities operating around the accountancy firm. They are creating direct and long-term relationships with the entrepreneurs the Strategic Advisory team will support.

The Head of Strategic Advisory will have the opportunity to contribute to selected events, founder discussions and the continued development of this network.

What you will build

You will create a focused advisory service that helps business owners understand what is driving performance and what needs to change.

The work will combine financial analysis, commercial judgement, strategic thinking and practical experience.

It will include:

• Creating a repeatable strategic advisory methodology covering growth, profitability, cash, management information, leadership capability, acquisitions and exit readiness.
• Recruiting, leading and developing an initial team of approximately two to three Strategic Advisors.
• Personally leading the firm’s most complex strategic advisory and value-creation engagements.
• Building trusted relationships with founders, shareholders and senior management teams.
• Diagnosing the financial, commercial and operational factors affecting performance and enterprise value.
• Identifying opportunities to improve revenue quality, gross margins, profitability, cash generation and long-term value.
• Advising clients on pricing, customer and product profitability, routes to market, working capital, cost base and the allocation of resources.
• Assessing whether leadership teams, organisational structures and operations are ready for the next stage of growth.
• Supporting owners considering acquisitions by assessing strategic fit, financial implications, possible scenarios and management readiness.
• Helping clients prepare for investment or exit by strengthening forecasting, management information, financial evidence and performance discipline.
• Turning findings into clear, prioritised and measurable plans with defined actions, ownership and timescales.
• Providing constructive challenge and maintaining accountability throughout each engagement.
• Working closely with specialists across accountancy, tax, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, funding and wealth management.
• Contributing to senior leadership decisions concerning the firm’s strategy, investment, resources and future services.

This is not a role built around producing lengthy reports or simply presenting historic financial information.

It is about understanding where a business makes its money, identifying where value is being lost and helping the owner decide where to focus next.

The experience required

This person needs to have lived and breathed business growth, change and acquisitions.

You may be:

• A Chief Financial Officer or Finance Director from a founder-led, acquisitive, scaling or private equity-backed business.
• A Director or Partner specialising in strategic finance, value creation, performance improvement, transactions or Office of the Chief Financial Officer advisory.
• A private equity portfolio operations or value-creation professional who has worked directly with management teams.
• An established fractional Chief Financial Officer or strategic finance adviser with a strong record of delivering measurable improvements.

You will need:

• A substantial track record across strategic finance, value creation, operational finance, corporate strategy or performance improvement.
• Senior-level experience working directly with founders, chief executives, boards and senior management teams.
• Evidence of improving business performance through revenue growth, stronger margins, better cash generation, improved commercial decisions or operational change.
• First-hand experience of acquisitions and the practical realities of integrating, scaling or professionalising a business.
• Experience supporting businesses through acquisition or investment, or preparing them for exit.
• Deep financial fluency and the ability to connect detailed financial and operational information to wider commercial decisions.
• Experience turning recommendations into executable plans with clear ownership, milestones and measures.
• The ability to recruit, lead and develop high-calibre people.

You must be polished and credible with successful entrepreneurs, but also practical, direct and free from unnecessary corporate theatre.

The successful person will be confident enough to challenge a founder constructively, experienced enough to know when to listen and commercially sharp enough to see the story behind the numbers.

The opportunity

• Base salary of up to £150,000, depending on the relevance and depth of experience.
• A direct reporting line to the Founder.
• A position within the senior leadership team.
• Genuine ownership of the Strategic Advisory proposition.
• The opportunity to build and lead your own high-calibre team.
• Direct access to successful founders and entrepreneurs.
• The chance to work across growth, acquisitions, investment, value creation and exit preparation.
• Access to an exceptional and increasingly influential entrepreneurial network.
• The opportunity to contribute to private dinners, events and high-level founder discussions.
• Fully remote working, with selected client meetings and events as required.
• The ability to influence the continued development of a rapidly expanding independent advisory firm.

This is not an opportunity to inherit and maintain an established service.

It is an opportunity to create one—and to build it around some of the most interesting entrepreneurs and privately owned businesses in the market.