GROUP CFO (Industrial PE Ptf Co) in Rochester

Our client is an international group operating in the Transport Equipment Manufacturing sector, backed by a leading Italian PE and an international Private Equity Fund. Founded in the late 1900’s, the Group is headquartered in Northern Italy and operates with manufacturing facilities in Italy and America. With this footprint, they have been driving a relevant double-digit growth journey in recent years, which implies both organic and inorganic business opportunities. In 2023, they have achieved a turnover of 150+M€ with the ambition to double the results in 2025.

The business is growing fast and there is space for further growth. The current plan requires to add leadership in the Executive Team to exploit full potential. The new role of the Group CFO is now required to support organic growth as well as M&A and all ordinary and extraordinary business actions. The role is strategic and designed to report solid line to the CEO. The key goals will be:

• Deliver impact in driving finance as strategic partner of the business, across new business milestones and a growth mission in parallel with optimisation actions.
• Ensure full domain of technical topics, addressing a strategic dialogue with both the Executive team and Stakeholders, while communicating effectively both upwards and downwards.

Specific responsibilities & critical priorities:

• Establish trust with both Stakeholders and Executives and forge an effective business partnership to ensure a sound domain of all Finance topics, full control of all KPIs, and enable growth and the reach of strategic goals.
• Take the leadership of all functional areas in the scope, and act as a role model to reinforce finance credibility and reshape its ability to commit and deliver across new goals, including enabling stakeholders to take decisions rooted on solid reasons.
• The mission will focus on the set up of a new Strategic Finance function, steering the team to achieve excellence targets both in monitoring and planning financial performances towards the targets.
• Rethink and rework financial processes and practices across all sub-functions (and current / future subsidiaries), drive an upskill and alignment phase to Group guidelines, reduce transactional work and improve understanding of financial KPIs as the new normal, to represent facts and figures.

Some highlights:

• Controlling – optimize a reliable set of information for the Executive team, and set up of evolved business intelligence tools to drive discussions and reviews; ensure the delivery of long term planning, budget and forecasting cycles across all companies of the Group.
• Accounting & Statutory – Leverage systems in place to elaborate Reporting and Financial Statements to provide regular executive reports; Statutory Books and Tax Reports in line with streamlined compliance requirements; Consolidated financial statements if any.
• Treasury – Enhance attention to cash control methodologies, cash planning and forecasting, inflation and fx management across the whole group.

The current team is organized across classic sub-functions; skills and delivery capabilities are in place and will eventually be reinforced according to progression of needs, in a matrix organization. Leadership mission is to act as business partner influencing all other functions, challenging the status quo with proactive approach to problem solving, thus supporting Stakeholder and CEO in taking thoughtful, predictive decisions.

A key responsibility of the role will be to identify and manage M&A opportunities and run strategic investments in close connection with Stakeholders, providing direct contribution to the transaction analysis and negotiation, as well its execution. Provide an insightful contribution across strategic topics and take the leadership of specific projects, with focus on efficiency and working capital optimisation.

Requirements ("Must have"):

• Round and senior experience of 15+ years in Regional CFO / Senior Finance Director roles, within international industrial companies.
• An experience with PE Portfolio Co. would be definitely a strong plus.
• M&A experience a must.
• Able to drive execution, i.e. to support growth while reshaping finance in a fast-changing and growing environment.
• Demonstrated track of achievements in high pressure context, and ability to understand market dynamics, assess opportunities and risks for the business, and take appropriate decisions, rooted on solid arguments.
• Ability to enforce the way Finance is perceived as key contributor to value creation across both corporate and subsidiaries, and to take full ownership in front of key internal and external stakeholders.
• Solid 360 finance knowledge: Accounting & Consolidated Balance Sheet – Controlling/FP&A – Treasury – Tax and M&A.
• Strong business judgment, supported by strong business analytics, not limited to financial mindset.

Key skills will encompass:

• Assertive and result oriented leadership: strong orientation for results, able to persist and raise the bar to new standards.
• Comes across with compelling reasons for improving, removing obstacles and providing guidance, with clear focus on key priorities and resistance to setbacks.
• Hands on, and able to decide and make things happen with the right mix of energy and resilience.
• Engaging with people, yet able to reassure and listen while managing the necessary upskill.
• Able to create a high performing culture, and convey engagement even when under pressure, helping see the big picture.
• A good communicator, can influence the audience and can articulate reasons in front of the CEO and stakeholders.
• Entrepreneurial style and willing to join a mid-size company with strong growth potential and make it a champion in its space.

Fit with Leadership, stakeholders, culture and mission:

Languages: Fluency in English is a must. Fluency in Italian would be considered a great plus. The position is based in the North of Italy. Only those profiles meeting all Client’s requirements will be given answer and contacted back.