Job Description
Our Client
An established, privately held food group with manufacturing and commercial businesses. Different operating models, investment priorities and cash cycles sit beneath the group numbers. The next Group CFO will need to understand each of them, and how decisions in one business affect the others.
Your Role
Reporting directly to the Chairman, you will take responsibility for the group’s financial direction and the quality of the decisions behind it. This is a role that moves between the factory floor, operating-company performance, banking discussions and the Chairman’s table. You will need to know where profits are being made, where cash is getting tied up and whether the next investment deserves the capital it is asking for.
The challenge is not simply to consolidate the accounts. It is to bring a clear view of risk, returns and cash across the group, question assumptions when necessary and keep the finance function dependable while the businesses grow and change. Multi geography role covering GCC+ Levant + CIS countries.
Key Responsibilities
Assess performance across businesses, plants, categories and channels. Get beneath headline revenue to understand contribution margins, cost to serve, capacity utilization, wastage and the quality of earnings.
Lead group budgeting, forecasting and performance reviews, with management information that makes variances, cash needs and corrective actions visible early.
Advise the Chairman on capital allocation across competing business needs, including plant investment, capacity expansion, new ventures and potential acquisitions. Test the assumptions, expected returns and downside cases.
Own treasury, funding and liquidity planning. Manage banking relationships, debt obligations and financing structures without allowing growth plans to outrun cash generation.
Improve working capital through disciplined inventory, receivables, payables and cash-conversion management, recognising the different economics of manufacturing and distribution.
Strengthen financial controls, reporting consistency, statutory compliance and governance across legal entities, while retaining visibility into the realities of each operating business.
Work with operating leaders on pricing, product mix, procurement, manufacturing efficiency and investment decisions. Challenge constructively and follow decisions through to results.
Build the capability of the group finance team, improve systems and reporting, and ensure reliable financial operations during periods of change.
Must-Have
Senior group finance leadership experience across multiple entities or operating businesses, with direct accountability for consolidated performance, funding and capital decisions.
Substantial experience in food manufacturing or FMCG . You must be comfortable with plant economics, inventory, supply chains, product margins and distribution costs.
Experience evaluating major capital expenditure, business expansion and investments, including return analysis, funding implications and post-investment performance.
Command of treasury, bank financing, liquidity, working capital and financial controls across a business of meaningful operational complexity.
Experience advising a Chairman, shareholders or board, with the independence to deliver an unwelcome conclusion clearly and the judgment to know how to do it.
Ability to move from consolidated financial statements to operational detail, and back again, without losing the commercial picture.
A recognized professional accounting or finance qualification.
Next Steps
Upload your resume via our ATS platform and ensure all form details are complete. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted within 5–7 working days for a detailed discussion about the role. Due to high application volumes, we can only respond to shortlisted profiles.