Portfolio Financial Director

Job Description

As a generalist investor into scale-up businesses the firm engages with a wide variety of companies throughout the investment phase and is seeking to develop in-house capabilities to better understand the potential of the finance functions of companies theyinvest into, but also to work closely with those portfolio companies and their management teams to support upskilling over time.Working as part of a close-knit team this newly created role will lead on finance function interaction and drive best in class finance support across the portfolio.Responsibilities:Pre-investment and at the point of investment

• Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the finance functions within potential investees to support eyes wide open investment and ensure that the growth plans developed for portfolio companies include realistic capital allocations to the ongoing developmentof the finance team.
• Working with the transaction lead and investee management to agree KPIs for the business, and how to track these through appropriate MI.
• Onboarding investee finance teams, including integration with their portfolio monitoring software.

Post investment

• Work with portfolio company finance functions to develop their own internal growth plan and guide them through typical scale-up challenges.
• Work with portfolio company finance leads to continually upgrade MI including best practice data visualisation, with the aim of informing decision making and building value within portfolio companies come assessment by follow-on investors / purchasers.
• Monitor monthly management accounts to ensure no surprises from a financial perspective.

Other responsibilities

• Taking full ownership of the third-party portfolio management software, ensuring maximum usage and benefits.
• Parachuting into a portfolio company finance function in case of crisis.
• Initiating regular meetings and networking between portfolio FDs and CFOs to foster ideas sharing and collaboration.
• Supporting the investment team with strategic growth initiatives.

Your background:

• Formal accounting qualifications - ACA/CA preferred or equivalent - and a big plus if you initially trained in a small to medium sized accounting firm
• Direct exposure to/within finance functions of scale-up businesses (any sector). Its likely you will be working in a high growth SME with proven credentials in commercial finance roles. Alternatively you could be in a similar portfolio focused financerole at another private equity or venture capital firm.
• Experience of working in or with SME organisations is essential given the portfolio youll be supporting.
• Experience at developing and improving the structure and format of management information, with a focus on the clear presentation of data to support strategic decision making.
• Excellent communication skills including formal report writing and an adaptable conversational manner (engaging with FCs, FDs and CFOs across a wide range of company sizes and sectors)
• Collaborative, open approach, with a desire to contribute to wider team success and be an integral part of a high-performance business unit.
• Innovative, dynamic and problem-solving approach.
• Keen interest in business growth, commerciality, and strategy; ability to see the bigger picture.

Eames Consulting is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.

Keyskills :
financial analysisfinancial controllercommercial financeportfolio finance