Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Job Title: Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Reports To: Group Chief Executive Officer This is a deeply commercial, operationally embedded CFO role—not a back-office accounting position. In technology distribution, the finance function is a strategic weapon. You will be the ultimate guardian of a complex balance sheet, managing negative working capital cycles, multi-jurisdictional tax structures, and vendor financing programs that underpin profitability. Reporting to the CEO and partnering intimately with the COO and Chief Revenue Officer, you will lead Global Finance, Treasury, Tax, and Risk Management. You will provide the analytical lens that determines which products, regions, and customers truly generate economic profit. Key Responsibilities 1. Financial Strategy & Commercial Partnership · Co-pilot the business with the CEO and COO, translating operational metrics (inventory turns, fill rates, sell-through velocity) into financial outcomes and predictive forecasts. · Architect and defend the group's financial plan—balancing top-line volume aspirations against the non-negotiable requirement for margin discipline. · Lead the financial evaluation of vendor deals, large-scale channel programs, and tenders, ensuring back-end rebates, price protection, and stock rotation rights are properly modeled and priced. · Drive a culture of "economic profit" consciousness, embedding EVA or similar metrics into decision-making beyond simple EBIT. Treasury, Working Capital & Cash-to-Cash Cycle · Own the cash-to-cash cycle as the company's central KPI; aggressively manage the triangle of receivables, payables, and inventory days. · Optimize a multi-layered debt and funding structure across revolving credit facilities, trade finance, invoice discounting, and supply chain finance programs. · Manage foreign exchange exposure across 40+ currency pairs, implementing cost-effective hedging strategies in volatile emerging-market jurisdictions. · Deepen the utilization of vendor financing programs (extended dating, floorplanning) as a competitive moat and source of free float income. 3. Global Tax, Compliance & Risk · Design and defend the group's global transfer pricing policies, ensuring arm's-length compliance across complex cross-border fulfillment and commissionaire structures. · Lead the global tax strategy—managing effective tax rate, indirect tax (VAT/GST) optimization on cross-border supply chains, and navigating OECD BEPS 2.0 implementation. · Own the enterprise risk management framework, covering credit insurance on customers obsolescence reserves, and cyber/fraud risk. · Oversee robust internal controls across fragmented ERP instances during the ongoing journey to a single global platform. Controllership, Reporting & Systems · Deliver accurate, timely consolidated financial reporting under IFRS (or relevant GAAP), leading the year-end audit and managing reporting covenant compliance for syndicated lending groups. · Drive the digital transformation of the finance function—automating reconciliations, moving from Excel-based consolidation to a unified CPM/EPM solution · Standardize chart of accounts, cost center structures, and management reporting definitions across all geographies to create a single source of truth on product-line and customer profitability. · Serve as a key member of the Executive Committee, bringing an independent, governance-focused voice to Board discussions and the Audit Committee. The Successful Candidate Essential Experience: · Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CPA, or equivalent) with significant post-qualification experience, including at least 5+ years in a senior finance leadership role (Group Financial Controller, VP Finance, or CFO) within a global, multi-entity organization. · Direct experience in technology distribution, broadline IT distribution, or a closely adjacent low-margin, high-volume supply chain business (e.g., electronic components, fast-moving consumer goods, industrial parts). · Deep fluency with the mechanics of back-end vendor rebates, price protection claims, stock rotation, and co-op marketing funds—and the accounting standards (IFRS 15) that govern them. · Demonstrated success managing complex global treasury operations, including cross-border cash pooling, restricted-market repatriation, and supply chain finance. · Track record of leading finance transformation—integrating systems, automating manual processes, and building shared service centers (captive or outsourced). Personal Attributes: · Commercial Instinct: You see beyond the general ledger. You understand that a 0.1% slippage in realized margin on a $1B line is material and you chase it doggedly. · Operational Grip: You don't just review the P&L by region; you understand the operational drivers behind the variances—freight inflation, mix shift, inventory aging. · Decisive Under Pressure: Comf