VP of Finance / Finance Director

About the role

AppliedAI builds Opus, an agentic AI platform that automates complex workflows for organisations in regulated industries. It is a fast-growing, venture-backed software company with teams across the UAE, South East Asia, Europe and the US. The VP of Finance leads the full finance function across a multi-entity, multi-country group, owning accounting, financial planning, treasury, finance operations and procurement, and reporting to investors, auditors and the board. This is a build role strengthening processes, systems and controls while leading a growing international team, reporting to the Global CFO.

Key responsibilities

• Accounting and controllership: run a fast, accurate month-end close; own the chart of accounts and multi-entity consolidation in the ERP; apply IFRS revenue recognition consistently; manage statutory audits, tax filings and regulatory submissions; build and maintain the accounting manual and internal controls framework.
• Financial planning and analysis: lead annual budget and quarterly reforecasts; produce management, board and investor reporting (ARR, NRR, gross margin, burn, runway, headcount); maintain the long-range model and scenario planning; build driver-based models for pricing, hiring and market expansion.
• Treasury: provide daily cash visibility across entities and currencies with a rolling 13-week cash forecast; manage banking relationships, intercompany funding and FX exposure; set and enforce treasury policy.
• Finance operations: oversee order to cash and procure to pay, including billing, collections, PO discipline and supplier payments; own payroll accounting across jurisdictions, including equity compensation; define the delegation of authority framework.
• Procurement: own purchasing policy, vendor onboarding and contract renewals; govern SaaS and cloud spend; partner with Legal and Operations on commercial terms and vendor consolidation.
• Systems and automation: act as functional owner of the ERP and its integrations with CRM, HR and payroll; drive requirements on CPQ and revenue systems; drive finance automation, including use of the company's own AI platform.
• Team leadership: lead, develop and retain a team of 15+ across multiple countries, set objectives, manage performance, standardise processes and build succession.

Required profile

• Professional accounting qualification (ACA, ACCA, CPA, CIMA or equivalent); audit background preferred.
• 12+ years in finance, including 4+ years as Finance Director, VP Finance or Controller at a SaaS or enterprise software company with USD 30m+ revenue.
• Experience leading a finance team of 10+ across more than one country.
• Track record of building finance functions in high-growth environments, ideally through a funding round.
• Nice to have: UAE experience (ADGM or DIFC regulation, corporate tax and VAT), exposure to USA, Malaysia and/or Singapore, and comfort giving direct feedback and managing performance.

Required skills

• Hands-on experience owning NetSuite (or a comparable ERP), including multi-entity consolidation and CRM integration.
• Deep IFRS knowledge, particularly IFRS 15 and IFRS 2.
• Multi-currency, multi-entity treasury experience.
• Procurement and spend governance, including SaaS and cloud cost control.
• Nice to have: Salesforce CPQ or Revenue Cloud implementation experience; AI tools for finance automation.

What we offer

• A competitive compensation package and growth opportunities.
• Exposure to strategic decision-making, M&A, fundraising and global sales growth.
• A collaborative, high-performance culture driven by innovation and purpose.