Head of Finance (CFO Track)

About the role

Lead the finance function of a fast‑growing dry bulk shipping and commodity trading group and progress to CFO as the business scales across shipping, mining and manufacturing assets.

Key responsibilities

• Lead group accounting, reporting, audit, FP&A and finance teams across multiple entities and jurisdictions.
• Run treasury operations including liquidity management, cash pooling, FX and interest‑rate risk, and covenant management.
• Own relationships with banks, lenders, trade‑finance providers and DFIs, expanding credit lines in the UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, London and other hubs.
• Drive capital allocation and investment appraisal for vessel, mining and manufacturing projects, including due diligence and valuation.
• Structure project, asset and trade finance (sale‑and‑lease‑back, new‑building finance, offtake and borrowing‑base facilities).
• Lead group restructuring of entities, funding and tax structures.
• Upgrade finance systems, processes and controls (ERP, consolidation, treasury and BI tools).
• Present financial performance and strategy to the CEO, board and lenders.
• Lead tax planning, optimisation and set‑up of new entities in multiple jurisdictions.
• Build cash‑flow dashboards and predictive forecasting for senior leadership.
• Own internal audit and deliver regular MIS reporting to the board.

Required profile

• 15+ years of finance experience, including 5+ years in a senior leadership role (Head of Finance, Group FC, Finance Director, VP Finance or CFO).
• Professional qualification (CA, CPA, ACCA, CIMA or MBA in Finance).
• Proven project finance or structured debt experience and direct bank/lender relationships across jurisdictions.
• Experience leading group restructuring or reorganisation.
• Leadership of finance teams of 15+ members, including treasury and trade finance.
• Asset or business acquisition experience with due diligence and valuation.
• Advanced Excel and financial modelling skills; working knowledge of Power BI or similar.
• Experience in shipping/vessel operations, commodity trading, mining or asset‑heavy manufacturing (adjacent backgrounds welcome).
• Tax structuring, transfer pricing and entity set‑up experience across multiple jurisdictions.
• Cash‑flow forecasting, dashboard creation and board‑level MIS reporting.

Required skills

• Due Diligence
• Valuation
• Financial Modelling
• Advanced Excel
• Power BI
• ERP systems (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, Dynamics)
• Consolidation tools (Hyperion, OneStream)
• Treasury platforms (Kyriba, GTreasury)
• Project Finance
• Structured Debt
• Cash Pooling
• Tax Planning
• MIS Reporting

What we offer

• A genuine growth mandate, not a maintenance role.
• A defined route to CFO with written milestones.
• Direct access to the CEO and board with real influence over asset acquisition and funding decisions.