Group Head of Finance (m/w/d)

Group Head of Finance – Switzerland

We are looking for a Group Head of Finance to join one of our portfolio companies in German-speaking Switzerland. This key leadership role reports directly to the CEO and the Board of Directors and is responsible for leading a team of 3 to 5 direct reports.

Description – What This Person Will Do

General:

• Leads the Finance (accounting, controlling, treasury, and tax), Legal and understands its role as a business partner to the business units.
• Selects (where improvements necessary) and manages a team of specialists and external advisors (e.g., tax) primarily across two geographies – Germany and Switzerland – while also covering other relevant regions when necessary.
• Acts as a growth partner with an emphasis on business development, business case development, and analysis of strategic growth opportunities.
• Establishes and builds trusted relationships, creating alliances with internal managers (C-Level, business unit heads, employees) and external parties (advisors, investors, financing parties).
• Communicates well with these stakeholders to ensure transparency and accountability of the group and top management.
• Drives the digitization of the finance function, including accounting and controlling tools based on industry-specific standard software, supported by specialty software solutions to process bookings and reports as fast as possible while ensuring a high level of accuracy.
• Understands M&A and Post-Merger-Integration, with a clear eye and relevant experience to understand execution risks and mistakes.
• Experience with managing a project office to enable effective execution across a business.

Accounting:

• Ensures timely monthly reporting for Group and BU entities to management and investors and the debt reporting package to a sophisticated debt fund financing partner, including quarterly calculation of financing covenants.
• Ensures timely and accurate annual accounts, including consolidation, and required filings.
• Understands and can manage accrual accounting and defines the accrual policy accordingly.
• Consolidated annual accounts according to Swiss GAAP.

Controlling:

• Right-hand person to the CEO and helps the top management team define and achieve their targets, enabling the acceleration of business growth.
• Translates existing strategy into (easy-to-understand) numbers and KPIs, helping to drive the transformation from a leading value-added integrator (design-build-maintain) towards a full-fledged managed service provider (operate-automate).
• Ensures timely and insightful KPI reporting package to the board and investors.
• Helps align the workforce behind these numbers and KPIs by disseminating and explaining (repetitively) these numbers and the value behind them.
• Ensures accountability of Business Unit (“BU”) leaders regarding their numbers and has a good understanding of the key business levers that drive these numbers to help BU leaders deliver their results.
• Owner of the budgeting and forecast process, supervising, guiding, and challenging business unit leads and other involved parties, and presenting to the board and investors.
• Controls risk management metrics, identifying and managing key finance-related risks well and communicating operational/business risks to the organization where appropriate.

Treasury:

• Maintains regular contact with the existing debt finance provider and banks for liquidity and hedging programs.
• Provides accurate cash flow planning based on reported business, backlog, and pipeline.
• Proactively optimizes cash flow to the company, including NWC management with a strategic view and implementation skills (i.e., driving the organization) on this matter.
• Conducts pragmatic FX hedging activities.

Tax:

• Ensures timely tax filings, working closely with external tax advisors in two geographies.
• Manages tax matters effectively, optimizing taxes where possible.

Legal:

• Manages all legal matters, ensuring that legal is a value-adder & business enabler rather than a distractor/showstopper.
• Oversees corporate governance and regulatory compliance initiatives and ensures fast and effective legal advice and support to internal stakeholders on various matters.
• Manages the external legal team that drafts, reviews, and negotiates contracts, agreements, and other legal documents. Ideally handles simple legal matters and standard contracts in-house directly.
• Handles any potential legal disputes, litigation, and risk management issues.

M&A & Project Office:

• Supports M&A and add-on activities, including deal execution and post-merger integration.

Education / Experience:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Business Administration/Finance, e.g., MBA or similar.
• 3-10 years of experience in a relevant department/field.

Location:

• One of the locations in German-speaking Switzerland.