Head of Finance and Operations

About Your New Employer

Our client is an established media and events business operating across Ireland and the United Kingdom.

• Join a successful company with a strong portfolio of media platforms, professional communities, awards programmes, conferences and industry events.
• Help lead an ambitious growth strategy focused on expanding the existing business and developing new digital services.
• Work in a commercially focused organisation with a broad client base and a strong presence across multiple industry sectors.
• This is an opportunity to join a growing business at an important stage of its development and have a direct impact on its commercial performance, profitability and operational effectiveness.

About Your New Job

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, you will be the senior finance appointment in the company, combining financial leadership with responsibility for business operations.

This is not a caretaker finance role. You will own the numbers, improve how the business operates and work directly with the CEO to turn the growth plan into practical execution.

As Head of Finance and Operations, you will:

• Lead the finance function across the company’s Irish and UK entities, including management accounts, budgeting, forecasting, cash flow, statutory accounts, audit, tax, VAT and payroll.
• Provide clear and timely reporting on revenue, margin and profitability across the company’s products and services.
• Partner with the CEO and Heads of Department on pricing, contracts, investment decisions, business development and commercial performance.
• Own the profitability of events and projects, ensuring each initiative has a clear costed plan before delivery and a post-completion profit and loss review.
• Improve margins by identifying cost-saving opportunities, renegotiating supplier arrangements and strengthening commercial decision-making.
• Manage procurement, supplier contracts, banking relationships, foreign exchange exposure and external advisers.
• Oversee finance and commercial systems, including finance and customer relationship management systems, ensuring they produce reliable reporting.
• Lead and develop the finance team as the business grows.
• Manage operational projects, outsourced delivery arrangements, company administration, insurance, data protection, business continuity and people administration.
• Work with internal teams and external service providers to improve efficiency and remove operational bottlenecks.

Your performance bonus will be linked to two key measures: achieving the agreed annual revenue target and delivering the required net profit margin. Revenue growth at the expense of margin will not qualify for the bonus.

What Skills You Need

• A professionally qualified accountant with at least five years’ post-qualification experience.
• Experience as the senior finance professional in a small or medium-sized business, with ownership of the full finance function.
• Experience working across more than one company and currency, ideally involving both Ireland and the United Kingdom.
• A proven track record of improving margin through cost reduction, supplier negotiation, pricing or operational change.
• Strong commercial and analytical skills, with the ability to turn financial information into clear business decisions.
• Strong systems capability, including experience specifying, implementing or improving finance and customer relationship management systems.
• Experience working directly with a CEO, founder or senior leadership team.
• The confidence and initiative to operate in a fast-moving, remote business without relying on layers of process.
• Excellent organisational, communication and stakeholder management skills, together with high levels of integrity, discretion and attention to detail.
• A genuine appetite for growing a business and owning the outcome, rather than acting as a steady number two.

Experience in a project-based business, media, events, publishing, membership organisations or agencies would be advantageous. Experience building a finance team, commercial modelling, pricing or strategic business planning would also be beneficial.

What's on Offer

• A competitive senior-level salary and performance-related bonus.
• Additional benefits including pension, private healthcare and professional membership support.
• Remote working with occasional travel to the company’s main office.
• The opportunity to work directly with the CEO and influence the future direction of the business.
• The chance to lead and shape the finance and operations function as the organisation scales.

What's Next

Apply now to take ownership of finance, operations and commercial performance within an ambitious and growing organisation.

If this opportunity is not quite right but you are looking for a similar senior finance or operations role, please get in touch to discuss other options.