Finance Director Designate
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Your new company
You will be joining a high-growth, market-leading technology and software business with an exceptional track record of both organic expansion and strategic acquisitions. Following a period of significant transformation, the organisation is entering its next phase of growth, with further investment planned to scale across existing and new markets. This is a pivotal time to join, with real opportunity to shape the future commercial and reporting landscape.
Your new role
This is a highly visible, strategically important role with a mandate to drive best-in-class finance capabilities. You will lead the evolution of the finance function, embedding best practice, driving innovation, and delivering continuous improvement across reporting, controls, and business partnering.Working closely with the CFO, you will provide both strategic direction and operational leadership, partnering across sales, marketing, and operations to enhance commercial performance. You'll play a key role in defining new ways of working, influencing senior stakeholders, and building a forward-thinking, high-performing finance environment
What you'll need to succeed
You will be a qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, or CIMA) with experience operating in complex, fast-paced organisations - ideally within technology, SaaS, or software environments.You will bring strong leadership and influencing skills, with the ability to engage and inspire large, diverse finance teams. A credible and confident communicator, you will be comfortable operating at senior levels, driving change and shaping behaviours. Experience developing frameworks, improving performance, and embedding a high-performance culture will be key
What you'll get in return
You will receive a highly competitive package of up to £100k + car allowance and bonus. This is a predominantly site-based role (5 days), offering the opportunity to make a tangible impact both commercially and culturally.The business offers outstanding career progression within a respected, well-established organisation, with strong national and international opportunities. There is a clear and achievable pathway to Finance Director within 12-18 months, based on performance and delivery. The Manchester-based office is well located with excellent access to transport links and local amenities.
What you need to do now
If you're interested in this role, click 'apply now' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV, or call us now.
If this job isn't quite right for you but you are looking for a new position, please contact us for a confidential discussion on your career.
Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and employment business for the supply of temporary workers. By applying for this job you accept the T&C's, Privacy Policy and Disclaimers which can be found at hays.co.uk
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Highlight your ACA, ACCA, or CIMA qualification prominently at the top of your CV—the advert lists this as essential and the role requires a qualified accountant.
📊 Quantify your finance transformation impact: "Led reporting framework redesign across 12 cost centres, reducing month-end close from 8 to 5 days" or "Built finance team from 4 to 18 people while maintaining 98% control compliance."
🌐 Emphasise SaaS or software sector experience explicitly—the advert prioritises this industry context, so name specific software businesses or SaaS metrics you've worked with (e.g. ARR, churn, CAC).
🎯 Demonstrate CFO-level partnership: detail instances where you influenced C-suite decisions, shaped commercial strategy, or drove cross-functional initiatives with sales, marketing, and operations teams.
🤝 Showcase your high-performance culture building: provide concrete examples of embedding best practice, designing new finance processes, or coaching senior finance managers into leadership roles.
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Led finance transformation programme across 8 business units, embedding new reporting frameworks and controls that reduced month-end close cycle from 10 to 6 days and improved forecast accuracy to 94%.
- •Built and scaled finance team from 6 to 22 people, designing capability frameworks and coaching 4 managers into senior leadership roles within SaaS software environment managing £45M ARR.
- •Partnered with CFO and commercial leadership to redesign KPI dashboard for sales and marketing functions, driving 23% improvement in customer acquisition efficiency and £1.2M in incremental margin.
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
Your cover letter is ready
We've drafted a cover letter for Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited. Preview the opening, then unlock the full personalised version.
Letter preview — tailored to Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited
Dear Hiring Manager,
I am writing to apply for the Finance Director Designate position at your technology and software business in Manchester. Your advert highlights the need for a qualified accountant with SaaS sector experience and strong change leadership—both areas where I have delivered measurable impact. I am particularly drawn to the mandate to embed best-practice frameworks and drive continuous improvement across reporting, controls, and business partnering.
My background in finance transformation within complex, fast-paced organisations has equipped me to lead the evolution of finance functions at scale. I have developed performance frameworks, built high-performing teams, and partnered closely with C-suite stakeholders to enhance commercial performance and shape organisational culture.
Free signup, no card needed. Export to PDF/Word requires a £1.99 trial (14 days).
Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Walk us through a significant financial reporting or controls transformation you've led. What frameworks did you implement, and what measurable improvements resulted?
- ›Describe your experience with SaaS or software business models. How have you adapted financial reporting or commercial metrics to reflect the unique dynamics of recurring revenue?
- ›Tell us about a time you've designed or embedded a new performance management framework across a finance function. What KPIs did you introduce, and how did you drive adoption?
- ›How have you used financial data and insights to influence commercial strategy or sales/marketing performance in a previous role?
- ›Describe your experience implementing or upgrading financial systems. What was the scope, timeline, and how did you manage stakeholder change?
Behavioural
- ›Tell us about a time you've had to influence a senior stakeholder or C-suite executive who was resistant to a finance change initiative. How did you approach it, and what was the outcome?
- ›Describe a situation where you've built or scaled a finance team from scratch or significantly restructured it. What challenges did you face, and how did you develop your team's capability?
- ›Give an example of when you've had to balance operational excellence with strategic innovation in a fast-paced, complex organisation. How did you prioritise?
- ›Tell us about a time you've driven a cultural shift within a finance function—moving from a traditional compliance mindset to a more commercial, business-partnering approach. What did you do differently?
- ›Describe a moment when you've had to communicate a difficult financial message or change to a diverse audience (finance team, board, operational leaders). How did you frame it, and what was the impact?
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell us about a time you've had to influence a senior stakeholder or C-suite executive who was resistant to a finance change initiative. How did you approach it, and what was the outcome?
Describe a situation where you've had to drive a cultural shift within a finance function—moving from a traditional compliance mindset to a more commercial, business-partnering approach. How did you do it differently?