Middle East Country Platform Lead (CFO) — Technology

Position overview

Gladwin International Leadership Advisors is representing a confidential organisation in Technology & Digital on a senior CFO leadership mandate anchored in Middle East. The remit explicitly spans Canada, Australia, Continental Europe.

This is a P&L-owning regional leadership mandate with full accountability for revenue, margin, talent, and governance across the defined geography.

Expect a mandate where credibility is earned in rooms with customers and regulators, not only in headquarters workshops.

Context you will inherit

• Market & sector: Building diverse, inclusive engineering organisations in a sector historically skewed toward homogeneity
• Geographic spine: Primary hub Middle East with explicit corridor responsibility across Canada, Australia, Continental Europe.
• Organisation stage: Growth agenda collides with legacy cost base; productivity and automation are board-level topics, not staff functions.
• Stakeholders: Owners may include PE operating partners, a promoter family office, or public-market investors — each with different tempo and KPIs.
• Secondary lens: Leading AI/ML and GenAI transformations at pace — requiring leaders who can bridge deep technical architecture with business product strategy

The mandate (12–24 month arc)

1. Performance management: Implement a single view of segment economics; kill vanity metrics that confuse the executive committee.
2. Tax & treasury: Optimise structure where legal and practical; ensure treasury policy matches operating reality in each hub.
3. M&A finance: Lead model quality, synergies discipline, and integration of finance teams on deals.
4. Digital finance: Sponsor ERP / EPM roadmap and management reporting automation — fewer spreadsheets, more decisions.
5. Enterprise risk partnership: Co-own conduct and operational risk themes where financial incentives drive behaviour.
6. Team capability: Hire or develop FP&A and business finance partners who can challenge GMs with data, not slides.

Responsibilities (representative)

• Build finance business partnering that GMs trust as thought partners, not scorekeepers only.
• Sponsor digital finance roadmap — close, planning, and management reporting on modern platforms.
• Co-own working capital programme with COO and sales — DSO, DPO, inventory as appropriate.
• Lead finance integration on acquisitions with clear Day-1 / Day-100 milestones.
• Align incentive design with cash and return metrics, not only accounting profit.

Leadership profile

• Judgment: High signal-to-noise under pressure; ethical clarity; willingness to halt initiatives that break risk appetite.
• Capital discipline: Examples of improving forecast accuracy, returns, or balance-sheet resilience in Technology & Digital.
• Education: Strong undergraduate grounding; MBA / advanced degree / professional qualification common at this level.
• Communication: Executive presence in English; additional languages valued where market-relevant.
• Geographic muscle: Comfort operating from Middle East with regular engagement across Canada, Australia.

Team & culture

Silos are real. Your job is to design forums and incentives so product, technology, risk, and commercial leaders solve problems together instead of optimising local KPIs.

Success measures (examples)

• Value creation: EBITDA / cash trajectory vs. owner or board case — especially under stress scenarios.
• Execution: On-time delivery of named transformation milestones; reduction in repeat incidents or audit findings.
• Leadership: External hires and internal promotions that stick; reduction in key-person concentration.
• Innovation: Launched offers or capabilities that move the needle on differentiation, not pilots that stall.

First 90 days (orientation arc)

• Days 1–30: Map cash, covenant, and customer concentration risks before announcing initiatives.
• Days 30–60: Align owners and board on a 12-month value story — financial and non-financial.
• Days 60–90: Launch two quick operational fixes that build credibility with frontline managers.
• Deep-dive on talent — who is load-bearing, who is blocking, where external hire is mandatory.
• Socialise a simple KPI tree so every function sees how their metrics roll up.

Stakeholder map (illustrative)

• Internal: Executive committee, functional peers, shared services leads, and programme PMOs.
• External: Key suppliers, technology partners, and joint-venture boards where applicable.
• Board / owners: Expect deep dives on risk, liquidity, talent, and transformation — slides light, substance heavy.

Travel & mobility

Travel weighted to priority markets and quarterly global or regional forums; flexibility for crisis windows.

Compensation

Package aligned to CFO benchmarks in Technology & Digital — typically fixed, variable, benefits, and mobility where applicable. Structure detailed at shortlist.

Application status

This mandate is no longer accepting new applications. The search progressed through Q4 2025 and closed for submissions in February 2026. We retain this posting for transparency on the type of leadership work we carry in Technology & Digital and Middle East. For similar active mandates, browse open roles or submit a general profile through executive search inquiry.

Reference: technology-digital · CFO · Middle East · Gladwin International Leadership Advisors