Divisional Chief Financial Officer — Project-Development Pipeline

The mandate

A multinational owner is evaluating a strategic transaction involving a UK infrastructure-development division. The business shares treasury, systems, people, guarantees and technical services with adjacent operations, while two years of uneven project execution have weakened confidence in reported economics. A new Divisional CFO must establish stand-alone financial truth and improve delivery forecasting before the owner chooses retention, partnership or separation.

The remit covers approximately £29,050 million in projects and operating assets and 1,500 employees and material partners. The CFO owns divisional planning, project control, accounting, cash, tax and treasury coordination, transaction economics, data-room governance and future finance design. The owner retains transaction authority and project executives retain delivery. Finance must make value, dependency and continuing obligation independently verifiable.

Stand-alone economics cannot be produced through percentage allocation. The CFO will trace shared guarantees, development teams, systems, offices, insurance, procurement and technical services to activity and future operating need. Each dependency needs permanent agreement, transitional service, replacement capability or stranded-cost treatment, with time and one-off cash.

Project recovery remains central. Design maturity, approvals, procurement, construction, claims and commissioning will connect to cost-to-complete. A transaction process cannot freeze weak forecasts or encourage premature revenue. Material changes will reach the committee and data room under controlled update procedures.

Why this seat is open

This is planned new hiring for the independent divisional model, with no predecessor. A four-to-six-month search permits appointment before the next strategic review. Existing group finance leaders retain statutory responsibilities until delegation is formal.

What you will own

• Produce auditable stand-alone P&L, cash flow, balance sheet and project economics.
• Trace shared services, guarantees, systems and people to executable treatments.
• Restore physical-to-financial project forecasts and completion cash.
• Build retention, partnership and separation scenarios.
• Govern data-room access, source lineage and transaction controls.
• Design the future finance team and transitional-service governance.

A dependency council will bring finance, technology, people, procurement and project owners together. Disputes will have evidence owners and decision dates. The board must see where value depends on untested transfer, customer consent or continuing group support.

Operating readiness will be rehearsed. Payroll, supplier payment, close, liquidity, guarantees, project approval and incident funding must work on day one. Transitional services will specify volume, service level, security, price and exit. They cannot become indefinite subsidies or hide missing management capability.

The data room will distinguish historical facts, management forecasts and transaction adjustments. Every material number will trace to a controlled source and methodology. Information barriers will protect bids, employees and counterparties, while management retains enough access to run the business.

Incentives and performance dialogue will use the same stand-alone definitions as valuation. Otherwise executives can optimise an allocated result that will disappear after separation. The CFO will document unreconstructable history and use defensible alternatives rather than imply false precision.

Tax, pension, insurance and guarantee separation will be addressed early. Historic group relief or pooled arrangements may not remain available, and replacement security can consume liquidity before completion. The CFO will model novation, collateral, consent and stranded obligation by scenario. Any vendor or customer contract requiring change of control approval will be tracked with timing and fallback.

Transaction conduct will protect business continuity. Forecasts and data-room updates need controlled approval, while deal teams cannot divert project controllers from live cash and delivery. Management presentations will distinguish personal incentive from evidence and disclose material changes promptly.

Buyer or partner questions that reveal a control or forecast weakness will enter normal remediation, not remain confined to the transaction workstream. Closure will be independently tested before management represents the weakness as resolved.

The first 12 months

During the first 90 days, the CFO will reconcile historical results, identify the 25 largest dependencies and establish transaction controls. The committee will receive an initial stand-alone bridge and urgent project reforecasts.

By month eight, two strategic scenarios should be fully costed, a pilot standalone close completed and material transitional services drafted. Data-room evidence must reconcile revenue, costs, projects, people, guarantees and liabilities.

At year-end, standalone reporting should close within eight working days with less than 3% unexplained variance. Ninety per cent of shared cost and cash must have evidence-based treatment, every critical service an exit plan and project completion forecasts remain within 5% for three months.

What the board will measure

• Economics that survive investor and auditor scrutiny.
• Clear treatment of shared and stranded capability.
• Project forecasts improved during transaction pressure.
• Day-one control and transitional-service readiness.
• A credible stand-alone finance team.

The person

You are a divisional CFO, infrastructure transaction finance leader or carve-out executive with 22–28 years of experience. You have governed at least £16,850 million and 1,050 employees. Evidence must include a stand-alone close, a complex shared-service treatment and a project reforecast that changed transaction value.

This onsite London role requires project, adviser, owner and counterparty travel. You combine UK financial governance with practical infrastructure economics.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is £290,000–390,000 plus annual incentive and LTI. Measures include stand-alone accuracy, delivery visibility, transaction control, readiness and succession. Final calibration will reflect the divisional and transaction perimeter.

Confidentiality

The owner, division, projects, advisers and transaction evidence remain confidential. Controlled details follow qualification and an undertaking. London and approximate figures are non-identifying.