Divisional Chief Financial Officer — Data And Evaluation Platform

The mandate

A data and evaluation platform is approaching a strategic transaction without a sufficiently independent view of its economics. Shared services, intercompany arrangements, product investment and customer delivery costs are interpreted differently across the group. Commercialisation is increasing revenue but also widening the range of obligations carried by the division. The Divisional Chief Financial Officer will create a stand-alone financial truth that can withstand management, board and transaction scrutiny.

The perimeter covers approximately £1.15 billion in AI product and services revenue and about 400 employees and material partners across the UK, London and the wider operating region. It includes finance leadership for multiple customer, product and delivery clusters, plus the divisional implications of tax, treasury, controls, procurement and shared technology. The role must protect normal business performance while preparing information that can be diligenced without repeated reconstruction.

Transaction readiness is the consequence of sound management, not a separate data-room project. Revenue recognition, product capitalisation, customer concentration, recurring and project economics, liabilities, cash and separation dependencies need clear ownership now. The platform’s commercialisation choices should be made using the same evidence prospective counterparties will eventually test.

Why this seat is open

An accelerated leadership change has created an urgent replacement requirement. Interim cover preserves essential activity, but divided finance ownership cannot continue through a commercialisation inflection and potential transaction. The board seeks a permanent appointment within six to eight weeks and will handle the predecessor situation neutrally. The role is onsite in London, supports international relocation and reports to the Group Chief Executive and relevant board committee.

What you will own

You will build a defensible stand-alone P&L, balance sheet and cash-flow view. That requires documenting allocation drivers, identifying services that must be replaced or contracted after separation and distinguishing one-off transition effects from underlying performance. Each adjustment should have an owner, evidence trail and reconciliation to statutory or group reporting.

Commercial finance must reveal product and customer economics. You will connect pricing, evaluation effort, data costs, implementation, support and expansion so leaders understand contribution through the lifecycle. Contract review should surface obligations that accounting summaries obscure. The division needs early warning when apparent growth depends on unpriced custom work, uncertain acceptance or excessive working capital.

Controls need to operate independently enough for the division’s future shape. You will assess close, access, procurement, revenue, capitalisation, treasury and reporting controls, prioritising gaps that could undermine a transaction or day-one continuity. Remediation evidence must be reproducible. The CFO should coordinate auditors and diligence advisers without allowing them to substitute for management ownership.

Within the 400-person employee and partner perimeter, you will decide which capabilities belong in the division, which can remain shared and where leadership gaps threaten readiness. Forecasting and performance forums should use one data model. The board must receive a clear view of value drivers, exposures, separation cost and actions if the transaction path changes.

The first 12 months

During the first 90 days, reconcile the division’s historical performance and create an initial stand-alone bridge. Review key contracts, product investment, shared-service dependencies and working capital. Assess finance leaders, stabilise urgent control concerns and agree materiality, readiness milestones and decision rights with the board and group finance stakeholders.

From months four to nine, embed divisional reporting, repair priority controls and resolve high-value accounting or allocation judgements. Build the separation cost model and establish a controlled information repository. Improve forecast quality through customer and product economics. Demonstrate that a representative reporting period can close, reconcile and withstand independent challenge without exceptional effort.

At twelve months, the board should see stand-alone controls, visible value drivers and credible transaction readiness. Management information needs to support both continued ownership and a strategic process. Present a fully reconciled next-year plan, a three-year case and fallback actions covering separation timing, commercial underperformance or changed transaction assumptions.

What the board will measure

The annual case must be delivered within 10% of approval, with transaction and operating variances identified prospectively. Three quarterly forecasts should reconcile revenue, cash, customer obligations, investment and workforce. A defined barrier to independent economics must show measurable improvement from a verified baseline.

Priority reporting and control findings need timely closure plus evidence of sustained operation. Critical-finance retention should reach at least 90%, while 70% of direct reports require ready-now succession. No high-severity diligence or financial issue may sit without a decided owner and route for more than 30 days, and material surprises must reach governance promptly.

The person

You are a Divisional CFO, Business CFO or Finance Director with 22–28 years in AI, software, cloud, data infrastructure, analytics, applied research or a similar complex setting. You have held direct accountability for at least £750 million in P&L, budget, book or portfolio and led at least 275 people.

You have prepared a division for a sale, carve-out, listing or comparable strategic event while preserving operating focus. Your evidence includes independent financial statements or management accounts, control remediation and sharper customer or product economics. You can explain contested judgements and quantify their effect. References should verify your personal ownership with boards, auditors or counterparties.

Compensation and terms

The anticipated package is £290,000–390,000 base plus annual incentive and LTI, calibrated to final scope and current mix. Long-term awards follow standard vesting and performance conditions. A notice period up to six months is possible. The role offers recurring access to the group board and relevant risk and people committees.

Confidentiality

The client name, exact footprint, transaction path and predecessor information sit outside this brief. Qualified candidates will receive them under a mutual undertaking; the composite facts must not be circulated or reverse-engineered.