Group Chief Financial Officer — Diagnostic-Instruments Business

The mandate

A diagnostic-instruments business faces a backlog of European technical-file and assay submissions created by regulatory transition, acquired product history and limited specialist capacity. The portfolio remains commercially valuable, but not every instrument generation and reagent menu justifies the cost of renewed evidence, cybersecurity documentation, supplier remediation and post-market obligations. Several products are profitable on gross margin yet unattractive after field support, low-volume assay inventory and compliance cost are included.

The current financial plan treats the backlog as a central project and allocates cost broadly. Product leaders therefore defend revenue without owning the full cost-to-remain, while quality and regulatory teams carry commitments not consistently represented in forecasts. Operations is seeking capital for line transfers and obsolescence cover; commercial teams need adequate notice where products may leave a market. The board must approve a portfolio and funding decision before the next submission wave.

The Group Chief Financial Officer will build the economic spine for that decision and lead the resulting finance agenda. The role covers capital allocation, portfolio and lifecycle economics, accounting, tax, treasury, controls, procurement insight and board reporting. It will also govern provisions, inventory and contractual exposure created by product remediation or withdrawal. Finance must enable safety and regulatory decisions, never turn compliance into an arbitrary hurdle rate.

The Galway-based organisation encompasses approximately 675 employees and material partners across Ireland and international markets. This urgent, newly defined appointment reports to the Chief Executive and relevant board committee and is principally on site. The CFO will work directly with quality, regulatory, product, operations and commercial executives rather than analyse the backlog after technical choices have already been made.

Why this seat is open

The position has been enlarged from a regional finance remit into a group CFO appointment. Existing finance leadership remains in place for transaction processing and site control. The board created the enterprise seat after discovering that regulatory, portfolio and capital plans used different product hierarchies and assumptions, leaving no single accountable view of the financial consequences.

What you will own

• Build product-family economics incorporating revenue, instrument and assay margin, service, complaint, obsolescence, regulatory evidence, cybersecurity, supplier and post-market cost.
• Present fund, remediate, transfer, restrict or withdraw recommendations for the submission backlog without compromising independent safety and compliance judgement.
• Control an annual P&L and investment perimeter above EUR 500 million and lead finance and connected partners serving approximately 675 employees.
• Establish provisions and disclosures for remediation, warranty, field action, inventory, contractual commitments and product withdrawal using supportable probability and cost evidence.
• Align manufacturing and laboratory capital to the approved portfolio, testing volume, utilisation, transfer risk and continuity before authorising equipment or facility commitments.
• Lead accounting, tax, treasury, insurance, audit and internal control across the international business, including acquired product and entity complexity.
• Create a rolling cash and working-capital view that reflects long reagent shelf lives, service parts, low-volume assays and customer transition obligations.
• Equip product and functional leaders with decision-grade economics and require them to own forecast changes as regulatory scope and timing develop.

The first 12 months

• Days 1–90: Reconcile the portfolio, submissions, commitments and product hierarchy across finance, regulatory, quality and operations. Validate cash, provisions and capital already committed. Establish full lifecycle economics for priority families and identify decisions that cannot wait for perfect cost allocation.
• Months 4–9: Secure board approval for the portfolio route, fund the chosen submissions and execute financial actions for transfer or withdrawal. Implement product-family reporting, rephase capital and inventory and close control or audit findings affected by acquired systems and regulatory spend. Give customers and distributors financially supported transition plans.
• Months 10–12: Demonstrate submission investment and spend against approved gates, reduce stranded inventory and service exposure and complete the next planning cycle from the reconciled portfolio. Deliver a clean audit position on provisions and establish a finance bench able to challenge product and regulatory assumptions constructively.

What the board will measure

• Portfolio and submission decisions supported by complete lifecycle economics, with no safety or compliance obligation excluded because it sits outside a product P&L.
• Regulatory and remediation spend within approved ranges, with scope and timing changes reflected promptly rather than absorbed through unexplained variance.
• Accuracy and auditability of provisions for warranty, field, withdrawal, inventory and contractual exposures.
• Capital released from products not being renewed and redirected to approved evidence, transfer and manufacturing priorities.
• Reduction in obsolete inventory, unsupported service commitments and working capital tied to low-value product complexity.
• Audit and control performance across the international group, accompanied by stronger succession and business-partnering capability in finance.

The person

You are a group or divisional CFO, medical-device finance leader or diagnostics business finance executive with at least 28 years of experience. You have managed the economics of a regulated portfolio through remediation, submission transition or substantial SKU rationalisation. You have owned a P&L or investment perimeter of at least EUR 400 million and led at least 100 finance professionals within a 500-person-plus organisation.

You understand medical-device lifecycle cost beyond standard margin. You can model evidence generation, technical-file maintenance, complaint and field cost, service parts, assay obsolescence and customer exit obligations. You have set and defended material provisions with audit committees and external auditors, including cases where technical uncertainty changed over time.

Relevant backgrounds include in-vitro diagnostics, laboratory instruments, medical devices or regulated industrial products with installed-base and consumables economics. Direct EU regulatory-transition experience is strongly preferred. A general manufacturing CFO can qualify only with evidence of making product-continuation decisions under non-negotiable compliance obligations.

The position is on site in Galway with international travel. Candidates outside Ireland may be considered where relocation is realistic and European regulatory and statutory experience is current. The CFO must be firm about unsupported investment while treating regulatory, quality and engineering colleagues as owners of essential evidence rather than cost centres to be cut.

Compensation and terms

The indicative base salary is EUR 410,000–590,000, plus annual incentive and long-term participation. Measures will reflect portfolio decision quality, regulatory funding, provision integrity, working capital, controls and sustainable enterprise value. This permanent appointment reports to the Chief Executive and relevant board committee. Relocation and verified forfeited awards may be considered.

Confidentiality

The client, products, submission status and regulatory interactions are confidential. Identifying information will be released only after fit and confidentiality protections are established. Candidates must not contact notified bodies, distributors or industry peers to infer the organisation.

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