Group Chief Financial Officer — Commercial-Aerospace Programme

The mandate

A commercial-aerospace programme is redesigning a supply chain that includes restricted technical data, controlled components and suppliers operating under different national security regimes. Long-lead purchases have grown ahead of customer schedules, while finance cannot consistently connect inventory and commitments to configuration and certification. A Group CFO appointment will establish financial truth before further capacity is committed.

Approximately 1,100 employees and material partners support programme, engineering, procurement, industrial, quality, finance and customer functions from Toulouse across the wider operating region. The CFO owns finance, treasury, control, tax, programme economics, capital and board-committee reporting, working with the Group Chief Executive and relevant committee. Export and security decisions remain with authorised officers.

The opening priority is a configuration-linked commitment baseline. Purchase orders, customer demand, engineering revision, qualification and delivery dates must reconcile. The CFO will identify inventory ordered for obsolete configurations, duplicate buffers and commitments unsupported by an executable build plan.

Programme accounting needs operational evidence. Revenue, margin, provisions and estimates should reflect accepted milestones, remaining work, learning curves and supplier risk. The CFO will challenge schedule-based accounting where technical acceptance is uncertain and ensure any loss position is recognised without delay.

Restricted supply economics are not visible through unit price alone. Security facilities, data access, approved personnel, export licences, small batches and qualification add cost. The CFO will work with procurement and engineering to compare total landed and lifecycle cost, including the time and cash needed to qualify an alternative.

Supplier capacity payments require stronger terms. Tooling, reservation and advance payments may protect scarce slots, but they can become stranded if customer schedules move. The CFO will require deliverables, title, refund or conversion rights and independent confirmation. Relationship importance cannot replace evidence of asset or capacity received.

Inventory policy must distinguish strategic continuity from unmanaged accumulation. Long-lead components, shelf life, obsolescence and configuration effectivity require tailored rules. The CFO will quantify cash and exposure at part and programme level, then approve buffers with named decision owners.

Customer economics need transparency. Schedule changes, engineering amendments and compliance requirements can create recoverable cost under contract, but claims weaken when contemporaneous records are poor. The finance team will establish change logs and cost evidence without encouraging adversarial behaviour where a joint solution offers greater value.

Foreign exchange, escalation and inflation clauses are material across the supplier footprint. The CFO will connect hedge, index and contract positions to actual forecast timing. A hedge that no longer matches delayed cash flow creates a new exposure; effectiveness and designation need disciplined review.

Capital allocation will focus on bottleneck release and compliance. Additional equipment or secure capacity needs demand, utilisation, staffing, certification and exit assumptions. The CFO will review benefits after installation and stop local investments that duplicate network capability.

Cash conversion spans milestone documentation, customer acceptance, supplier terms and inventory. Finance will work beside programme teams to remove genuine blockers. Billing early without evidence or delaying valid supplier payment is not sustainable cash performance.

Internal control must work within restricted environments. Segregation, approval, audit and record retention should be designed for need-to-know access without excluding finance from necessary assurance. Sensitive details may be compartmented, but the economic decision and authorised evidence must remain reviewable.

The finance organisation will develop programme and supply fluency. Business partners should understand configuration, qualification and capacity rather than report variance after the event. Critical foreign, security and programme expertise needs succession so control does not depend on one cleared employee.

Board reporting will distinguish committed backlog, executable output, cash, supplier exposure and residual risk. The CFO must show where a customer schedule cannot be supported by the present chain and what capital or contractual decision follows.

What you will own

• Group finance, treasury, tax and internal control.
• Programme accounting and estimate integrity.
• Restricted supplier, inventory and commitment economics.
• Capital, capacity and post-investment review.
• Customer-change, cash and working-capital evidence.
• Foreign exchange and contractual escalation exposure.
• Board-committee reporting and independent challenge.
• Finance leadership and succession.

The first 12 months

Within 45 days, reconcile supplier commitments, inventory, customer schedule and programme accounting. Identify any unsupported capacity payment or obsolete configuration exposure.

By month six, implement configuration-linked working capital, change-cost records and total-cost supplier decisions. Rephase or cancel lower-confidence commitments.

At twelve months, release EUR 250 million of cash and avoided commitment, improve programme cash forecast accuracy to within 5% and reduce inventory without current configuration demand by 50%. Every material capacity payment should have enforceable rights and evidence, with no financial-control breach caused by compartmented access.

What the committee will inspect

• Commitments tied to approved configurations and demand.
• Programme margin reflecting technical acceptance risk.
• Supplier alternatives including security and qualification cost.
• Inventory buffers approved for explicit continuity purpose.
• Customer changes supported by contemporaneous evidence.
• Finance assurance functioning inside restricted controls.

The person

You bring 28+ years in finance, including Group or divisional CFO accountability in aerospace, defence or another long-cycle engineered industry. Your record includes programme accounting, restricted supply, customer contracts, working capital and capital allocation across international operations.

French and wider European operating exposure is important, alongside board, auditor and government-customer credibility. The permanent role is onsite in Toulouse. Required national-security, access and export eligibility will be confirmed before protected information is shared.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is EUR 410,000–590,000 plus annual incentive and long-term participation linked to cash, programme truth, supplier resilience, capital and leadership. This permanent Toulouse appointment works onsite and reports to the Group Chief Executive and relevant board committee. The timetable is urgent because commitments are being reset.

Confidentiality

The programme, customers, configurations, suppliers, contracts, controlled data and financial exposure remain confidential. Further disclosure follows eligibility, conflicts and signed confidentiality. Candidates must not contact aerospace customers, suppliers or public authorities to infer the client.