Divisional Chief Financial Officer — Vehicle-Software Programme

The mandate

A multinational owner is evaluating a strategic transaction involving its Japanese vehicle-software programme. The division currently shares engineers, intellectual property, cloud contracts, laboratories and corporate services with adjacent businesses. Reported margins depend on allocations that do not reveal the cost of supporting software across electric vehicles already in the field. A newly created CFO will build a stand-alone economic and control model before the owner chooses retention, partnership or separation.

The remit covers approximately ¥15,150 billion in regional revenue and programme portfolio and influences 2,100 employees and partners. The CFO owns divisional planning, control, accounting readiness, tax and treasury coordination, commercial finance, separation economics, data-room governance and finance organisation design. The group retains transaction authority; product and engineering retain roadmap decisions. Finance must make their value and continuing obligations capable of independent verification.

Stand-alone cost cannot be produced by percentage allocation. The CFO will catalogue shared source code, platform teams, test assets, licences, cyber response, customer warranties and data services, assigning cost drivers and service requirements. Some dependencies may become transitional services; others require duplicated capability or permanent commercial agreements. The economic model must show time, one-off cash and stranded cost for each route.

Electric-vehicle programmes bring revenue-recognition and capital questions of their own. Software bundled with a vehicle, separately activated functions and post-sale updates may carry different performance obligations. Development expenditure needs consistent stage gates and impairment evidence. The CFO will establish policies with group accounting and external advisers while keeping commercial leaders accountable for price, adoption and support demand.

Why this seat is open

The position is planned new hiring approved for the transaction-readiness phase; it is not a replacement. A four-to-six-month process allows technical finance diligence before the next strategic review. Existing group finance leaders maintain statutory and operating responsibilities until formal delegation.

What you will own

• Produce auditable stand-alone P&L, cash flow, balance sheet and support-obligation views.
• Trace shared technology, people, contracts and assets to executable separation treatments.
• Govern development capital, impairment, revenue policy and programme contribution.
• Build scenarios for retention, partnership, minority investment and full separation.
• Create a controlled data room with source lineage and permission discipline.
• Design the future finance organisation and transitional-service governance.

The CFO will run a dependency council separate from transaction advocacy. Engineering will validate technical indivisibility, procurement will confirm rights, HR will map people, and finance will price the consequence. Disputes will be recorded with an evidence owner and resolution date. The board committee must see where valuation depends on an untested assumption, especially software portability, customer consent or continued access to group infrastructure.

Readiness includes operating resilience. A clean data room is insufficient if payroll, supplier payment, incident response or customer billing cannot function on day one. The CFO will commission dry runs for close, liquidity, access control and key intercompany settlements. Transitional services will specify volumes, service levels, security, charging and exit milestones so they do not become indefinite subsidies.

Management incentives and forecasts will be recast on the same stand-alone definitions used for valuation. Otherwise leaders could optimise an allocated group result that will disappear at separation. The CFO will document any historical information that cannot be reconstructed and establish a defensible alternative rather than imply false precision.

The first 12 months

During the opening 90 days, the CFO will reconcile historical divisional results, identify the 25 most material shared dependencies and establish a transaction control protocol. The committee will receive an initial stand-alone bridge and decisions where missing rights or data threaten optionality.

By month eight, two complete separation scenarios should be costed, material accounting policies documented, and a pilot standalone close completed. Data-room evidence for revenue, customers, people, IP cost and liabilities must reconcile to controlled sources.

By year-end, monthly stand-alone reporting should close within eight working days with less than 3% unexplained variance. At least 90% of shared cost and cash flows must have evidence-based treatment, every critical transitional service needs an accountable exit plan, and no high-risk access or financial-control issue may remain unowned beyond 30 days.

What the board will measure

• Economics that survive buyer, partner and auditor scrutiny.
• Clear distinction between separable, shared and stranded capability.
• Transaction speed without loss of operating control.
• Disciplined development and support accounting.
• A credible standalone finance team.

The person

You are a divisional CFO, business CFO or finance director with 22–28 years in automotive, technology or complex carve-outs. You have governed at least ¥8,800 billion and organisations of 1,475 people or more. Required evidence includes a stand-alone close, a disputed allocation resolved through primary facts, and a transaction where operational readiness changed valuation or timetable.

The role is onsite in Tokyo and involves controlled engagement with global owners, advisers, customers and potential counterparties. Professional Japanese-market fluency and an ability to work across accounting cultures are important.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is ¥52–72 million plus annual incentive and LTI. Assessment will cover stand-alone accuracy, optionality, control, transaction delivery and finance succession. Final terms reflect experience, and notice up to six months may be supported.

Confidentiality

The owner, division, potential transaction, counterparties and data-room material are strictly confidential. Qualified candidates receive staged access after an undertaking. Tokyo and the approximate figures are not identifying clues.