A private equity backed global experiential marketing organization, newly formed through merger, is hiring a
Head of Finance for North America, its largest region by scale and profitability. The
Head of Finance, North America owns the financial performance of the region: delivering revenue, EBITDA, and cash commitments, and making sure pricing, staffing, and investment decisions are made with clear economics in front of them.
This is a hands-on operator role. The business runs on project-based work organized around client portfolios and specialist capabilities, so margin is won or lost in scoping, pricing, staffing, and billing. Finance needs to be in those decisions as they are made, not explaining the results afterward. At the same time, the region's finance operating model is being rebuilt: consistent forecasting and reporting, a new ERP, outsourced transaction accounting, and processes that hold up across the full project lifecycle. You will run the business and build the function in parallel.
WHAT YOU WILL OWN- P&L delivery and forecasting: own North America revenue, EBITDA, and margin against plan; lead the annual budget and quarterly reforecasts; run a weekly and monthly forecasting cadence that surfaces risk early and drives corrective action.
- Business partnership: primary finance partner to the North America President and leadership team, with decision support on pricing, resource allocation, client and portfolio profitability, and investment.
- Commercial and client finance: lead the client finance teams; enforce disciplined scoping, estimating, pricing, billing, and project profitability; partner with the business and legal on MSAs, rate cards, rebates, and contract terms.
- Resource planning and margin: align staffing and cost structure to revenue expectations; drive utilization and productivity; hold each portfolio and capability group to clear contribution targets.
- Cash and working capital: own the regional 13-week cash forecast and working capital performance; improve billing timeliness, collections, DSO, and vendor terms.
- Management reporting: deliver monthly reporting on performance, risks, and actions; partner with corporate accounting and the outsourced accounting provider so regional results are accurate, on time, and useful.
- Operating model build: stand up standardized forecasting, reporting, and KPI tracking; drive adoption of the new ERP (D365); implement end-to-end finance processes across the project lifecycle; support procurement discipline and the rollout of pricing and cost allocation frameworks.
- Synergies and cost: track and deliver integration synergies and cost savings for the region.
- Team and capability: lead and develop the North America finance team with clear roles and accountability, a commercial, client-oriented culture, and applied AI and automation to cut manual effort.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE - North America delivers revenue, EBITDA, and margin against plan, and the forecast is accurate enough that there are no late surprises.
- Work is priced, staffed, and billed against clear economics, and project profitability is visible while work is in flight, not after it closes.
- Cash conversion improves: lower DSO, less unbilled work, and a 13-week cash forecast leadership trusts.
- A standard forecasting, reporting, and KPI cadence is live across portfolios and capabilities, running on the ERP rather than offline spreadsheets.
- Synergy and cost savings commitments are realized and tracked.
- The business sees finance as a partner in its decisions, and the team has clear ownership and a bench that can scale.
WHAT YOU BRING - Required: senior finance leadership of a regional or divisional P&L of meaningful scale; background in project-based professional services, agency, or experiential, with a deep understanding of pricing, utilization, and project profitability; strong FP&A and forecasting discipline; a track record of partnering with commercial leaders and influencing decisions in real time; cash and working capital management; PE-backed experience, with the pace and accountability that environment demands; has led a finance team through integration, systems change, or operating model redesign; a hands-on operator with a bias for action and high accountability for outcomes.
- Preferred: CPA, CMA, or MBA; post-merger integration experience; US and Canada exposure; experience working with an outsourced accounting provider; familiarity with D365 (F&O), DataRails, and Power BI; practical use of AI and automation in finance.
