Responsibilities:

• Lead the senior management team and create clear accountability for delivery, culture and leadership development.
• Translate the CEO and board’s strategic priorities into structured business commitments with clear owners, deadlines and success measures.
• Own the P&L and work with the outsourced finance function to turn financial reporting into practical operating decisions.
• Own pricing and the commercial economics of new products and services, including securing the budgets required to support the operating model.
• Integrate the company’s service lines so the business operates as one connected client-delivery organisation while functional leaders retain ownership of execution.
• Establish clear roles, handoffs and decision rights across departments, resolving cross-functional friction where required.
• Set targets for heads of department, remove operational blockers and hold leaders accountable through a consistent performance rhythm.
• Chair senior leadership meetings, own management reporting cadence and track initiatives against agreed commitments.
• Establish and maintain governance, reporting structures and clear decision-making authority across the business, board and investor environment.
• Prepare accurate and timely reporting for the board and investors.
• Assess proposed operational and process changes against business priorities and company-wide metrics before directing execution through the leadership team.
• Use OKRs to create focus, determine priorities and challenge initiatives that do not support agreed business outcomes.
• Review higher-risk client-facing and public-facing documents where they create commercial, legal, brand or reputational exposure.
• Apply commercial and legal judgement to issues involving scope, liability, pricing, service commitments and claims, escalating to external legal counsel where specialist input is required.
• Establish appropriate standards, templates and review thresholds so lower-risk documents can be managed independently by department leaders.
• Build a stronger and more autonomous leadership layer by delegating meaningful ownership rather than centralising decisions.
• Coach senior leaders to strengthen their commercial and operational judgement, not only their functional capability.
• Build internal leadership capability and maintain an external talent pipeline for future leadership needs.
• Lead the integration of newly acquired businesses or teams into the organisation’s operating model, systems and culture where required.
• Represent the business credibly with clients, investors and the wider industry, including public speaking where appropriate.

Requirements:

• • 10+ years of demonstrably successful executive leadership experience.
  • Experience scaling a business, ideally within a service-at-scale model serving a larger number of smaller clients rather than a small number of enterprise accounts.
  • Strong financial acumen, including ownership of a P&L, interpretation of management accounts and reporting against commercial metrics.
  • Experience working with and reporting to a founder, board or investors.
  • Working knowledge of OKRs and the Scaling Up methodology, or the ability to apply both with discipline.
  • Strong operational judgement and the ability to turn broad strategic direction into practical priorities, ownership and execution.
  • A track record of making sound decisions under pressure and taking accountability for outcomes.
  • The confidence to challenge the CEO, board and leadership team constructively where required.
  • Strong delegation skills and a leadership style that gives senior team members meaningful ownership.
  • Commercially minded and comfortable working across structure, budgets, performance and organisational priorities.
  • Strong judgement around commercial risk, contractual exposure, pricing and business reputation.
  • Able to build leadership capability and create a culture of accountability without over-managing.
  • Comfortable representing the business externally with senior stakeholders.
  • Based in Johannesburg and able to work from the office.
  • Able to travel regularly to Cape Town.

  Nice-to-have experience includes a CA(SA) or equivalent finance qualification, integration of acquired businesses or teams, experience in digital marketing, technology or another SME-facing services business, and confidence in public speaking and brand storytelling.