About the Organization
Our client is a family-owned, international food and beverage organization with restaurant operations spanning multiple countries, including Canada. The company operates a growing portfolio of globally recognized quick-service restaurant brands.
With a strong track record of growth and an entrepreneurial culture, the organization continues to invest in its people, operations and finance infrastructure to support its expanding business across multiple entities, brands, jurisdictions and currencies.
About the Opportunity
Our client is seeking a Vice President, Finance to join its senior leadership team and play a critical role in strengthening and evolving the finance function across Canada and the UK.
Reporting to the CFO, this is a broad, highly visible leadership role that combines strategic finance leadership with hands-on ownership of core financial processes. The successful candidate will oversee financial and management reporting, FP&A and commercial finance, treasury and banking relationships, and provide financial leadership on M&A and other strategic initiatives.
The role is well suited to a finance leader who can operate comfortably at both the VP and Controller level - someone who can provide strategic insight and decision support to senior leadership while maintaining a strong grasp of the underlying financial detail and reporting infrastructure.
Key Responsibilities
Financial Reporting
- Take ultimate ownership of the financial and management reporting function across Canada and the UK.
- Review and ensure the accuracy, integrity and timeliness of financial reporting prior to presentation to the CFO.
- Oversee the preparation and review of monthly, quarterly and annual financial reporting.
- Partner with internal and external stakeholders, including auditors and advisors, on financial reporting matters.
- Ensure appropriate reporting processes, controls and accounting policies are in place across the organization.
- Provide financial insight and analysis to support senior leadership decision-making.
FP&A & Commercial Finance
- Lead the annual planning, budgeting and forecasting processes across the business.
- Develop and maintain the company's business plan and financial models.
- Establish reporting and performance measurement frameworks that connect financial results to business decisions.
- Partner with operational and commercial leaders to evaluate performance, identify trends and develop actionable recommendations.
- Track performance against budget, forecast and strategic objectives, providing meaningful variance analysis and recommendations.
- Support decision modelling and scenario analysis for major business initiatives.
- Work closely with the UK finance team, leveraging its established commercial finance and FP&A capabilities while strengthening the Canadian function.
Cash Management & Treasury
- Take ownership of cash management and treasury activities across Canada and the UK.
- Develop strong relationships with banking partners and financial institutions.
- Oversee liquidity, cash flow forecasting and working capital management across two countries and two currencies.
- Develop improved visibility and controls around cash movements between Canada and the UK.
- Provide senior leadership with clear insight into liquidity, funding requirements and cash flow.
M&A & Strategic Projects
- Provide financial leadership and support throughout M&A and other strategic transactions.
- Act as a key finance point of contact during transaction execution and subsequent integration.
- Partner with the CFO and external advisors on financial analysis, due diligence and transaction-related activities.
- Serve as the bridge between transaction execution and the operational transition of acquired businesses.
- Lead or participate in other strategic finance initiatives and projects as the business evolves.
Finance Transformation & Systems
- Serve as the finance project owner for the company's transition to IFRS 16 lease accounting.
- Act as the primary finance point of contact for auditors, consultants and other external advisors throughout the implementation.
- Lead the financial requirements and stakeholder coordination associated with the project rather than performing the underlying transactional work.
- Support the organization's evolution from its current Sage ERP environment toward Sage Intacct.
- Bring experience with ERP implementations, finance transformation and process optimization to help build a more scalable finance infrastructure.
The Ideal Candidate
The successful candidate will be a commercially minded finance leader who combines strong technical accounting and controllership fundamentals with sophisticated FP&A and business partnering capabilities.
You will likely bring:
- 12+ years of progressive finance experience, with experience operating at a senior finance leadership level.
- Experience leading financial reporting and controllership functions in a complex, multi-entity organization.
- Strong FP&A, budgeting, forecasting and financial modelling capabilities.
- Experience managing cash flow, treasury functions and banking relationships.
- Experience working across multiple entities, currencies and/or jurisdictions.
- Exposure to M&A, transaction execution and post-transaction integration.
- Experience leading finance transformation, ERP implementations or major finance systems projects.
- Strong understanding of IFRS and financial reporting requirements.
- Experience with IFRS 16 / lease accounting is an asset.
- Sage Intacct experience is an asset; broader ERP implementation experience is highly relevant.
- Interest in AI as it relates to data analysis and process automation
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to work effectively with executives, operational leaders, auditors, consultants and banking partners.
- A hands-on, entrepreneurial approach and the ability to move seamlessly between strategic thinking and detailed execution.
- A CPA or equivalent professional accounting designation is preferred.
Food & beverage or restaurant industry experience is not required. The organization is more interested in the complexity, breadth and quality of a candidate's finance leadership experience.
