Australia CFO — Energy (Regional Leadership)

Position overview

Gladwin International Leadership Advisors is representing a confidential organisation in Energy & Natural Resources on a senior CFO leadership mandate anchored in Australia. The remit explicitly spans USA, India, Malaysia.

This is a sector or practice-head mandate combining deep domain credibility with commercial ownership of a vertical P&L or global practice line.

The mandate fits a leader comfortable owning the narrative externally while upgrading how decisions are made internally.

---

Context you will inherit

• Market & sector: Green hydrogen — an entirely new industry requiring leadership with electrolyzer technology understanding, offtake market development, and project finance expertise
• Geographic spine: Primary hub Australia with explicit corridor responsibility across USA, India, Malaysia.
• Organisation stage: Growth agenda collides with legacy cost base; productivity and automation are board-level topics, not staff functions.
• Stakeholders: Owners may include PE operating partners, a promoter family office, or public-market investors — each with different tempo and KPIs.
• Secondary lens: Project development at scale — utility-scale solar, wind, and pumped hydro projects require project development, EPC management, and financial close expertise

---

The mandate (12–24 month arc)

1. Performance management: Implement a single view of segment economics; kill vanity metrics that confuse the executive committee.
2. Tax & treasury: Optimise structure where legal and practical; ensure treasury policy matches operating reality in each hub.
3. M&A finance: Lead model quality, synergies discipline, and integration of finance teams on deals.
4. Digital finance: Sponsor ERP / EPM roadmap and management reporting automation — fewer spreadsheets, more decisions.
5. Enterprise risk partnership: Co-own conduct and operational risk themes where financial incentives drive behaviour.
6. Team capability: Hire or develop FP&A and business finance partners who can challenge GMs with data, not slides.

---

Responsibilities (representative)

• Build finance business partnering that GMs trust as thought partners, not scorekeepers only.
• Sponsor digital finance roadmap — close, planning, and management reporting on modern platforms.
• Co-own working capital programme with COO and sales — DSO, DPO, inventory as appropriate.
• Lead finance integration on acquisitions with clear Day-1 / Day-100 milestones.
• Align incentive design with cash and return metrics, not only accounting profit.

---

Leadership profile

• Education: Strong undergraduate grounding; MBA / advanced degree / professional qualification common at this level.
• Capital discipline: Examples of improving forecast accuracy, returns, or balance-sheet resilience in Energy & Natural Resources.
• Judgment: High signal-to-noise under pressure; ethical clarity; willingness to halt initiatives that break risk appetite.
• Communication: Executive presence in English; additional languages valued where market-relevant.
• Geographic muscle: Comfort operating from Australia with regular engagement across USA, India.

---

Team & culture

Inclusion and psychological safety are not separate programmes — they are prerequisites for honest debate on strategy and risk. Model curiosity, direct feedback, and consequences for conduct lapses.

---

Success measures (examples)

• Growth quality: Mix of recurring revenue, new logos, and cross-sell — not volume for its own sake.
• Productivity: Unit cost, automation savings, or throughput improvements with audited baselines.
• Customer: NPS / CSAT where tracked; contract renewals; reference-ability in strategic accounts.
• Franchise: Clean compliance record; reputation stability in industry and government forums.

---

First 90 days (orientation arc)

• Days 1–30: Listening tour — customers, regulators (as appropriate), top team 1:1s, and unfiltered view of numbers; pause major reorganisation.
• Days 30–60: Publish a short memo on priorities, non-goals, and decision rights; align executive committee on three enterprise bets.
• Days 60–90: Lock operating cadence; fill or upgrade one to two critical seats; deliver one visible win (customer, cost, or culture).
• Commission a pragmatic view of data, cyber, and automation posture; sponsor one bounded pilot with ROI hypothesis.
• Establish escalation discipline with matrix partners — fewer meetings, clearer decision logs.

---

Stakeholder map (illustrative)

• Internal: CEO or regional president, CFO, risk / legal, CHRO, CIO or CDO, business GMs, internal audit.
• External: Strategic accounts, channel partners, industry associations, regulators (where material).
• Owners: PE operating partners, promoter office, or public investors — pace and clarity matter as much as vision.

---

Travel & mobility

Travel weighted to priority markets and quarterly global or regional forums; flexibility for crisis windows.

---

Compensation

Market-aligned CFO remuneration in Energy & Natural Resources with performance linkage; sign-on and relocation considered for exceptional fits.

---

Application process

Gladwin International is managing this search confidentially. Shortlisted candidates will engage in structured conversations with the firm’s partners before client introduction. Please apply through the careers portal with a concise note on why this geography, sector, and remit fit your trajectory.

We review every submission personally; unsolicited outreach to the end client is discouraged and may disqualify candidacy.

---

Reference: energy-natural-resources · CFO · Australia · Gladwin International Leadership Advisors