Chief-of-staff to regional chair (CFO calibre) — Infrastructure · USA

Position overview

Gladwin International Leadership Advisors is representing a confidential organisation in Infrastructure & Real Estate on a senior CFO leadership mandate anchored in USA. The remit explicitly spans Africa, Middle East, Continental Europe.

This is a strategic transformation mandate at CXO level — equal parts operating leadership, change orchestration, and investor / board narrative ownership.

You inherit teams that are capable but often misaligned on priorities; your job is to simplify the story and the scorecard.

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Context you will inherit

• Market & sector: Managing mega-project execution — leading teams of thousands across multiple states, with complex subcontractor networks and multi-agency coordination
• Geographic spine: Primary hub USA with explicit corridor responsibility across Africa, Middle East, Continental Europe.
• Organisation stage: Digital and data maturity uneven across business lines — quick wins exist beside multi-year platform investments.
• Stakeholders: Expect dense matrix: global product houses, regional P&L owners, shared services, and internal audit all pull on the same calendar.
• Secondary lens: Capital allocation and project finance — as infrastructure funding increasingly combines equity, debt, InvIT, REIT, and green bond instruments requiring sophisticated financial leadership

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The mandate (12–24 month arc)

1. Forecast integrity: Rebuild credibility of the rolling forecast — bridge gaps between FP&A, business units, and capital planning.
2. Capital allocation: Lead investment committee analytics; enforce hurdle rates and post-investment reviews.
3. Liquidity & funding: Stress-test funding plans; tighten working capital levers and covenant headroom narratives.
4. Controllership: Upgrade close, reporting, and internal controls where integration or growth created gaps.
5. Investor / lender interface: Own the numbers story with banks, rating agencies, or PE lenders — calm, conservative, accurate.
6. Transformation economics: Partner with COO / CIO on productivity programmes with clear ROI and tracking.

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Responsibilities (representative)

• Own external reporting narrative, lender covenants, and rating / investor conversations as delegated.
• Lead FP&A, controllership, tax, and treasury with clear accountability and talent depth.
• Partner with business units on pricing, deal economics, and post-merger synergy realisation.
• Ensure internal controls and audit findings are remediated with sustainable fixes.
• Challenge growth plans that lack capital discipline or credible downside cases.

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Leadership profile

• Communication: Executive presence in English; additional languages valued where market-relevant.
• Education: Strong undergraduate grounding; MBA / advanced degree / professional qualification common at this level.
• Finance leadership: Controllership-quality foundations plus credible FP&A and external stakeholder experience.
• Judgment: High signal-to-noise under pressure; ethical clarity; willingness to halt initiatives that break risk appetite.
• Geographic muscle: Comfort operating from USA with regular engagement across Africa, Middle East.

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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.

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Success measures (examples)

• Financial: Revenue and margin vs. plan; cash conversion; capital efficiency.
• Strategic: Share in priority segments; customer retention in anchor accounts; milestone delivery on transformation.
• People: Engagement trends; regrettable attrition in critical roles; diversity of succession slate.
• Risk: Audit and regulatory outcomes; conduct events; operational resilience metrics.

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First 90 days (orientation arc)

• Days 1–30: Shadow key customer journeys or operations — paper over slides where reality diverges.
• Days 30–60: Cut or pause low-value projects freeing capacity for strategic work.
• Days 60–90: Publish first integrated forecast or plan under your ownership — even if directional.
• Build trust with risk, legal, and audit through transparency — surprises erode licence to move fast.
• Pick one cultural signal (e.g. meeting hygiene, promotion criteria) and model it relentlessly.

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Stakeholder map (illustrative)

• Internal: Matrix of global product houses and local P&L; tension is normal — your role is to broker trade-offs with data.
• External: Customers who influence reference deals; government or industry bodies in regulated sectors.
• Capital providers: Banks, sponsors, or minority investors — each needs a slightly different narrative on risk.

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Travel & mobility

Expect substantial travel — customer, hub, and owner meetings. Specific cadence discussed with shortlisted candidates.

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Compensation

Competitive CFO compensation for Infrastructure & Real Estate leadership: cash, incentive, benefits, and potential equity or carry (case-dependent). Discussed with finalists only.

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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.

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Reference: infrastructure-real-estate · CFO · USA · Gladwin International Leadership Advisors