Middle East Country Platform Lead (CFO) — Luxury

Position overview

Gladwin International Leadership Advisors is representing a confidential organisation in Luxury Goods & Services on a senior CFO leadership mandate anchored in Middle East. The remit explicitly spans Canada, Australia, Continental Europe.

This is a P&L-owning regional leadership mandate with full accountability for revenue, margin, talent, and governance across the defined geography.

Success here is less about charisma in town halls and more about judgment in investment committees and talent decisions.

Context you will inherit

• Market & sector: Succession and professionalisation in family-owned luxury businesses — jewellery, hospitality, and automotive dealership groups that are transitioning from founder-led to institutional management need leaders who respect heritage while bringing modern discipline
• Geographic spine: Primary hub Middle East with explicit corridor responsibility across Canada, Australia, Continental Europe.
• Organisation stage: Portfolio under review: non-core assets, JVs, and country footprints are actively questioned each planning cycle.
• Stakeholders: Stakeholders span board or regional executive committee, global functional heads, JV partners, and strategic account buyers.
• Secondary lens: Service standards parity with global flagships — hiring service and after-sales leadership (particularly in luxury auto, watches, and jewellery) that meets the brand's global CX benchmarks in an Indian operational context

The mandate (12–24 month arc)

1. Cost of complexity: Quantify overhead from legal entities, intercompany flows, and manual reconciliations — simplify where safe.
2. Revenue assurance: Partner with sales operations on billing, recognition, and leakage — especially in long-cycle contracts.
3. Capex governance: Move from annual budget theatre to rolling, scenario-based capital decisions tied to strategy.
4. Insurance & risk transfer: Review programme design with risk — align retentions and coverage to real loss patterns.
5. Audit readiness: Close repeat findings permanently; build first-line ownership in business units, not only finance remediation.
6. Board reporting: Tighten packs — fewer pages, clearer bridges from strategy to financial outcomes.

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.

Leadership profile

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

Team & culture

You inherit a mixed-tenure team — pockets of excellence beside roles that need upgrade. The mandate is to raise the bar without demoralising the organisation: clear standards, fair process, and visible wins that prove the new pace is achievable.

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

Role requires face-to-face presence in the primary hub with regular regional travel; remote-only not viable.

Compensation

Market-aligned CFO remuneration in Luxury Goods & Services with performance linkage; sign-on and relocation considered for exceptional fits.

Application status

This mandate is no longer accepting new applications. The search progressed through Q4 2025 and closed for submissions in February 2026. We retain this posting for transparency on the type of leadership work we carry in Luxury Goods & Services and Middle East. For similar active mandates, browse open roles or submit a general profile through executive search inquiry.

Reference: luxury-goods-services · CFO · Middle East · Gladwin International Leadership Advisors