Head of Finance, Commodities and international trade

Our client based in Paris, operates in international trade, in a fast environment where the cycle does not stop, margins are thin and exposures are real. As the business grows, finance has to stop being a back office service and start operating as a true partner to the business.

We have been mandated, on a confidential basis, to find the Head of Finance who will lead this shift. The role is fully hands on. The environment is not a corporate one, and that is part of the brief.

What you will own

You will lead the finance function from start to finish. Concretely:

• Strengthen daily financial operations, reporting, and the control mechanisms that sit around pricing, margins, penalties and client follow up.
• Industrialise processes, reduce operational risk, put in place clear procedures and reporting routines.
• Manage a small team: coach it, structure it, raise its level of rigour.
• Steer treasury, banking, financing arrangements, credit lines, liquidity and working capital.
• Run the financial cycle (closings, budgets, forecasting, performance monitoring) and give senior management financial insight that supports decisions, not noise that delays them.
• Sit on the risk side of the business alongside trading and operations.
• Drive the transformation agenda: tools, automation, digitalisation, AI in the workflow.

Who we are looking for

A senior finance professional with 8 to 15 years of experience, ideally shaped by a commodities, trading, shipping, energy, metals, agribusiness, industrial or financial services environment. A context where the cycle does not stop.

You may have held one or several of these titles before: Head of Finance, Finance Director, Senior Finance Manager, Group Financial Controller, or Deputy CFO. The label matters less than the proof. We are looking for someone who has already built or restructured a finance function from the inside, put controls in place in an environment that was never standardised, and earned credibility with operators as well as with the executive team.

• A strong command of financial control, reporting, closings, banking relationships, financing, process improvement and risk management.
• Direct exposure to pricing, margin control, working capital, treasury, trade finance, credit facilities, ERP systems, BI tools, or finance automation projects.
• A pragmatic, detail oriented mindset with sharp analytical skills and a strong business understanding.
• A genuine appetite for finance transformation, automation and AI, used as working tools rather than conversation pieces.
• Fluency in French. English or another language is an asset.