Outsourced CFO

Head of Finance & Operations (CA/SA)

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This organization is a high-growth EdTech SaaS business currently serving over 2,500 schools across South Africa. With active expansions underway into Ghana, Zambia, and Botswana, alongside an international holding structure through a Netherlands BV, they are scaling rapidly. Operating a multi-product subscription revenue model and backed by prominent institutional investors, this organization runs a lean, high-output team of approximately 100 employees where technology, not headcount, provides the ultimate leverage.

We are recruiting for a Head of Finance & Operations. This is far from a traditional, pure-finance controller position. As the Head of Finance & Operations, you will hold the keys to the company's engine room, enabling the CEO to drive strategic growth forward. You will own the full financial strategy, multi-jurisdictional compliance, legal frameworks, and human resources from both a transactional and cultural perspective. This role is designed for a strategic business partner who ensures operational and financial integrity across all active markets.

(Open to Pretoria-based candidates with the ability to travel to the Western Cape when required)

Key Responsibilities;
  • SaaS Financial Leadership: Drive SaaS-native financial strategy using operational levers like ARR, MRR, NRR, CAC, and LTV.
  • Multi-Jurisdictional Reporting: Lead financial reporting, forecasting, and the creation of board-ready financial packs that translate numbers into strategic insights.
  • Forex Risk Management: Strategically manage cash flow and forex risk across ZAR, EUR, GHS, and other relevant African currencies.
  • Legal Contract Management: Handle contract drafting, review, and negotiation across commercial, supplier, and employment relationships.
  • IP Corporate Governance: Protect company IP across active markets and oversee corporate governance, including shareholder agreements, board resolutions, and statutory filings across jurisdictions.
  • Data Privacy Ownership: Own compliance frameworks for POPIA in South Africa and GDPR through the European holding structure.
  • Cross-Border Privacy Controls: Oversee data transfer protocols, processor agreements, and breach response readiness.
  • HR Transactional Oversight: Manage payroll, employment contracts, and compliance with BCEA, LRA, or local equivalents as the business scales.
  • Equity Administration: Accurately and fairly administer a live long-term incentive (LTI) share option scheme.
  • People & Culture Partnership: Partner closely with the CEO on workplace culture, employee engagement, and organizational health.


Requirements

  • Essential Education: A CA(SA) qualification is strongly preferred, though CIMA will be considered.
  • Desirable Education: An MBA or Master’s in Financial Management or International Business is highly advantageous.
  • Post-Articles Experience: A minimum of 8 years of post-articles experience is required.
  • Industry Background: Meaningful leadership experience must be spent in a growth-stage technology or SaaS business.
  • Geographic Scope: Hands-on operational finance experience across multiple African markets is essential.
  • Language Advantage: Fluency in both English and Afrikaans is a practical advantage for this operating environment.
  • Location & Travel: Open to candidates based in Pretoria who are fully capable and willing to travel to the Stellenbosch head office as needed to interface with the executive team.
  • Personal Productivity: You must be personally productive with technology, as leadership in this business requires direct execution rather than just supervising.
  • Hands-on AI Use: You will actively embed and use AI tools directly to build financial models, generate board packs, and perform compliance research.
  • Systems Knowledge: Familiarity with Zoho Books, Zoho CRM, Zoho Subscriptions, and Zoho Analytics or Google Looker Studio is highly desirable.
Leadership & Cultural Fit
  • CEO Synergy: Work closely with a commercial, fast-moving, and people-first CEO who is also a CA(SA).
  • Complementary Strengths: Bring operational financial depth, process governance, and commercial anchoring to complement the visionary leadership style of the executive team.
  • Constructive Pushback: Demonstrate the courage to push back constructively when numbers do not support the vision.
  • Learning Agility: Possess extreme ownership, intellectual curiosity, and the drive to close your own knowledge gaps fast without waiting to be told.