Head of Strategic Advisory - #2134695

Help successful business owners build value ahead of investment, acquisition or exit

Most corporate finance advisers become involved when a business owner is ready to raise investment or sell.

This role starts much earlier.

Our client is creating a Strategic Advisory service that will work alongside successful entrepreneurs for three, six or twelve months, helping them improve performance, strengthen their businesses and increase enterprise value.

Reporting directly to the Founder and joining the senior leadership team, you will shape the proposition, recruit an initial team of approximately two to three Strategic Advisors and personally lead its most valuable engagements.

The firm behind the opportunity

Our client is a high-growth, entrepreneur-led accountancy, tax and advisory firm working with successful founders, privately owned businesses and high-net-worth individuals.

It has doubled its revenue in each of the past four years and is investing significantly in specialist teams. Its ambition is to become a leading independent alternative to the Big Four, combining exceptional advice with commercial thinking, faster decisions and direct access to senior advisers.

The Strategic Advisory service will primarily support businesses generating approximately £1 million to £5 million in Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation. Many are expanding, completing acquisitions, entering new markets, seeking investment or preparing for exit.

They need someone who can show them:

• Here is what your numbers are telling us.
• Here is where value is being created or lost.
• Here is what we should do next.

A connected advisory platform

Strategic Advisory will sit within a broader proposition spanning accountancy, specialist tax, mergers and acquisitions, wealth management and planned Corporate Finance and Debt Advisory services.

The current pipeline includes four live deals involving companies with turnover of approximately £10 million to £60 million. An established partnership with a major wealth-management firm also supports entrepreneurs whose business decisions affect their personal wealth.

The network is equally distinctive. The firm’s owner has personally organised an exclusive upcoming event on Sir Richard Branson’s private island. It sold out within two weeks, generated an extensive waiting list and will bring together entrepreneurs representing approximately £3 billion in combined wealth.

The firm is also launching a private members’ community for successful founders, offering access to its advisers, private dinners, high-profile speakers and UK and international experiences.

What you will build and lead

You will create a focused service that helps business owners understand what drives performance, where value is being lost and what needs to change.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Creating a repeatable methodology covering growth, profitability, cash, management information, acquisitions and exit readiness.
• Recruiting, leading and developing an initial team of Strategic Advisors.
• Personally leading complex strategic advisory and value-creation engagements.
• Building trusted relationships with founders, shareholders and senior management teams.
• Identifying opportunities to improve revenue, margins, profitability, cash generation and enterprise value.
• Advising on pricing, customer and product profitability, routes to market, working capital and investment decisions.
• Supporting acquisitions and helping clients prepare for investment or exit.
• Turning findings into measurable plans with clear actions, ownership and timescales.
• Working with specialists across accountancy, tax, transactions, funding and wealth management.

This is not a role built around lengthy reports or presenting historic information. It is about combining financial insight, commercial judgement and practical experience to help owners make better decisions.

The experience required

You may currently be:

• A Chief Financial Officer or Finance Director within a founder-led, acquisitive, scaling or private equity-backed business.
• A Director or Partner specialising in strategic finance, value creation, performance improvement or transactions.
• A private equity portfolio operations or value-creation professional.
• An established fractional Chief Financial Officer or strategic finance adviser.

You will need senior-level experience working with founders, chief executives, boards or investors and evidence of improving performance through growth, stronger margins, better cash generation or operational change.

First-hand experience of acquisitions and the realities of integrating, scaling or professionalising a business is important. You must connect detailed financial and operational information to wider commercial decisions and turn recommendations into practical action.

The successful person will be polished and credible with entrepreneurs, but also practical, direct and free from unnecessary corporate theatre. You will be confident enough to challenge a founder constructively and commercially sharp enough to see the story behind the numbers.

The opportunity

• Base salary of up to £150,000, depending on experience.
• A direct reporting line to the Founder and a position within the senior leadership team.
• Genuine ownership of the Strategic Advisory proposition and the opportunity to recruit your own team.
• Direct access to successful founders and entrepreneurs.
• Exposure to growth, acquisitions, investment, value creation and exit preparation.
• Opportunities to contribute to private dinners, events and founder discussions.
• Fully remote working, with selected client meetings and events as required.
• The ability to influence a rapidly expanding independent advisory firm.

This is not an opportunity to inherit and maintain an established service.

It is an opportunity to create one and build it around some of the most interesting entrepreneurs and privately owned businesses in the market.