Chief Financial Officer

Harperjames; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A dynamic commercial law firm is hiring its first-ever CFO to guide financial strategy and operations during a pivotal growth phase. The role involves leading financial planning and reporting while partnering with the CEO and leadership team. The ideal candidate will be a qualified accountant with experience in private equity and proven skills in turning data into actionable insights. The firm offers a competitive salary and equity participation, with a remote-first working model.

Benefits

Market-leading salary

Future equity participation

Remote-first working

Collaborative culture

Qualifications

• Experience in PE-backed professional services or recurring-revenue/SaaS models.
• Ability to build KPIs and dashboards for decision-making.
• Comfortable leading in a fast-paced SME environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead financial planning, forecasting, and reporting.
• Translate data into commercial insights for strategic investment.
• Manage relationships with LDC, lenders, and the board.

Skills

Qualified accountant (ACA/ACCA/CIMA)

Senior finance leadership experience

M&A exposure

Board-level communicator

Ability to influence decisions

Job description

Overview

Location: Remote-first (UK-wide) with regular travel to Birmingham
Package: Market-leading salary and equity participation

About Harper James

Harper James is a full-service commercial law firm with a unique subscription-based model for ambitious SMEs. We've grown rapidly and recently secured private-equity backing from LDC to fuel our next phase of expansion, including through strategic M&A. We're a remote-first, no-ego team of 140+ people. Now we're hiring our first-ever CFO to join the executive team at this pivotal stage.

The Opportunity

This is more than finance. It's about turning numbers into strategy. As CFO, you'll partner with our Founder & CEO and leadership to steer the business through rapid growth. You'll own financial strategy, forecasting, and investor relations, and look beyond the numbers to analyse, interpret, and explain what they mean for how we operate and where we invest.

You'll use financial and operational data to inform go-to-market and lead generation, capital allocation, recruitment planning and legal team capacity models so we deploy spend and people where they drive the most value. As the CEO's right hand, you may also take on broader remit overseeing People/HR, day-to-day Operations and Compliance as the business scales.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead financial planning, forecasting and reporting; be fully accountable for the numbers and the detail behind them.
• Translate data into clear commercial insight that guides where we invest: campaigns, channels, headcount and service lines.
• Partner with Marketing, Sales and Service Delivery to align pipeline with capacity; build models that link demand, utilisation and hiring.
• Manage relationships with LDC, lenders and the board; deliver crisp, timely performance narratives and forward views.
• Drive M&A (diligence, modelling, integration) to support our acquisitive growth plan.
• Ensure compliance, tax, statutory accounts and governance are watertight.
• Lead and develop a capable finance team; potentially oversee People/HR, Ops and Compliance as appropriate.

Ideal Candidate

• Qualified accountant (ACA/ACCA/CIMA) with senior finance leadership experience in PE-backed professional services (legal, consulting, accountancy) and/or recurring-revenue/SaaS models.
• Proven at turning data into action: building KPIs and dashboards, interrogating funnels, unit economics and pricing to drive growth.
• Board-level communicator who can challenge constructively and influence decisions.
• Comfortable in a fast-paced SME: strategic at board level and hands-on when needed.
• M&A exposure (or ability to deliver with external support).
• Smart, agile, down-to-earth; strong work ethic; great chemistry with the team; no ego.

What We Offer

• A career-defining seat at the table in a PE-backed, high-growth firm.
• Market-leading salary and future equity participation.
• Remote-first working with regular collaboration in Birmingham.
• A culture that values openness, trust and getting things done.

Ready to help us scale with pace and precision? We'd love to hear from you.

NO AGENCIES PLEASE