Chief Financial Officer - Europe

Lockton Companies; England; On-site; GBP 180,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Lockton Companies in the United Kingdom seeks an exceptional Chief Financial Officer to join the Executive Leadership Team and shape the next phase of growth.

This highly strategic CFO role reports to the International CFO and oversees financial stewardship, governance, and operational integrity across multiple European jurisdictions, guiding capital allocation and performance management.

Qualifications

• Experience leading finance across multiple legal entities and jurisdictions.
• Deep understanding of prudential governance, financial controls, and regulatory engagement.
• Strong leadership with credibility to influence senior stakeholders and Boards.

Responsibilities

• Lead financial planning activities across Europe, including budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning.
• Oversee governance, internal controls, regulatory compliance, and statutory reporting.
• Drive M&A activity, due diligence, and business integrations to support growth.
• Develop and mentor finance teams across multiple jurisdictions.
• Provide strategic financial advice to executives on investments and capital allocation.
• Maintain relationships with Board, investors, auditors, and banking partners.

Skills

Executive leadership

IFRS governance

M&A experience

Regulatory compliance

Financial planning

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Chartered accountant (ACCA/ACA/CIMA)

Tools

ERP systems (e.g., SAP)

Financial reporting software

Job description

Lead finance at one of the world's largest privately owned and fastest-growing insurance brokers.

At Lockton, independence gives us the freedom to think long-term, invest in our people and make decisions that are right for our clients, associates and business. As we continue to expand across the UK and Europe, we are seeking an exceptional Chief Financial Officer to join our Executive leadership team and help shape the next phase of our growth journey.

This is a genuinely strategic CFO role operating at Board and Executive Committee level, with responsibility for the financial stewardship, governance, regulatory oversight and operational integrity of a complex, multi-jurisdictional business. The role reports to the International CFO and plays a central role in shaping and delivering Lockton's growth ambitions across Europe.

• Serve as a key member of the European Executive Committee (ExCo), contributing to the development and execution of the regional business strategy while leading the European financial strategy to drive sustainable growth, profitability, and shareholder value.
• Lead all financial planning activities, including budgeting, forecasting, long-range planning, financial reporting, and performance analysis across the European region.
• Partner with the Executive Leadership Team to provide commercial insight, strategic financial advice, and robust decision support for business growth and investment opportunities.
• Lead, develop, and inspire high-performing finance teams across Europe, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and talent development.
• Ensure strong financial governance, internal controls, regulatory compliance, and adherence to IFRS, statutory, tax, and corporate governance requirements across multiple European jurisdictions.
• Optimise cash flow, working capital, treasury, capital allocation, and foreign exchange risk management to maximise financial performance and liquidity.
• Drive operational excellence through finance transformation, process improvement, ERP optimisation, automation, and the effective use of financial systems and analytics.
• Lead financial due diligence, mergers and acquisitions, business integrations, and strategic investment evaluations to support organisational growth.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate financial, operational, regulatory, and commercial risks while maintaining a strong enterprise risk management framework.
• Build and maintain trusted relationships with the Board, Executive Leadership, investors, auditors, banking partners, and regulatory bodies, providing clear financial insight and governance.

You should have the following experience:

• Proven success leading finance functions across multiple legal entities and jurisdictions across European territories
• Deep understanding of prudential governance, financial controls, regulatory engagement and corporate governance frameworks.
• Exceptional leadership capability with the credibility to influence senior stakeholders, Boards, regulators and executive colleagues.
• Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or international equivalent).