Chief Financial Officer

PeopleEX; Upper Hutt; On-site; NZD 250,000 - 500,000; Full time

Job summary

PeopleEX is partnering with a privately owned SME operating across New Zealand and Australia to appoint an experienced Chief Financial Officer. This broad CFO and business leadership role provides genuine influence across the organisation, reporting to the General Manager and Board.

You’ll drive financial strategy, governance and commercial insight to support the next stage of growth. You’ll lead the finance function across NZ and Australia, align financial performance with strategy and develop

Qualifications

• Experience leading finance teams at executive level.
• Experience with multi-jurisdiction reporting NZ & AU.
• CA or CPA qualification is essential.

Responsibilities

• Lead financial strategy, performance and governance for NZ and Australia.
• Develop the finance function across both countries.
• Provide trusted advice to the GM and Board on performance, investment, risk.
• Strengthen financial visibility, systems and processes.
• Lead and develop a geographically dispersed finance team.

Skills

Senior finance leader

CA/CPA

Consolidated reporting

Commercial judgement

Education

CA/CPA qualification

Job description

Jora New Zealand will close on 9th September 2026. Thank you for being with us, we are cheering you on as you continue your career journey.

A commercially focused CFO opportunity with a well-established Trans-Tasman SME.

PeopleEX is partnering with a well-established, privately owned SME operating across New Zealand and Australia to appoint an experienced and commercially minded Chief Financial Officer.

This is a broad CFO and business leadership role with genuine influence across the organisation. Working closely with the General Manager, Board and operational leaders, you’ll provide the financial leadership, commercial insight and governance needed to support the organisation’s next stage of development.

It’s an opportunity for someone who enjoys being close to the business – bringing rigour to the numbers while also understanding what sits behind them, challenging thinking when needed and helping leaders make well-informed commercial decisions.

Chief Financial Officer

A commercially focused CFO opportunity with a well-established Trans-Tasman SME.

PeopleEX is partnering with a well-established, privately owned SME operating across New Zealand and Australia to appoint an experienced and commercially minded Chief Financial Officer.

This is a broad CFO and business leadership role with genuine influence across the organisation. Working closely with the General Manager, Board and operational leaders, you’ll provide the financial leadership, commercial insight and governance needed to support the organisation’s next stage of development.

It’s an opportunity for someone who enjoys being close to the business – bringing rigour to the numbers while also understanding what sits behind them, challenging thinking when needed and helping leaders make well-informed commercial decisions.

About the role

As CFO, you’ll have responsibility for the financial strategy, performance and governance of the Group across its New Zealand and Australian operations.

You’ll lead and develop the finance function across both countries, provide trusted advice to the General Manager and Board across financial performance, investment, risk and growth, and have broader people‑leadership responsibility across the Group’s office‑based functional teams.

There is also a strong operational and improvement focus to the role. You’ll work closely with leaders across the business to strengthen financial visibility, systems and processes, with particular emphasis on project performance, job costing, margins and profitability.

You’ll be involved in:

• leading the Group’s financial strategy, planning, budgeting and forecasting
• delivering timely and insightful management and Board reporting across the New Zealand and Australian operations, translating complex financial information into clear, practical insights that support informed decision‑making
• partnering with operational leaders to improve visibility of project costs, WIP, margins and profitability
• strengthening job costing capability, systems, processes and controls across the Group
• providing commercial input into pricing, tendering, contracts and investment decisions
• overseeing cash flow, working capital, banking relationships and funding requirements
• ensuring robust financial governance, statutory compliance and risk management across both jurisdictions
• supporting the continued integration and development of the Australian operation
• leading, developing and bringing together a geographically dispersed finance team
• providing people leadership and oversight across the Group’s office‑based functions, supporting team performance, resourcing and development
• providing financial modelling and commercial insight to support growth and future investment opportunities.

This is not a role that sits at arm’s length from the operation. You’ll need to understand how the business works, build strong relationships across the organisation and be comfortable moving between strategic conversations and the commercial detail that drives performance.

About you

We’re looking for an experienced senior finance leader who combines strong financial discipline with commercial judgement and the ability to influence beyond the finance function.

You may be an experienced CFO or a proven senior finance leader ready to take the next step into a broader executive role. What matters is your depth of experience, leadership capability and commercial judgement.

You’ll bring:

• significant senior finance experience, with proven leadership capability at a senior level
• a CA or CPA qualification and relevant tertiary qualification
• strong commercial and strategic thinking, with the ability to turn financial information into practical business insights
• experience with consolidated reporting across multiple entities and, ideally, more than one jurisdiction
• the ability to build credibility and trusted relationships with a General Manager, Board and operational leaders
• strong financial governance, risk management and compliance capability
• experience leading and developing high‑performing teams, ideally across multiple functions and locations
• confidence challenging thinking constructively and influencing commercial decision‑making
• the ability to communicate complex financial information clearly to non‑financial audiences.

Experience within engineering, construction, manufacturing or another project‑based environment would be particularly valuable, as would exposure to businesses operating across both New Zealand and Australia.

What’s in it for you?

This is an opportunity to take on a genuinely broad CFO mandate within an established Trans‑Tasman business where finance has an important role to play in future performance.

You’ll work directly with the General Manager and Board, have visibility across the whole organisation and be able to make a tangible impact on the financial and commercial capability of the business.

For an experienced finance leader looking for greater breadth and influence, or someone ready to make the step into their first CFO appointment, there is plenty here to get your teeth into.

Interested?

If you’re a commercially minded senior finance leader who enjoys getting close to the business, strengthening financial performance and helping shape good commercial decisions, we’d like to hear from you.