Chief Financial Officer - Sme Saas

Outsourced CFO; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 1 200 000 - 1 800 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services firm in Johannesburg is seeking a Chief Financial Officer to lead financial planning and drive long-term growth. The ideal candidate will have 5-10 years of financial management experience, a Chartered Accountant qualification, and a passion for scaling business processes through technology and innovation. This role offers a dynamic environment with significant responsibilities in shaping the financial strategy and performance of the company.

Qualifications

• 5-10 years' experience in a financial management role.
• People and project management capabilities.
• Strong experience with financial systems and reporting.

Responsibilities

• Lead financial planning, budgeting, compliance, and stakeholder relations.
• Oversee finance functions including invoicing and reconciliations.
• Drive business intelligence and optimize business processes.

Skills

Leadership

Analytical thinking

Problem-solving

Project management

Financial reporting

Risk management

Education

Chartered Accountant (SA)

Tools

Xero Projects

Salesforce

Power BI

Advanced Excel

Job description

Job title

Chief Financial Officer - SME SaaS

Job Location

Gauteng, Johannesburg

Deadline

November 15, 2025

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Job Description

• Our client, a fast-growing and innovative SaaS SME, is seeking a commercially minded CFO to join their executive team. This hands‑on role is ideal for a finance professional with 5–10 years’ experience—whether you're stepping into your first CFO role or aiming to cement your place at the leadership table. You'll lead financial planning, budgeting, compliance, and stakeholder relations, while driving the company’s long‑term growth and profitability.
• Success in this role requires proven experience with modern financial systems, a strong focus on automation, and a passion for improving and scaling processes. Candidates must be comfortable moving beyond spreadsheets to deliver strategic insights through integrated platforms. This role extends beyond finance into broader business intelligence and operations, supporting the executive team in building a high‑performing, scalable business.

Monthly Management accounting function

• Oversee entire finance function incl. Debtors and Creditors, including ensuring all invoicing, credit notes and invoicing processing is complete and valid.
• Monthly accounting process; this includes some processing as we as a full review of all items processed and all reconciliations; a full balance sheet reconciliation is performed monthly.
• Review and reconcile the Income Statement, balance sheet and CRM accounts monthly.
• Production of management accounts by 5th Business day of new month.

Weekly Cashflows

• Monthly Forecasting – revenue and expenses.
• Payroll including calculation of monthly commissions both for accrual and payment.
• Ensure all VAT, Employees Tax, Income Tax and any other tax or statutory returns are completed accurately and filed timeously.

Financial Controls and Processes

• SOP and Other Policy Development.
• Structure and Develop the project accounting framework.
• Current accounting / VAT analysis and revamp.
• Process automation and implementation of new software tools.
• Develop Business Unit strategy, planning and monitoring.
• Review and improve the controls and processes around debtors, creditors, procurement, fixed assets and cost management and the other various finance processes.
• Coordinate and run the Financial Audit including the production of the annual financial statements (year end is September – Audit and AFS to be completed by 30 November).

Budgeting and Forecasting

• Develop finance strategies to drive the Company forward, in line with the long‑term vision of all shareholders.
• Development rolling forecasts including suggested actions to assist management in measuring performance against targets.
• Development of the companies SaaS metrics and Unit Economics to better understand and manage the performance of the Company.
• Develop of ROI calculations per product / Business Unit.
• Develop Accurate cost ventilation across products / Business Units.
• Plan, co‑ordinate and run the annual budget process (budget to be approved by 15th September); this then rolls into a monthly forecast process.
• Coach leadership team members to enable them to own their financial information; budget, monthly actuals and forecast.

Company Secretarial

• Ensure all company secretarial items are up to date; including but not limited to Annual returns, all required resolutions etc.
• Compliance oversight and monitoring.

Group Treasury

• Maximize return on cash balances by opening appropriate accounts with optimal returns to align with cash management requirements.

Business Intelligence

• Drive efficiency and effectiveness throughout the business by driving the business intelligence strategy – as a high‑volume business data is key to optimizing all business processes.
• Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning and automation.
• Optimize all business processes through research and experimentation with all 4IR languages. A key aspect of this role is to future proof the business processes as well as driving operational leverage using technology.

Leadership and Team Management

• Leading the finance team – currently a senior Sales Admin and Debtors Manager and a Junior accountant.
• Manage deliverables of the external accountants – certain functions outsourced.
• Coach leadership members in terms of their responsibilities regarding the financial management.

Requirements

Qualifications

• Chartered Accountant (SA).
• Part of the EXCO and reporting to the Exco / Board of Directors and CEO.
• 5 - 10 years in a financial management role.

Experience

• People and Project Management.
• Perform Complex Account Reconciliations.
• Perform Process Evaluations, implement improvements.
• Perform Risk assessments and Maintain Risk Register.
• Financial and Cost Control Management.
• Financial Reporting and Analysis.
• Cash Flow Management.
• Technical Accounting.
• Business Intelligence.
• 4IR technology research and implementation.

Characteristics

• A natural leader who inspires confidence and drives results.
• A problem solver with innovative ideas and strong analytical thinking.
• A self‑starter with high energy, motivation, and resilience.
• A hands‑on, no‑nonsense team player who is ready to roll up their sleeves.
• Comfortable with multi‑tasking in a dynamic environment.
• Committed to following rules and maintaining compliance standards.
• Dependable and proactive, with a strong sense of ownership and initiative.
• Excellent planning skills and exceptional attention to detail.
• A finance professional who is also passionate about general management, particularly within the software and technology sector.

Software / systems experience

• Xero Projects.
• Syft.
• Fathom.
• Salesforce.
• Power BI.
• Advanced Excel (functions, modelling and data analysis).
• Comfortable working with integrated systems, going beyond basic spreadsheet‑based reporting.
• Accounting / Financial Services jobs.