Head of finance jobs · Vacancies · Permanent, interim and fractional
Head of finance jobs · permanent, interim and fractional
Head of finance jobs are the roles that lead a company’s finance team day to day: the month-end and management accounts, the budget and forecast, cash, the audit and the finance systems, reporting to the CEO, a founder or a group CFO, usually without a board seat. They come as permanent full-time posts, interim assignments and fractional or part-time seats.
The board below lists finance director and financial controller roles, the two seats either side of head of finance, with permanent roles first where the posting says full-time. We recruit permanent, interim, fractional and part-time finance leaders. Hiring rather than looking? On every brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
How a brief runswhat we undertake
- 01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
- 02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
- 03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
- 04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
- 05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief
Shortlist3–5
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a head of finance
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with head of finance candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the role and the days a week
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
Head of finance jobs jobs on the board
Full-time · permanent as posted · last 3 months
Permanent Head of finance jobs
Full-time Head of finance roles, posted by the employer as full-time and listed as the posting states them. We recruit permanent Head of finances as well as fractional and interim. Finance director recruitment.
Current finance director and financial controller roles
Fractional recruitment works differently from a permanent search — shorter, scoped by days a week, and priced on the engagement. Send a head of finance brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the role
Head of finance jobs: the seat and the board
Head of finance is the title growing companies give the person who runs finance before, or instead of, a finance director. It is common in venture-backed scale-ups and in subsidiaries where a group FD or CFO sits above. The seat owns the month-end and the management accounts through a small team, the budget and forecast, cash, the audit and the finance systems, and prepares the board pack, often presenting it without holding a board seat.
What the board holds
Our board files roles by seat, and head of finance sits between two of them. So the board below lists finance director and financial controller roles together, with CFO and FP&A roles when there are few, and says when it has widened. Roles whose posting says full-time come first; interim, fractional and part-time roles follow. For the part-week version of the seat, see fractional head of finance jobs.
The title is not a directorship
A title does not make someone a director, and the lack of one does not stop them being treated as one. Under the Companies Act, “director” includes any person occupying the position of director, by whatever name called. The appointed directors stay legally responsible for the company’s records, accounts and performance, even when a head of finance runs them day to day.
02/ scope
How to get a head of finance job
1. Qualify
Head of finance postings usually ask for a chartered qualification: the ICAEW’s ACA, the ACCA qualification or CIMA’s CGMA Professional Qualification, which is built around management accounting, performance and financial strategy. In a scale-up the management-accounting side often matters as much as the audit side.
2. Run the close and a team
Most heads of finance come from financial controller or finance manager seats. ICAEW describes the financial controller as a senior role with people management, ownership of the reporting process and commercial analysis; those are the things a head of finance job tests. For the controller step, see what a financial controller does.
3. Show you can face the CEO
The difference from a controller job is who you answer to. Bring examples of a board pack you wrote, a cash forecast that changed a decision, a budget you set and defended, or a system you chose and put in. Scale-ups and investor-backed businesses will also ask about investor reporting and a fundraise or audit you supported.
4. Pick the route in
Not every head of finance job is permanent. Interim seats cover a gap or a system change; fractional and part-time seats hold the role for set days a week. If you work through your own company, the off-payroll working rules (IR35) may apply: status turns on how the engagement runs, and a medium or large client makes the determination. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
03/ comparison
Three seats compared
Financial controller, head of finance and finance director overlap in a growing company. Choose by what the person will own and who they answer to.
04/ related roles
Head of finance jobs by type
The first card is the part-week head of finance seat. The others are the seats either side: finance director above, financial controller and finance manager below. We recruit permanent, interim, fractional and part-time finance leaders.
05/ vetting
How we vet heads of finance
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify head of finance tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
06/ head of finance vacancies
Head of finance vacancies reading the advert
Head of finance vacancies reach the market on employers’ own careers pages and applicant tracking systems, on job boards and through agencies. Our board collects finance vacancies from employers’ boards and job listings, removes duplicates and leaves out roles advertised by recruitment agencies.
The title covers a wide span, so read the vacancy for three things. Who the seat reports to: a founder, a CEO or a group finance lead. What it owns outright, and what still goes to someone above. And the team: a head of finance with a controller and accountants beneath them is a different job from one doing the close themselves.
Some postings use a US-style title for the same seat, VP of finance. The work is the same; the reporting line is what to check.
07/ head of finance vs finance director
Head of finance vs finance director where the seat sits
Head of finance vs finance director is a question of reach. A finance director owns what the numbers mean for the business and answers for them to the bank and the board, often as a director. A head of finance runs the whole function day to day, sets the budget and watches the cash, but the final word and the board seat usually sit with someone else: the CEO, a founder or a group CFO.
Robert Half’s finance director profile describes the FD as the connection between the finance team and the CEO or CFO. Its 2026 guide puts a full-time UK finance director at a median of £109,500 (Robert Half) and a financial controller at a median of £76,750 (Robert Half). No source we trust publishes a head of finance salary we can cite, so the table above leaves it blank.
A head of finance job is often the step before an FD title, or the senior seat in a business too small or too young for one. For the FD seat, see what a finance director does; to hire one, see finance director recruitment.
08/ questions
Head of finance jobs FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a head of finance.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Bring the brief. We architect the team.
A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
