Job Description

International Expat Opportunity!

• Are you an experienced Finance Manager who understands the private security industry from the inside out?
  
• We are recruiting for a senior, hands-on Finance Manager to join a leading security and services group operating in a frontier-market environment in the South Pacific region, north of Australia
  
• This is a fully-fledged expatriate opportunity and international relocation is essential. It offers an experienced South African finance professional the opportunity to take ownership of the finance function within a sizeable, operationally complex security business, working alongside an established leadership team that already includes a number of experienced South African security professionals

This is not a generic Finance Manager position

• Our client is specifically looking for someone who has spent a meaningful portion of their career within the South African private security industry and understands the commercial and operational realities of businesses operating across guarding, armed response, cash-in-transit, integrated security services, security technology or similar environments
  
• The organisation operates across multiple service lines and major client contracts. The successful individual will need to understand the financial complexities that come with a large frontline workforce, shift-based operations, contract profitability, payroll, billing, debtor management and operational leakage

The role:
You will take broad ownership of the finance function and work closely with operational leadership to strengthen financial control, improve profitability and ensure high-quality financial reporting
Responsibilities will include:

• Full ownership of management accounts and monthly financial reporting
• Budgeting, forecasting and detailed variance analysis
• Oversight of branch, service-line and contract-level P&Ls
• Driving strong cash flow management and financial controls
• Ensuring tight payroll controls across a large, shift-based workforce
• Strengthening billing, invoicing, collections and accounts receivable processes
• Identifying and addressing financial leakage, fraud and control weaknesses
• Working closely with operations around contract profitability, pricing and margin management
• Analysing workforce and guard utilisation and associated labour costs
• Assessing route and operational economics across relevant service lines
• Improving financial processes, controls and governance
• Leading and developing the existing finance team
• Delivering high-quality management and board-level reporting
• Building institutional-grade reporting and controls appropriate to a complex international operating environment

What we're looking for:

We are particularly interested in candidates who have:

• Approximately 7–15+ years' finance experience
• At least 5 years' experience within the South African private security sector
• Operated at Finance Manager, Financial Controller, Head of Finance, Finance Executive or Financial Director level
• Experience within guarding, CIT, armed response, integrated security, security technology or a similarly labour-intensive security environment
• Hands-on experience supporting multi-site or multi-branch operations
• Worked with large frontline workforces and shift-based costing
• Strong experience across payroll, debtors, billing and working-capital management
• A sound understanding of how security contracts make – and lose – money
• The ability to move comfortably between operational detail and senior/board-level reporting
• Strong leadership skills, with the confidence to drive accountability and financial discipline across the business
• A CA(SA), CIMA or BCom Accounting/Finance background would be advantageous; however, substantial and highly relevant security-sector finance experience will be equally important.

The person:
This environment will suit someone who is hands-on, commercially minded and operationally engaged
You should be comfortable getting into the detail, challenging the numbers and working directly with operational teams rather than managing finance purely from behind a desk
You will need to be a firm and credible finance leader who can establish accountability, drive collections and controls, and challenge operational decisions where necessary, while building strong relationships with the broader leadership team

The opportunity:
This is a three-year expatriate opportunity based in the South Pacific region
The successful candidate will receive a competitive expat package
For the right individual, this represents an opportunity to take on a highly influential finance leadership position within a significant security operation, while gaining international and frontier-market experience

Please note: This is not a South Africa-based or rotational role. Full international relocation for the duration of the assignment is essential.
If you have built your finance career within the South African private security sector and are ready for a genuinely different international opportunity, we would love to hear from you.

If you don’t hear back from us within 2 weeks of applying, please consider your application unsuccessful. But stay in touch  follow us online and keep an eye out for future opportunities.