About the position
The CFO is a key member of the Executive Leadership Team, responsible for safeguarding the company’s financial integrity and driving operational excellence. This role combines strategic financial leadership with deep operational oversight — ensuring that the company’s operating platforms are financially disciplined, efficient and scalable. The CFO leads all financial, legal, people and technology functions to deliver integrated business performance and long-term value creation, reporting directly to the CFIO. The CFO provides direct structure, mentorship and oversight to the heads of Finance, IT, HR, and Legal & Compliance fostering collaboration and accountability across all support functions.
Strategic & Operational Leadership: Partner with the CEO, CFIO and Executive Team to define and execute the company’s business strategy, ensuring strong financial performance across development, management and operations. Translate strategic objectives into clear financial and operational targets; drive accountability through measurable KPIs across all business units. Lead the alignment of corporate support functions (Finance, HR, IT, Legal & Compliance) with operational delivery and service excellence. Act as a key partner to the Executive team, providing analysis and decision support to maximise yield, occupancy and operational efficiency. Contribute to business resilience planning, ensuring continuity, scalability and risk mitigation across all sites and corporate functions.
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: Responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of the Group’s finance function, ensuring financial integrity, discipline and value creation across all business units
- Overseeing all financial operations, including budgeting, forecasting (incl. cash flow), management reporting and internal and financial controls.
- Driving revenue optimization, completeness and accuracy as well as operational cost efficiency through effective budgeting, procurement and performance monitoring.
- Managing balance sheet optimization and protection, including investment property valuations, cash management, hedging, provisioning and insurance.
- Implementing consistent financial systems and controls across the business to ensure transparency, compliance and scalability.
- Supporting project finance and development funding processes, ensuring accurate forecasting of construction and operational cash flows.
- Engaging with Operations to identify margin improvements, cost savings and revenue enhancement opportunities.
- Overseeing treasury, tax and working capital management to ensure liquidity and financial stability.
- Ensuring the quality and timeliness of statutory and management reporting and supporting internal and external audit processes.
- Work closely with Operations to ensure that financial reporting and analytics inform day-to-day decision-making across the business.
- Oversee benchmarking of operational performance (occupancy, rent collection, maintenance costs, utilities, etc.) and ensure timely corrective actions.
- Lead the development and implementation of sustainability and ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) reporting frameworks in line with regulatory requirements and industry best practices.
- Advising the Board and executive team on financial strategy, risk and performance and providing decision support for business growth and resilience
HUMAN RESOURCES: Promote a culture of performance, accountability and service excellence across the organisation. Ensure effective leadership development, succession planning, and staff retention in a high-growth operational environment.
- Provide strategic oversight over the HR function to ensure workforce planning, structure and capability are aligned with business strategy, growth objectives and financial plans.
- Ensure people costs, headcount and productivity are actively managed within approved budgets and forecasts.
- Establish and reinforce a performance-driven culture through clear KPIs, and accountability.
- Sponsor leadership development and succession planning for critical roles to ensure continuity, bench strength and reduced key-person risk.
- Oversee talent attraction, retention and engagement strategies, particularly for critical and scarce-skill roles.
- Ensure fair, compliant, and effective performance management, remuneration and reward frameworks.
- Monitor employee engagement, turnover and capability metrics and intervene where trends present business or financial risk.
- Ensure HR policies, systems, and practices meet governance, legal and ethical standards.
- Ensure compliance with South African labour legislation (LRA, BCEA, EEA).
- Promote diversity, transformation and inclusion in line with national frameworks.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Responsible for executive oversight of the Group’s IT function, ensuring that technology strategy aligns with business objectives, growth plans and financial priorities
- Leading the development and execution of the IT strategy, ensuring systems are secure, reliable, scalable and support operational excellence.
- Overseeing technology investment decisions, including property management systems, ERP and digital tools, to deliver measurable efficiency, cost or decision-making benefits.
- Ensuring IT infrastructure supports data integrity, system availability and timely, accurate executive reporting.
- Implementing cybersecurity, risk and business continuity controls, with regular testing and review to prevent material incidents.
- Standardising IT processes and controls across sites and departments to ensure consistency, compliance and scalability.
- Monitoring IT performance, risks and service levels and intervening where issues may materially impact operations or financial outcomes.
- Managing technology governance, vendor relationships and compliance obligations.
- Oversee the collection, analysis, and disclosure of ESG data, ensuring transparency and accuracy in reporting to stakeholders, investors, and regulatory bodies
- Fostering a culture of digital transformation and continuous improvement, encouraging teams to leverage automation, analytics and emerging technologies.
LEGAL, RISK & COMPLIANCE: Responsible for overseeing the Group’s risk management and compliance activities, ensuring robust governance and adherence to all statutory, regulatory and operational requirements
- Maintaining and regularly reviewing the Group Risk Register, identifying key risks, potential consequences, business impacts and mitigation strategies.
- Leading annual risk workshops with the Board to assess emerging risks and update the Top 10 Risks for the Group.
- Ensuring compliance with the Companies Act, Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations, Property Practitioners Act, POPIA (data privacy), BBBEE, Consumer Protection Act, Employment Equity Act, BCEA and other relevant legislation.
- Overseeing the implementation and ongoing review of the Risk Management and Compliance Program (RMCP) including financial crime policies, procedures and controls.
- Coordinating the submission of statutory returns (SARS, CIPC, COIDA, UIF, PAYE) and maintaining up-to-date compliance certificates for all subsidiaries.
- Advising the Board on governance best practices, regulatory changes, and risk mitigation strategies.
- Ensuring the effective functioning of the Board and sub-committees, including preparation and distribution of meeting packs, minutes and follow-up on action items.
- Promoting a culture of compliance and ethical conduct across the organisation and ensuring that all employees are aware of and adhere to internal policies and external regulations.
Responsible for overseeing the Group’s legal function, ensuring that all business activities are conducted within the framework of applicable laws and regulations and that legal risks are effectively managed
- Managing legal risk across contracts, property transactions, developments, joint ventures and corporate actions.
- Overseeing the review, negotiation and execution of commercial agreements, leases, service provider contracts and funding arrangements.
- Ensuring compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements, including the Companies Act, Property Practitioners Act, Consumer Protection Act, POPIA, and other relevant legislation.
- Coordinating with external legal counsel on complex transactions, legal opinions and regulatory filings.
- Supporting due diligence processes for capital raises, acquisitions, and other strategic initiatives, including the preparation and management of data rooms and investor documentation.
- Advising the Board and executive team on legal implications of business decisions, governance best practices and emerging legal risks.
- Promoting a culture of legal compliance and ethical conduct across the organisation and ensuring that all employees are aware of and adhere to internal legal policies and external regulations.
BUSINESS PROCESS OPTIMISATION: Responsible for driving business process optimisation across all support and operational functions
- Championing the adoption of automation, digital tools and analytics to streamline workflows, reduce manual interventions and improve data integrity.
- Overseeing the deployment of technology solutions to strengthen controls, reduce risk and provide real-time visibility into key business activities.
- Standardising processes and controls across sites and departments to ensure consistency, compliance and scalability.
- Supporting the development and execution of enterprise data strategies, including the use of dashboards and predictive analytics to inform decision-making and monitor performance.
- Fostering a culture of continuous improvement, encouraging teams to identify and act on opportunities for operational excellence.
PEOPLE LEADERSHIP & STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT: Responsible for providing strategic leadership, coaching and development to the Finance, HR, IT, Legal, Risk & Compliance teams, ensuring that each function is structured and resourced to support operational needs and business growth
- Driving a high-performance culture aligned with the organization’s values, fostering accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement across all teams.
- Implementing effective performance management and career development plans to build capability, support succession planning and retain key talent.
- Building strong relationships with banks, auditors, legal advisors, regulators, service providers, investors and internal stakeholders to advance business objectives and ensure effective collaboration.
- Ensuring timely management of performance challenges, conflict resolution and staff engagement to maintain a positive and productive work environment.
- Promoting a culture of mentorship and coaching with evidence of staff development and succession pipeline readiness.
- Fostering collaboration across all business units, eliminating silos and ensuring that stakeholder interests are aligned with organizational goals.
Requirements - CA(SA) or equivalent professional accounting qualification
- 15+ years’ experience in senior financial leadership within operationa
