Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Financier

🎯 Role Definition

A Financier is a senior finance professional who combines hands-on technical expertise (financial modelling, valuation, accounting, treasury and investor reporting) with strategic advisory capabilities to influence capital allocation, financing decisions, M&A execution, and corporate performance improvement. This role partners with C-suite leaders, business unit owners, investors, banks and advisors to structure transactions, optimize capital structure, manage liquidity and deliver board-level financial insight that drives measurable business outcomes.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Financial Analyst / Senior Financial Analyst (FP&A)
Investment Banking Analyst or Associate
Corporate Treasurer / Treasury Analyst

Advancement To:

Head of Finance / Finance Director
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Head of Corporate Development or Head of Treasury

Lateral Moves:

Private Equity / Investment Management
Corporate Development (M&A)
Strategic Finance / Business Partnering

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead end-to-end financial modelling and valuation for transactions (M&A, divestitures, equity raises, debt refinancing), building detailed DCF, LBO, accretion/dilution, sensitivity and scenario analyses to quantify value creation and support executive decision-making.
Own budgeting, quarterly forecasting and rolling forecast processes across the enterprise, coordinating cross-functional inputs, reconciling assumptions, and producing board-quality forecast packages with actionable variance explanations and risk mitigations.
Prepare and present consolidated monthly, quarterly and annual financial reports, KPI dashboards and management commentary for the CFO and executive committee, translating complex results into concise recommendations and priorities.
Structure and negotiate debt and equity financings, work with banks and capital markets advisors on term sheets, covenants, pricing and documentation, and model the impact of different capital structures on credit metrics and shareholder returns.
Manage treasury operations including daily cash and liquidity management, short- and long-term cash flow forecasting, bank relationships, working capital optimization and funding strategy to ensure solvency and optimize cost of capital.
Lead commercial and financial due diligence efforts for acquisitions or strategic investments — coordinate external advisors, analyze historical performance, validate synergies and prepare investment memoranda and integration playbooks.
Drive pricing strategy and product profitability analysis by designing pricing models, margin attribution, customer lifetime value analysis and scenario tests to inform commercial and go-to-market decisions.
Develop and implement internal controls, SOX-compliant processes and financial governance frameworks to mitigate risk, ensure accurate financial close and maintain audit readiness.
Oversee investor relations materials and communication: prepare investor decks, quarterly earnings briefings, data-room content, and respond to investor and rating agency queries with timely, transparent financial information.
Execute portfolio management activities including monitoring asset performance, rebalancing where relevant, conducting performance attribution, and recommending adjustments to maximize portfolio returns within risk constraints.
Coordinate tax planning and compliance activities with internal and external advisors, assess tax implications of transactions, and implement tax-efficient structures aligned with corporate strategy.
Lead post-merger integration (PMI) financial workstreams: harmonize accounting and reporting, integrate budgeting systems, track synergy realization and manage consolidated working capital and cash conversion.
Build, maintain and automate financial models, dashboards and reporting tools using Excel, VBA, Power BI, Tableau, or Python to reduce manual effort, increase accuracy and improve the speed of business decision-making.
Partner with legal and compliance teams to evaluate contracts, lease obligations, guarantees and contingent liabilities and quantify their financial impacts for balance sheet and covenant management.
Implement and optimize KPIs, financial metrics and OKRs across finance and business units to measure performance, identify drivers of value, and cascade targets through the organization.
Design and run enterprise-level stress testing, liquidity scenarios and contingency planning for downside cases, regulatory changes and macroeconomic shocks, recommending operational and financial mitigations.
Lead cost optimization and strategic efficiency programs by identifying cost levers, running zero-based budgeting or cost-benefit analyses, renegotiating supplier contracts and tracking realized savings.
Manage month-end and year-end close activities: coordinate with accounting teams for GL reconciliations, intercompany eliminations, accruals and technical accounting issues to ensure timely, accurate financial statements.
Communicate financial implications of strategic initiatives to cross-functional stakeholders, crafting executive summaries and actionable roadmaps that bridge finance, commercial and operations.
Mentor, coach and develop junior finance staff and analysts, setting standards for modelling discipline, documentation, and professional development while building a high-performing finance team.
Evaluate, select and lead implementation of financial systems (ERP, TMS, CPM), define requirements, coordinate with IT and vendors, and manage change to improve data integrity and reporting capabilities.
Manage relationships with external auditors, banks, legal counsel and regulators — coordinate audits, reviews and regulatory filings and ensure timely delivery of information and remediation of findings.

Secondary Functions

Provide ad-hoc financial analysis and scenario modelling to support product launches, pricing pilots and strategic pilot programs.
Contribute to the finance organization’s strategic roadmap by recommending process automation, system enhancements and reporting standardization.
Collaborate with business unit leaders to translate commercial strategies into financial plans and measurable targets, acting as a strategic business partner.
Participate in cross-functional project teams (IT systems, ERP rollout, business transformation) to ensure finance requirements are embedded and tested.
Support capital allocation reviews by preparing ROI, payback and NPV analyses for proposed investments and discretionary spend.
Facilitate investor and board Q&A sessions by preparing backup materials and running mock Q&A to ensure consistent, accurate messaging.
Assist in identifying and documenting accounting policy impacts for new contracts, leases and revenue recognition scenarios in coordination with the accounting function.
Lead small-scale pilot projects to implement RPA, Excel/VBA automation or Python scripts that reduce manual reconciliations and improve reporting cadence.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Advanced financial modelling (DCF, LBO, M&A accretion/dilution, scenario & sensitivity analysis) — expert Excel skills with modelling best practices.
Corporate valuation techniques and transaction structuring experience (equity, debt, hybrid instruments).
Financial reporting and consolidation knowledge, GAAP / IFRS technical accounting awareness and month-end close processes.
FP&A expertise: budgeting, forecasting, driver-based models, variance analysis and KPI design.
Treasury and liquidity management: cash flow forecasting, bank relationships, debt covenants and hedging basics.
M&A due diligence and PMI experience, creating integration plans and synergy tracking.
Familiarity with enterprise financial systems: ERP (SAP, Oracle), CPM/Treasury systems, Power BI / Tableau, Excel, VBA; Python or SQL for data extraction a plus.
Investor relations and capital markets experience: preparing roadshow materials, investor decks, and managing investor queries.
Risk management: stress testing, scenario planning, credit and market risk assessment.
Advanced presentation skills: PowerPoint / data visualization to create board-level materials.
Tax planning coordination and understanding of corporate tax implications for transactions.
Experience with internal controls, SOX compliance and audit coordination.

Soft Skills

Strategic thinker with commercial acumen and the ability to translate strategy into financial terms and measurable outcomes.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills; comfortable presenting to C-suite and board-level audiences.
Strong stakeholder management and negotiation skills — able to influence internal and external partners.
High attention to detail and strong analytical problem-solving capabilities.
Leadership and people development: coaching, mentoring and building high-performing teams.
Project management and prioritization skills in fast-moving environments.
Ethical judgment, integrity, and confidentiality handling sensitive financial information.
Adaptability and resilience to manage change during transactions and integrations.
Collaborative mindset with experience working cross-functionally (legal, tax, operations, commercial).
Time management and ability to deliver high-quality outputs under tight deadlines.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or a related quantitative discipline.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree or MBA, or advanced professional qualification (CFA, ACCA, CPA) preferred.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Finance
Accounting
Economics
Business Administration
Mathematics / Statistics
Engineering (quantitative focus)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 5–12 years of progressive experience in corporate finance, investment banking, private equity, treasury or strategic finance roles.

Preferred: 7+ years with demonstrated transaction experience (M&A, capital markets or corporate financing), proven track record in financial modelling, investor/stakeholder communication and systems implementation.