Chief Financial Officer

Ivy Rock Partners is proud to be working with CILEX in recruiting a new Chief Financial Officer, which will suit any candidates looking for a predominantly remote/working from home model. ( also option of 4 days per week)

CILEX is the professional institute for specialist criminal, civil and family lawyers and for paralegals. With over 17,500 members we are the second largest professional body in England & Wales as well as being in many dimensions the most diverse of the legal professions.

CILEX earns its income from a combination of membership fees, qualification-based education, examination fees and income from training and other products and services to employers of legal professionals and higher and further education partners. In addition to its annual revenues of c.£11m the institute holds assets of c. £10m of which c. £7m is managed by Barclays Wealth. The finance directorate combines the finance, compliance, IT and HR functions.

Since 2018 CILEX has been following a radical strategic plan that aimed to transform the standing of the profession to cement its equivalence to solicitors that was granted in changes made in legal services legislation from 2007 – 2014 by:

• Working with government and regulators to remove the final legislative and regulatory barriers to genuine equivalence.

• Developing a new qualification and apprenticeship standards that deliver a product better aligned to market requirements.

• Expand the membership proposition.

• Grow the institute through a programme of acquisition and product development

• Changing the delegated regulatory arrangements that govern the profession

• Transform the operating model and supporting technology that delivers our products and services

As we near the end of this transformation programme we have been making significant changes to the leadership and organisation of the institute to both improve accountability and ownership of performance and to build a culture that empowers leaders to deliver against a clear set of strategic goals agreed by the Board.

We now look to appoint a Chief Financial Officer who will report to the Chief Executive with a very specific brief aimed at ensuring we can maximise the return from the very significant investments we have made in product and technology and the recent acquisition of the Institute of Paralegals.

Key Accountabilities:

• Enhancing the capability of the finance function to operate independently of direct supervision in the day-to-day execution of core activities, processes and reporting

• Ensuring that the supporting technology is fit for purpose and enables the minimum amount of ‘double handling’ or reprocessing in core finance processes

• Taking ownership of working capital and developing a programme of debt re[1]payment that strengthens our balance sheet and enables further investment in product and technology

• Ensuring that the IT department and the core systems it supports are fit for purpose and exploited to the maximum to deliver lowest cost technology support for products and services

• Maximising the return from our cash assets over the long-term

• Ensuring a successful annual audit and the preparation of the Annual Report & Accounts

• Ownership of the risk appetite, risk management process and internal audit

• Ownership of the annual plan and budget process and the reporting of performance to the executive and the Board.

Direct Reports:

• Head of Finance

• Head of IT

• Head of Compliance

• Head of HR

The CFO is a senior member of the Executive Team and attends Board and the finance and audit and risk committee. They have a dotted line reporting relationship with the Chairs of both these committees.

Personal Capabilities:

Essential:

• A strong commercial understanding and experience of being a finance leader in a commercial environment.

• Fully qualified status (ACCA, CIMA or equivalent)

• An appreciation of operating and reporting systems and how to exploit their full potential

• Collegiate, approachable and willing to get involved in order to get things done

• An effective team coach and leader, able to set standards and help teams embrace and achieve them

• Able to work with a remote team that gets together occasionally.

Desirable:

• Experience in professional services

• Experience integrating financial system

Application Timetable:

• Application Deadline: Tuesday 3rd December 2024
• Shortlisting: Friday 6th December 2024
• First Stage Interviews: Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th December 2024
• Final Stage Interviews: 16th and 17th December 2024

​For more information about the role, please contact Phil Southern at Ivy Rock Partners for a confidential conversation.