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Harper James is a full-service commercial law firm with a unique subscription-based model for ambitious SMEs. We’ve grown rapidly and recently secured private-equity backing from LDC to fuel our next phase of expansion, including through strategic M&A. We’re a remote-first, no-ego team of 140+ people. Now we’re hiring our first-ever CFO to join the executive team at this pivotal stage.
The Opportunity
This is more than finance. It’s about turning numbers into strategy. As CFO, you’ll partner with our Founder & CEO and leadership to steer the business through rapid growth. You’ll own financial strategy, forecasting, and investor relations, and look beyond the numbers to analyse, interpret, and explain what they mean for how we operate and where we invest.
You’ll use financial and operational data to inform go-to-market and lead generation, capital allocation, recruitment planning and legal team capacity models so we deploy spend and people where they drive the most value. As the CEO’s right hand, you may also take on broader remit overseeing People/HR, day-to-day Operations and Compliance as the business scales.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead financial planning, forecasting and reporting; be fully accountable for the numbers and the detail behind them.
- Translate data into clear commercial insight that guides where we invest: campaigns, channels, headcount and service lines.
- Partner with Marketing, Sales and Service Delivery to align pipeline with capacity; build models that link demand, utilisation and hiring.
- Manage relationships with LDC, lenders and the board; deliver crisp, timely performance narratives and forward views.
- Drive M&A (diligence, modelling, integration) to support our acquisitive growth plan.
- Ensure compliance, tax, statutory accounts and governance are watertight.
- Lead and develop a capable finance team; potentially oversee People/HR, Ops and Compliance as appropriate.
Ideal Candidate
- Qualified accountant (ACA/ACCA/CIMA) with senior finance leadership experience in PE-backed professional services (legal, consulting, accountancy) and/or recurring-revenue/SaaS models.
- Proven at turning data into action: building KPIs and dashboards, interrogating funnels, unit economics and pricing to drive growth.
- Board-level communicator who can challenge constructively and influence decisions.
- Comfortable in a fast-paced SME: strategic at board level and hands-on when needed.
- M&A exposure (or ability to deliver with external support).
- Smart, agile, down-to-earth; strong work ethic; great chemistry with the team; no ego.
What We Offer
- A career-defining seat at the table in a PE-backed, high-growth firm.
- Market-leading salary and future equity participation.
- Remote-first working with regular collaboration in Birmingham.
- A culture that values openness, trust and getting things done.
Ready to help us scale with pace and precision? We’d love to hear from you.
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