Alten -- Chief Financial Officer, North America

With more than 54 000 consultants in 30 countries and a current market capitalization of over €4 billion, ALTEN is a leader in the engineering, research and development, and IT consulting industries.

Since 1999, ALTEN has been listed on the Paris Stock Exchange (ATE.PA) and has benefited from a strong financial position as well as a growth strategy.

The company has been expanding worldwide in line with its business model and its top-of-the-line positioning while reconciling its profit margin policy with their will to tackle their clients’ technological challenges ahead.

Key Market Sectors

• Aeronautics
• Space
• Defense & Naval
• Automotive
• Rail & Mobility
• Security
• Telecoms & Media
• Energy & Environment
• Life Sciences
• Banking, Finance & Insurance
• Retail & Consumer Services
• Public Sector & Government Services

POSITION DESCRIPTION

Chief Financial Officer, North America

As ALTEN prioritizes their growth objectives, they are in search of a North American CFO. He / she / they will report directly to the CEO, in North America, with a dotted line to the Group CFO in France.

He / she / they will lead teams across multiple services in Finance, Information Technology (IT), Legal, Human Resource (HR) Administration, Facility Management, Purchasing, Quality and Compliance.

Across these functions, the candidate will ensure there are robust processes and the appropriate tools, as key enablers to allow future accelerated growth (3X people and revenues within 3 years, before M&A).

The successful candidate will be hands-on, charismatic, and possess innate leadership abilities. He / she / they will be the main business partner to the North American CEO and will ensure that ALTEN North America continues to contribute to the global success of the company.

As such, the North American CFO will influence decisions, and strategy and will be instrumental in delivering the ambitious growth plan for the Region, both organically and through M&A.

Key Responsibilities

• Monitoring operational financial reporting to support business decisions, leading to areas of improvement (G&A financial performance, DSO, margin gap analysis, etc.).
• KPI driven, he / she / they reviews day-to-day operations with finance and HR to ensure top performance.
• Leads a North American team of 100+ people in 3 countries (Canada, Mexico, US) with direct reports across Finance, HR Administration, Purchasing, Facility Management, and IT.
• Scales his / her / their team with top talent and spearheads personal and professional development; participates in career committees and employee career management.
• Contributes to M&A operations. Leads the process of due diligence and acts as a facilitator to ensure successful integration between back-office and newly acquired subsidiaries (costs, organization, HR, processes, tools, and reporting).
• Creates a culture of excellence for HR administrative practices, guaranteeing compliance and enablement of the business.
• Defines budget, managing monthly closing, monthly forecast, and tracking financial performance.
• Collaborating and working closely with group corporate functions, ensuring full compliance with the group rules, processes, and policies.
• Participates in the main group steering committees related to middle and back-office tools, appointing NA users and NA process owners when required.
• Managing tax issues in relation to local advisors / auditors and / or Group tax department.
• Takes ownership of the relationship with external auditors.
• In charge of managing and rolling out the group compliance programs such as GDPR, Sapin 2, CSR, etc.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Chief Financial Officer, North America

The successful candidate is a strategic and operational business partner to the regional CEO, company CFO, and the executive team.

He / she / they understands business value enhancement, risk management and provides excellent guidance, counsel, analysis, and recommendations on a broad range of business, financial, strategic, and operational issues.

Skilled and confident, the North American CFO is respected for his / her / their business savvy, sound judgment, innate wisdom, and ability to challenge thinking and perspectives in a respectful manner.

Experiences and Proficiencies

• 15+ years of leadership experience with at least 5 years as an operational CFO / COO.
• Successful experience in a B2B, services environment with a strong technological component, such as Tier1 automotive, aerospace or energy subcontractors, IT Services, telecommunications, or any other sectors recognized for the quality of their key account strategy : distribution, professional services, maintenance, logistics and temporary work.
• A Master’s degree in finance and / or Business Administration.
• Experience in working in a business unit, within an international organization and multicultural environment.
• Strong business acumen.
• Successful experience in organizing, structuring, and managing large teams, in a fast-paced environment.

Personal Characteristics

• Has a builder mentality, positive energy, collaborative, can-do attitude, is adaptable and results-driven.
• Hands-on leadership style (leads by example), with a sense of urgency and the discipline to make things happen.
• Thinks strategically but stays on top of tactical execution.
• Brings credibility.
• Has the innate ability to inspire passion and excellence in others.
• Analytical but has strong interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate effectively with various audiences.
• Fluent in English (French an asset).

Location

The position can be located in Montreal, QC; Denver, Colorado; or Detroit, Michigan. ALTEN encourages and promotes in-person collaboration;

employees are expected to work on-site.