Group Chief Financial Officer

Elephants Foot Group is appointing a Chief Financial Officer: a hands-on leader who will own every number across the group, modernise how finance works, and then lead where the group invests next.About usElephants Foot Group has built the waste infrastructure inside Australia's residential and commercial buildings for 50 years. We design, engineer, manufacture, install, service and rent the systems and equipment that manage a building's waste, and we advise the developers and councils who plan them. From the first waste plan to lifetime service, the whole chain sits inside one vertically integrated group. More than 100 people work across the group.We are family-owned, with second-generation leadership. The group runs through fast-moving operating subsidiaries, and it is growing quickly.Find out more at www.elephantsfoot.com.au.Why this role existsThe group has grown, and finance now needs to grow with it. This role leads that work.You will be the senior finance leader across every operating business in the group, reporting to the Group Chief Executive Officer and working closely with the owners. You will lead from the front: close to the detail when it matters, and focused on a finance function that runs to a high standard and scales with the group. As that function matures, the role moves to the bigger questions: where the group invests, what it acquires, and how its capital is structured for the long term.What you will do

• Own the numbers: take full responsibility for the month-end close, consolidation, cash, working capital, and tax and statutory compliance across all seven operating entities.
• Make the numbers useful: build reporting that shows every leader where the business makes and loses money, by division, project and product, while there is still time to act.
• Find the money: work through pricing, cost, margin and overhead line by line, and turn what you find into profit on the bottom line.
• Let technology do the work: use automation, integrated systems and artificial intelligence to remove manual work from finance and give the business faster, more accurate information.
• Hold the business to account: partner with the leadership team on every major commercial decision, and make sure the business delivers what it commits to.
• Lead the team: coach and develop a compact finance team, onshore and offshore, as the group grows.
• Raise the standard: put in place the controls, policies, governance and banking relationships of a much larger business.Once finance and administration are optimised, you will lead the capital agendaWho you are
• A Chartered Accountant or Certified Practising Accountant with senior finance leadership experience, at least some of it in a larger, more complex business. You may be a Financial Controller, Head of Finance or Finance Director ready for your first group role, or a Chief Financial Officer ready for a bigger one.
• A proven leader. You build capable, accountable teams and lift the people around you, in finance and across the business.
• Grounded in manufacturing, construction, engineering or project-based businesses, where margin is won or lost on the job.
• Experienced in consolidating and running the finances of a multi-entity group to a tight timetable.
• Hands-on by choice. When it matters, you build the model yourself.
• Technology-led. You have already used automation, cloud systems and artificial intelligence to change how a finance function works, and you want to go further.
• Direct and commercial. You say what the numbers say, early and clearly, even when the message is unwelcome.
• Action-oriented. You let results do the talking, and every decision you make serves the best interests of the business.
• Built for pace. You do your best work in a growing business where decisions are made in days.
• At home in a family business. You respect what 50 years have built, and you know how to bring change to it.
• Experience in mergers and acquisitions, investment cases or debt funding will set you apart.How we work
• We move fast: we decide quickly and fix what does not work.
• We think big: we set ambitious goals and build for the scale we intend to reach.
• We always optimise: every process, cost and system is open to improvement, all the time.
• We tell it straight: honest numbers and direct conversations, in every direction.
• We look after our people: we treat our people, customers and partners with respect, and most of our managers have been with us for more than a decade.What we offer
• The most senior finance role in the group, with a direct line to the Group Chief Executive Officer and the owners.
• A seat on a small but growing executive team.
• A profitable, growing business. You will be building, not rescuing.
• The chance to build the finance function of a market leader and put your name to it.
• Strong career progression, with a role that grows with the group from optimising finance to investment, acquisitions and capital strategy.
• A steady pipeline of new internal initiatives, from automation and artificial intelligence to new products and systems, that keeps the work varied and the challenge fresh.
• An executive base salary plus superannuation, with a performance incentive designed together after your first year.
• A full-time role at our Sydney head office, working on site with the business.How to applyApply with your resume and a short cover note telling us about the finance function you are proudest of building, and what you changed.The role starts on Monday 11 January 2027, so we are moving quickly and reviewing applications as they arrive. Every approach is treated in strict confidence. Applicants must have full working rights in Australia. We are managing this appointment directly and are not accepting agency submissions.