Chief Finance Officer - #1696293

Department: Finance

Location: Shoreditch, London

Description

Are you ready to take the financial helm of one of the UK’s most dynamic food businesses? We are now looking for a commercially savvy, hands-on Chief Financial Officer to guide KERB through this exciting phase, overseeing finance, IT, and strategic planning across all group entities. As an integral member of the senior leadership team this person will partner with the CEO, divisional MDs and the senior leadership team.

With food halls open or launching in major cities across the UK, Europe, the USA and exciting developments underway internationally, KERB is entering its next phase of growth. This includes significant commercial scaling, M&A, tech investment, and further national and international expansion.

What you'll be doing

Strategic & Commercial Leadership

• Work closely with the CEO, Senior Leadership team and the Board to inform business-critical decisions and international expansion strategy
• Shape and lead KERB’s long-term financial strategy, aligning with growth goals
• Drive financial, operational and commercial insights and data to help management make key decisions that lead to growth and drive efficiencies
• Collaborate with Operations and the Events teams to develop plans that improve margins, drive profitability, optimise labour and overhead costs and improve the cost management processes
• Maintain strong relationships and represent KERB to investors, banks, advisors and new and existing partners

Financial Management & Oversight

• Build and lead a durable, flexible and scalable finance function equipped with best-in-class financial workflows, controls, procedures and technologies
• Manage and develop the Finance team to ensure they are high performing, compliant and deliver outstanding service to the stakeholders and the wider business
• Partner with department heads to maintain strong commercial discipline across the business
• Own group-wide financial planning, budgeting, forecasting and modelling that ensure the business grows in line with its strategic objectives
• Oversee all financial controls, operations, reporting, tax, risk, and compliance
• Deliver timely, accurate and insightful monthly management accounts and board reports
• Develop and lead a robust treasury management system as the business scales both in the UK and international, ensuring the right funding is in place at all times and FX is managed

International Expansion

• Support and advise on the commercial structuring of international operations (e.g. tax, FX, JV partnerships, local finance practices)
• Set up and integrate financial operations in new territories
• Ensure group-level reporting and controls are scalable across multiple jurisdictions
• Ensure compliance with UK and international financial regulations and tax requirements

Tech & IT Strategy

• Oversee KERB’s digital transformation journey, ensuring our tech stack supports operational efficiency, customer experience and scalability
• Line manage the Head of IT, helping shape tech roadmap, systems integration, and data architecture to support business performance
• Bring a strategic eye to business-wide tools (POS, CRM, finance systems)
  
  

What you'll bring to KERB

• A qualified accountant (ACA/ACCA/CIMA) with proven senior finance experience, including as CFO or FD
• Experience in scaling multi-entity, international businesses — ideally in hospitality, retail, or consumer-facing sectors
• Demonstrable balance between being a strategic partner and being able to be hands on where required
• Track record of creating and developing a high-quality finance function and effective processes by leveraging of financial technology as well as upskilling the team
• Strong proficiency in financial data analysis, with a keen eye for detail and accuracy, including a proven track record of owning the overall reporting suite to enable the business to understand the leavers for growth
• Effective communication skills, with the ability to present financial information clearly to non-finance stakeholders
• Exceptional people leadership and communication skills with the ability to inspire and motivate both the teams they manage and the wider business
• A growth mindset and results-oriented approach with a breadth of commercial, strategic and business management skills
• Tech-literate and systems-minded, with experience overseeing IT strategy

This list is in no way exhaustive and the incumbent may be asked to perform other tasks to support the wider KERB team (within reason!)

What you'll get by joining KERB

• Generous F&B discount across KERB food and drinks
• 25 days holiday (excluding bank holidays) + birthday day off
• Health Cash Plan (BHSF)
• Personal Wellbeing Allowance (Juno)
• CODE App Membership
• Private Medical Insurance (Vitality)
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Cycle To Work scheme
• Annual season ticket loan
• Enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption leave after 2 years
• A London Living Wage and Disability Confident Committed employer
• A Best Companies accredited employer

Diversity & Inclusion
As part of our values, we are dedicated to fostering a culture of inclusivity at KERB. We actively celebrate our teams’ different abilities, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, faith, and gender. Everyone, from any background, is welcome and supported in their development at all stages in their journey with us. Applicants are encouraged to share with our People Team any accommodations or reasonable adjustments required during the recruitment process.