Finance Director

Are you passionate about shaping the entire financial landscape and driving strategic outcomes for a dynamic global agency? Do you possess a visionary mindset and a proven track record in comprehensive financial leadership, controlling, and executive-level business partnering? Join our team at VML and lead the financial transformation for global brands!

What will your day look like? As the Finance Director at VML, you will hold ultimate responsibility for all finance-related activities, overseeing the financial health and strategic direction for our Copenhagen office and our subsidiaries. You will be the crucial financial partner reporting directly to the CEO, and driving financial strategy, stability, and growth. This is a pivotal leadership role that manages day-to-day operations while contributing to high-level business management and future succession planning.

More specifically, you will:

• Hold full strategic and operational ownership of all finance-related activities including comprehensive accounting, reporting, general bookkeeping, payment controls, and external reporting to WPP.
• Serve as the primary financial business partner to executive leadership, providing strategic guidance, critical insights, and support to drive profitability and growth across all global client engagements.
• Direct the preparation, advanced analysis, and interpretation of complex customer reporting, financial statements, and profitability reports across the organization, identifying overarching trends, risks, and strategic opportunities.
• Oversee and ensure the meticulous follow-up of customer reporting, financial performance, and profitability metrics, guaranteeing accuracy and alignment with ambitious business objectives.
• Collaborate closely with the Managing Partner & CEO, offering expert financial recommendations and playing a key role in strategic decision-making at the highest level.
• Drive the development and implementation of significant enhancements across all reporting processes, financial systems, and controls to continuously improve efficiency, accuracy, and overall financial governance.
• Manage the entire accounting function from A-Z for all designated legal entities, ensuring full compliance with international accounting standards and regulations.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing finance team of five professionals, fostering a culture of continuous learning, professional growth, and operational excellence.
• Lead and manage critical financial projects, ensuring their timely, successful completion and alignment with overarching business strategy.

Who are you going to work with? You will be a key member of our executive leadership team. You will have direct oversight of a team of five finance professionals and collaborate extensively with executive leadership, account teams, and operational departments across our global presence, including our subsidiaries. Our culture emphasizes open communication, mutual respect, and a shared commitment to excellence and strategic impact.

What do you bring to the table? You are a highly influential and experienced financial leader with a profound ability to drive significant results in a dynamic and international agency environment. You possess exceptional stability, mature judgment, and the gravitas required to act as a trusted advisor to executive leadership. You are seeking a role where you can commit to a substantial tenure, making a lasting impact on organizational strategy and potentially stepping into even broader responsibilities.

More specifically, you have:

• At least five years of senior-level finance experience, ideally with an auditor background, having held leadership roles such as Head of Finance, Finance Director, or CFO of a small entity.
• Comprehensive proficiency in accounting principles, advanced reporting, general bookkeeping, robust payment controls, and external reporting to corporate stakeholders.
• Demonstrated expertise in interacting with and managing relationships with external auditors.
• Strong business acumen and extensive commercial experience, including strategic pricing, business optimization, and navigating significant periods of growth or setback.
• Expert-level proficiency in Excel and advanced financial reporting systems.
• Exceptional executive-level communication, interpersonal, and presentation skills, with the ability to influence and articulate complex financial strategies to diverse audiences.
• Superior analytical and problem-solving abilities, capable of dissecting complex financial challenges and proposing effective solutions.
• Proven ability to lead, mentor, and develop a team of finance professionals, fostering a high-performance culture.
• A highly proactive, strategically minded, and results-oriented approach, comfortable driving change in a dynamic international environment.
• A collaborative and supportive leadership style, focused on achieving collective success and organizational stability.

Ideally you also have:

• A Master's degree in Finance or Accounting.
• A proven track record of significant tenure and sustained contribution in previous senior finance roles.
• Experience in an environment with high-growth or significant organizational transformation.

A leader in personalized customer experiences

VML MAP is a world-leading Centre of Excellence that helps businesses humanize the relationship between the brand and the customer through hyper personalization at scale, marketing automation and CRM. With the brain of a consultancy, the heart of an agency and the power of technology and data, we work with some of the world's most admired brands to help them on their transformation journey to becoming truly customer-centric. Together, we are 1000 + technology specialists, data scientists, strategic thinkers, consultants, operations experts, and creative minds from 55+ nationalities.

A global network

We are part of the global VML network that encompasses more than 30,000 employees across 150+ offices in 60+ markets, each contributing to a culture that values connection, belonging, and the power of differences. 

#LI-EMEA