Case studies

Fresha approached Finatal with a need to build out their data function. 

The Need:

In the last two years, Finatal have placed eleven data professionals and scaled the data function at Fresha, a private equity backed beauty and wellness software platform, and are now their preferred recruitment supplier across data & analytics.

The Strategy:

Fresha needed to grow their existing data function over a two year period across Engineering, Analytics and Data Science. Finatal has been able to recommend candidates who would strengthen the existing team but also push the analytics function to ensure timely value creation. Finatal subsequently placed Head of Data Engineering, Head of Analytics, 1 Lead Data Analyst, 2 Senior Data Analyst, Product Analysts x2, Lead BI Analysts x2, Analytics Engineer, Data Engineer.

The Solution:

“I’ve worked with 8 different recruitment agencies during my tenure with Fresha, but once I started working with Finatal's Data & Analytics team, I stopped working with anybody else. Finatal is an admirable leader in the data & tech recruitment; they really understand client requirements at a level other recruiters only pretend to, they demonstrate exceptional salesmanship and candidate relationship management, and will always hold themselves to their word. Finatal were a pivotal force in enabling Fresha to triple its analytics team in less than a year. I'm glad that I could meet Finatal and I see them as an indispensable partner in growing Fresha's analytics practice to where it is now.”

Smallsteps approached with a need for a CFO role based in Europe.

Personalised service:

Having a deep understanding of and working with private equity-backed businesses like Smallsteps meant that we were able to deliver a personalised service that worked for them. We assessed personality, experience and suitability which we believed to be imperative for Smallsteps. This led us to shortlist 4 strong candidates with a wealth of positive and appropriate attributes. 

Repeat business:

Due to the success of placing such a strong candidate here, we have since had repeat business from the private equity firm behind Smallsteps, which has led to cementing our reputation within this evolving industry. 

In the last five years, Finatal have placed over 15 CFOs for August Equity, a private equity business focused on health, technology and businesses, and are now their preferred supplier. 

CFO hires for this business require a suitable culture fit. Finatal has been able to recommend CFO candidates who August Equity have previously overlooked, by considering their cultural fit and technical ability together. These out of the box placements have since worked out to successful placements. 

The Solution:

“I’ve engaged with Finatal twice in the last year for Finance Directors within our portfolio and been very impressed with the outcomes on both occasions. They get what good private equity FD look like and has a very good understanding of the kind of FDs we at August like to work with. He has been tenacious, proactive and delivered strong shortlists for two very different briefs, and we’ve been really happy with the Finance Directors we’ve hired and the value they’ve delivered so far”. 

“We’ve worked with Paul and Finatal over the last few years to recruit most of our CFOs across the portfolio, in a range of locations across the UK – including Glasgow, Yorkshire, Midlands and the Southeast. Paul has a great understanding of what makes an August FD tick and is the proverbial “rat up a drainpipe”, always proactive and finding some exceptional candidates that have helped our business drive forward.”

Qualitest is a managed services provider of quality assurance and testing solutions, backed by PE house Marlin. What was crucial for QualiTest was finding the right culture fit to the business’ pace and mindset – as much as fulfilling the technical requirements. 

The Strategy:

In 2019, we ran a retained search to find a top CFO. Through our network, narrowed down to the CFO, Chris Wilmot. Following his hire, he became a client for Finatal, and we sourced multiple roles to support his finance team including a UK FD, M&A Manager, Systems Consultant, UK FC, VP of Israel and data support personnel. 

The Solution:

These key hires helped support the growth of the business which sold in 2019 for £330million. 

“I have recently worked with Finatal to fill a number of key hires in my finance team including a Group Finance Controller. I was extremely impressed with Finatal’s ability to quickly source a shortlist of highly suitable candidates. I also appreciated having Finatal’s view on the best person for the role and luckily, we were in agreement on each role. Finatal closed the successful candidate quickly and in line with my remuneration expectations for each role.” – Chris Wilmot, CFO, QualiTest 

Adarma, a cyber-security company backed by Livingbridge needed a CFO.

The Strategy:

The business went through 3 different recruiters who were unable to find a CFO with the right mix of private equity, commercial and strategic skills for their Edinburgh based business. Immediately, we filled with an interim CFO who was on our network, whilst we sourced a permanent placement. 

The Solution:

We looked through our extensive network both locally and more broadly across the UK, before we successfully placed a seasoned CFO with experience delivering shareholder value in a results driven environment. 

“We have worked with Finatal for a number of years, engaging them to help us with both interim and permanent CFO and FD hires across our portfolio. We recently backed a ne business in the cybersecurity space, Adarma, based in Edinburgh, and hired an interim CFO through Finatal. Having gone through a failed search process with another firm and exhausted the local market, we asked Finatal to help; they provided a number of high quality CFO candidates who were willing to do the weekly commute to Edinburgh, and have just hired an exceptional, high calibre CFO who fit the brief very well in terms of personality and culture fit. Paul did a great job guiding the candidate through the process and we are delighted to have got Mark on board.” – Ruby Biring, Head of Talent – Livingbridge.
 

Addison Lee, backed by The Carlyle Group, needed Finatal to find an Interim Deputy CFO. 

The Need:

We were approached by Caryle to work on a project role working with the CFO, CEO and the PE house. The role was to develop the commercial reporting but also work heavily on the refinancing of the business. They wanted someone with high level of PE and bank refinancing experience who could operate at board level but also get involved in developing the finance functions processes and reporting. 

The Strategy:

We assembled a range of candidates by understanding the given brief and key criteria. This was instrumented in the defined timeframe set by the client. 

The Solution:

After searching our highly extensive candidate database, we were able to propose our most suited candidate to the client through pre-assessment and vigorous interview process. The client trusted our expertise and we successfully placed a candidate for the interim role. 

With the success of placing an Interim Deputy CFO for Addison Lee, we have continued to place candidates for them; We placed an Interim Head of Finance using the same approach we have for all our clients; we listen to the needs, use our unique search strategy and find the best candidate for that specific role.