Head of Finance – Apparel Retail

About the role

Our client, a leading apparel retail organization with a strong and expanding market presence, is seeking a strategic and commercially driven Head of Finance to partner closely with the Founder and leadership team.

Key responsibilities

• Own the integrity of statutory and management accounts, including monthly close, statutory audit and consolidation for both trading and in‑house manufacturing operations.
• Manage VAT, import duties, withholding tax, ESC, EPF/ETF and BOI compliance, and oversee transfer‑pricing policy and documentation.
• Design and enforce internal controls, approval matrices and segregation of duties to support a growth path of 6‑20 stores.
• Lead FP&A activities – annual budgeting, monthly forecasting, rolling cash‑flow and store‑level P&L modelling.
• Oversee treasury functions, cash management, FX exposure, debt facilities and banking relationships in Sri Lanka.
• Partner with buying, retail operations, marketing, e‑commerce and manufacturing teams to translate financial constraints into commercial decisions.
• Drive migration from QuickBooks to an integrated ERP with POS, e‑commerce and inventory system integration and build BI dashboards.
• Build and scale the finance team from 4 to a 20‑store‑ready function, developing successors for critical roles.

Required profile

• Qualified Chartered Accountant (CA Sri Lanka, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent).
• 8‑12 years of progressive finance experience, preferably as a senior finance leader in a multi‑site, growth‑stage retail business.
• Proven track record of building a finance function from scratch in a scale‑up environment.
• Direct retail experience in apparel or branded consumer sector, with omnichannel exposure a strong plus.
• Experience with in‑house manufacturing finance, related‑party transfer pricing and structuring debt facilities with Sri Lankan banks.

Required skills

• QuickBooks
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation and integration
• Business Intelligence tools for reporting and dashboards
• Financial modelling and budgeting
• Treasury management and FX hedging