Head of Finance
The Head of Finance is responsible for budgeting, treasury, accounting and reporting in high-risk verticals, as well as unit economics and cash flow control.
What a Head of Finance does
The Head of Finance leads the finance function of a company or business unit. They make sure that a high-risk business is financially manageable: it is clear how much it costs to acquire a customer, how much money is tied up in reserves and payouts, and what the real margin is after refunds, chargebacks and payment provider fees. In nutra, where margin depends on traffic quality, refunds and ad costs, scaling decisions are made blind without this role.
The role usually reports to the group CEO or CFO and manages accounting, a financial analyst, a treasurer or financial controller, and sometimes payout operators. The Head of Finance works closely with product owners, media buying, the payments team and lawyers, because financial rules must be built into processes rather than applied after the fact. In small teams this position is combined with the company CFO role; in larger organizations it exists separately and is responsible for a specific business unit or product portfolio.
The key result of the work is a transparent picture of money: regular reports, cash gap forecasts, management accounting by geo, offer and traffic source, and clear rules that teams use when making decisions about budgets and payouts.
Responsibilities
- Building and controlling the unit budget: marketing plan, operating expenses, payroll and capital expenditures.
- Management accounting and unit economics broken down by geo, offer, traffic source and product.
- Treasury: managing account balances, distributing funds between payment providers and ad accounts, and monitoring limits.
- Cash flow forecasting and prevention of cash gaps, especially with deferred partner payouts and refund reserves.
- Accounting for refund, subscription cancellation and chargeback reserves, and agreeing the reserve methodology with management and auditors.
- Controlling settlements with payment providers, courier services and partners: reconciling reports, holdbacks and FX differences.
- Preparing management and financial reporting for owners and investors, and defending the numbers at board and management meetings.
- Tax planning and working with tax advisors in the jurisdictions where the company operates, within the requirements of the law.
- Aligning financial decisions with risk management and legal: limits, partner contract terms and permitted payment methods.
- Building financial processes, policies and reconciliation automation, and hiring and managing the finance team.
Skills
- Management accounting and financial modeling that accounts for seasonality and refunds.
- Understanding of performance marketing unit economics: LTV, CAC, ROAS and margin after refunds.
- Treasury and liquidity management across multiple currencies and payment systems.
- Negotiating with banks, payment providers and auditors.
- Assessing financial risks: cash gaps, payout concentration and dependence on a single traffic channel.
- Ability to explain financial numbers to non-financial leaders such as marketers, product teams and owners.
- Knowledge of tax accounting principles and international settlements across several jurisdictions.
- Process building and team management, including distribution of responsibilities and control of period closing deadlines.
- Analytical thinking and working with data from BI systems and ad account exports.
Tools
- Excel and Google Sheets for models and reconciliations.
- 1C or a similar accounting system, and foreign ERP and accounting services when working across several jurisdictions.
- BI tools (for example Looker Studio, Power BI or Tableau) for unit economics dashboards.
- Tracking systems and affiliate platforms (for example Keitaro) for reconciling conversions and payouts.
- Bank client portals and payment provider interfaces for transaction reconciliation.
- Jira or Asana for coordinating finance team tasks and period closing.
- SQL for database exports used in reconciliations and analytics.
How performance is measured
- Accuracy of cash flow forecasts and deviation of actual results from budget.
- Business unit margin after refunds, chargebacks and fees.
- Month-end closing time and share of automated reconciliations.
- Size of refund reserves and how well they match actual refunds.
- Share of expenses approved by the finance function before they are incurred.
- Timeliness of payouts to partners and suppliers without delays or cash gaps.
By vertical
Nutra
In nutra, the Head of Finance deals a lot with refunds and subscription cancellations, the reserves set against them, and settlements with courier services or payment providers. Margin here depends heavily on traffic quality and ad costs, so the financial model must calculate profit for each geo, offer and source. A separate area is tax and currency risk when working across several jurisdictions and with different payment methods.
Levels
Head of / Director
Head of / Director level: full responsibility for the financial result of the business unit and its financial processes. Decisions on budget, reserves, settlement structure and attracting financing are made at this level, and the role reports to owners or the CEO. The work includes hiring and developing the finance team and aligning decisions with other leaders.
How to get there
People usually move into this role from a financial analyst position, a management-oriented accountant, a financial controller or a finance manager at companies with digital products. Experience with revenue, margin and cash flows is essential, and an understanding of performance marketing and payment infrastructure is a plus. For nutra, it is useful to learn about refunds, the subscription model and the specifics of settlements with partners and couriers.
Practical things to study: how unit economics is built in arbitrage and direct sales, how reserves and payouts work, how chargebacks and refunds work, and which payment methods and providers are used. It is useful to build a financial model for a business unit yourself, accounting for refunds and seasonality, and to practice explaining it to marketers.
Growth usually comes through expanding responsibility: from handling individual reconciliations to managing the budget of a product, then to managing finances for a whole group of products and a team. Key skills include building processes, working with leaders of other units and confidently defending financial numbers in front of owners.
Next steps: Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Group Finance Director, Head of Treasury, Head of Controlling, VP Finance
FAQ
How is a Head of Finance different from a Chief Financial Officer (CFO)?
The CFO is responsible for the finances of the whole company or group, while the Head of Finance often leads the finance function of a specific business unit, product or division. In small companies these roles may be combined. The Head of Finance is usually more deeply involved in the day-to-day unit economics of the business unit.
Do you need nutra experience to become a Head of Finance in this vertical?
Direct nutra experience speeds up onboarding but is not required. What matters more is understanding a financial model with refunds, subscriptions and high dependence on advertising. Knowledge of payment settlement specifics and geo-level reporting also helps you get up to speed faster.
What determines a Head of Finance's income?
Income depends on the size of the business and its revenue, the complexity of jurisdictions and settlements, the level of responsibility for results, and whether the role includes a profit share or stock options. The company level also matters significantly: pay is higher at large groups and strong teams.
Which skills matter most for this role?
The most important skills are management accounting, financial modeling, treasury, and the ability to explain financial results to non-financial leaders. Being able to build processes is also key, because errors in reconciliations and payouts are costly in high-risk verticals.
What does a Head of Finance do each week?
Typically this means monitoring cash flow and liquidity, approving payouts and reserves, reviewing budget deviations with business unit leaders, meeting with banks and payment providers, preparing management reports, and taking part in decisions about scaling up or cutting traffic.
Looking for a job in the industry?
Post an anonymous resume in our bot — recruiters from iGaming, payments and crypto search it every day.