Head of New Ventures Finance

The Company

Confluent is a South African financial services group operating across debt counselling and management, consumer credit matching, insurance distribution, and lifecycle financial services.

The Opportunity

The Head of New Ventures Finance reports directly to the Group CFO and leads Pillar 2. The mandate is to evaluate, structure, establish and incubate new joint ventures, partnerships, subsidiaries and emerging businesses intended to become part of Confluent's core operations. The role is envisaged to be based in Cape Town, with travel as required.

This is a hands-on finance-building role. Accountability starts with the investment case and financial model, continues through commercial agreements, funding and finance setup, and ends with an accepted handover to Finance Operations and FP&A / Platforms. Signing a transaction is a milestone, not the end of the mandate.

The successful candidate will work through the existing finance pillars, business sponsors and specialist advisers, with dedicated resources agreed with the Group CFO as the venture portfolio develops. Success means sound investment decisions, controlled launches, disciplined incubation and transferable businesses, not simply more deals or a larger portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

• Investment evaluation and financial modelling

• Build investment cases covering strategic fit, alternatives, returns, funding requirements, downside scenarios and a clear recommendation, including reasons not to proceed.

• Personally build and maintain integrated profit-and-loss, balance-sheet and cash-flow models, with documented assumptions, operating drivers and sensitivity analysis.

• Distinguish the venture's economics from Confluent's return and each investing or contracting entity's exposure. Include partner shares, shared-service charges, working capital and cash requirements without double-counting benefits.

• Apply agreed customer-lifetime, cohort and valuation methodologies with Pillar 3, distinguishing fee income from retained credit or insurance risk and accounting profit from available cash.

• Commercial structuring and agreements

• Design the proposed ownership, partner contributions, funding and commercial economics with the business sponsor, Group CFO and relevant specialists. Identify who invests, contracts, earns income and bears risk.

• Develop and negotiate term sheets within delegated authority, covering ownership, future funding, dilution, revenue or profit sharing, services, information rights, governance and exit arrangements.

• Own the commercial brief for shareholder, investment, funding and operating agreements. Coordinate Group Legal and tax, accounting and regulatory advisers; legal advice, drafting standards

• and legal sign-off remain with Group Legal. Coordinate due diligence, approvals, conditions and completion obligations. Check that executed agreements reflect the approved economics and update the model for the terms actually signed.

• Finance establishment and launch readiness

• Lead the finance implementation plan with Pillars 1 and 1A: banking, accounting setup, billing, collections, payment approvals, cash monitoring, reporting calendars and named process owners.

• Coordinate entity formation and required legal, tax and regulatory work with the relevant specialists.

• Confirm the contracting, funding and approval arrangements before launch commitments are made.

• Agree launch-readiness criteria and an early-operation plan with the business sponsor and receiving finance teams. Ensure the venture can transact, account, report and obtain funding consistently with its model and agreements.

• Incubation and performance management

• Act as the lead finance partner during incubation, owning the venture forecast, cash outlook, partner-obligation monitoring and explanation of actual performance against the investment case.

• Feed venture forecasts into Group planning from the outset. Reconcile financial, economic and operating measures with Pillars 1, 3 and 4; maintain one controlled model and a clear record of changes.

• Agree staged funding, cash limits and milestones. Recommend whether to continue, scale, change direction, fund further or stop, based on evidence rather than sunk costs.

• Support the business leader with financial insight and challenge while preserving their accountability for customers, product, sales, operations and delivery.

• Handover to Finance Operations and FP&A / Platforms Design the destination and handover criteria at establishment. Transfer operational finance to Pillar 1, or its agreed provider, as processes stabilise; do not wait for the venture to be classified as core.

• Transfer recurring forecasting, performance analysis and business partnering to Pillar 4 once the model, operating drivers and reporting processes are sufficiently established and maintainable.

• Secure documented acceptance of responsibilities, capacity and residual risks.

• Handover evidence must cover reliable closes and controls, reconciled actuals, documented models, agreements, funding obligations, training and named owners.

• Base readiness on operational and financial maturity, not profitability alone. For a JV, the handover

• may concern Confluent's investment and shareholder reporting rather than ownership of the JV's entire finance function.

• Governance, risk and approvals

• Prepare decision-ready proposals for the Group CFO and relevant boards or authorised bodies,

• respecting delegated authority, reserved matters and entity-specific interests.

• Keep Group analysis separate from legally effective entity decisions. No model or Group

• recommendation automatically authorises an investment, fee, borrowing, guarantee or distribution.

• Maintain related-party, conflict-of-interest and approval discipline, with a linked record from

• proposal through agreements, implementation and monitoring.

• Team leadership and capability building

• Build a repeatable venture-finance approach with reusable models, structuring checklists, approval

• papers, launch plans and handover standards.

• Prioritise the venture portfolio and agree resourcing with the Group CFO. Coordinate internal

• specialists and manage external advisers against defined deliverables, timelines and budgets.

• Develop and transfer knowledge so ventures do not depend indefinitely on Pillar 2.

• Review investment outcomes and successful handovers, including value protected by declining or stopping an unsuitable investment.

Experience and Qualifications

Essential

• CA(SA) or an equivalent recognised professional accounting/Finance qualification.
• leadership and commercial execution experience.
• Must have atleast 4 years experience in a similar and senior level role. IE. New joint ventures, contractual partnerships, subsidiaries and internally developed businesses, including selected international opportunities.
• A relevant accounting or finance qualification, supported by substantive hands-on financial
• leadership and commercial execution experience.
• A demonstrable track record of establishing a new business, JV, partnership or subsidiary beyond the
• investment case and agreement stage into a functioning finance operation.
• Strong integrated financial modelling, forecasting, cash management and investment appraisal
• capability, with personal ownership of the underlying work.
• Experience translating commercial economics into funding and contractual requirements, working
• effectively with legal and other specialist advisers.
• Evidence of managing early-stage financial performance and transferring models, processes and
• responsibilities to permanent finance owners.
• Credibility presenting recommendations to senior executives, boards or investment committees and
• influencing partners and cross-functional teams without relying on reporting lines.

Strongly preferred

• CA(SA) or an equivalent recognised professional accounting qualification.
• Financial services, consumer finance, insurance, fintech or comparable regulated-business
• experience.
• Cross-border structuring, partner negotiation and venture funding experience, with the judgement to
• involve specialist advisers early.
• Familiarity with customer-lifetime models, cohort economics, shared-platform costs and the
• distinction between capital-light fee income and retained financial risk.

Valued, not required

• Experience in acquisitions or post-investment integration supporting an emerging-business portfolio.
• Experience evaluating technology, data or AI-enabled investments and building a lean venture
• finance capability.

Candidate Profile

The Head of New Ventures Finance combines investment judgement with the practical ability to build and transfer a finance operation.

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Intellectual honesty about the investment case
• Tests assumptions, exposes downside risks and distinguishes a credible business