Head Of Global Shared Services (GSS)

Head of Global Shared Services (GSS)

ROLE OVERVIEW

This is a foundational hire for the finance function. The Head of GSS owns the design and operation of a global shared-service unit for Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable across every entity and geography in the group — UK, EU, ANZ, India, Canada and the Middle East.

Today, AR and AP are run regionally and duplicated across each finance team. The mandate is to centralise, standardise and scale these processes — driving cost efficiency, control consistency and faster close cycles, while creating a platform that absorbs new geographies without proportional cost growth.

The Head of GSS is a senior operating leader within the Accounts & Finance pillar, reporting to the VP Accounts & Finance. This is a builder role for someone who has stood up or scaled shared services before and wants to do it again at a group of meaningful scale.

SCOPE

The Head of GSS leads a team of approximately 6 - 7 people in Phase 1, growing to 8 to 10 as AR and AP migrations complete. The team is organised into two sub-units:

• Accounts Receivable — Lead of AR plus supporting team members, responsible for customer billing, receipts, refunds, reconciliations and ageing management across all entities and channels
• Accounts Payable — Lead of AP plus supporting team members, responsible for vendor onboarding, invoice processing, payment runs, expense management and vendor reconciliations across all entities

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Design & Stand-up

• Migrate AR and AP from regional finance teams into the centralised unit; manage the transition without disrupting BAU
• Establish service-level agreements (SLAs) with each region and brand finance team; own delivery against them
• Drive process standardisation across entities — same nature of expense and same customer flow handled the same way regardless of geography

Operations & Performance

• Own AR and AP key performance indicators — DSO, DPO, first-time-right rates, query resolution times, ageing
• Ensure daily and monthly operational rhythm — payment runs, receipts posting, reconciliations, month-end close support
• Provide MIS and dashboards on AR and AP performance to the VP Accounts & Finance, regional controllers, brand finance partners, and other stakeholders
• Ensure compliance with banking, tax and statutory requirements across all jurisdictions the GSS supports

Team & Capability

• Build the capability and career pathing for a scaling shared-service team — succession, skill development, cross-training
• Partner closely with the four regional controllership leads on the migration and hand-off from regional teams

Transformation & Improvement

• Partner with the Finance Transformation function on the automation roadmap — reconciliations, payment runs, customer refunds, vendor onboarding, RPA opportunities
• Identify and execute continuous improvement opportunities — operational, technological and structural
• Build a shared-service platform that can absorb new geographies with sub-linear cost growth

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

• 5 to 7 years of progressive finance experience, with a minimum of 3 years leading a shared-service centre or finance operations function
• Demonstrable track record of standing up, scaling or transforming an AR/AP shared-service operation, ideally in a multi-geography or multi-entity environment
• Strong exposure to D2C, retail, e-commerce or consumer-brand industries — jewellery or luxury background is a plus but not required
• Experience managing transitions from regional to centralised operating models, including the change-management dimension
• Qualified accountant — CA, ACCA, CPA or equivalent

TECHNICAL SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE

• Hands-on familiarity with finance ERPs and reporting platforms
• Strong working knowledge of AR and AP process automation tools and RPA approaches
• Familiarity with finance controls frameworks and audit requirements

PROFILE & STYLE

This is a builder role, not a steward role. We are looking for someone with the appetite to design from a blank sheet, the operational discipline to execute migrations without breakage, and the leadership presence to bring regional teams along with the change. A track record of running shared services in a high-growth or scale-up environment is preferred over experience in a steady-state corporate function.

The right person is comfortable operating in a fast-moving finance function that is being restructured around them. They are pragmatic about imperfect data and imperfect systems in the short term, and disciplined about building the right platform for the long term. T