SVP Commercial Finance – Collinson International

Collinson is the global, privately-owned company dedicated to helping the world to travel with ease and confidence. The group offers a unique blend of industry and sector specialists who together provide market-leading airport experiences, loyalty and customer engagement, and insurance solutions for over 400 million consumers.

Collinson is the operator of Priority Pass, the world’s original and leading airport experiences programme. Travellers can access a network of 1,500+ lounges and travel experiences, including dining, retail, sleep and spa, in over 650 airports in 148 countries, helping to elevate the journey into something special. We work with the world’s leading payment networks, over 1,400 banks, 90 airlines and 20 hotel groups worldwide.

We have been bringing innovation to the market since inception – from launching the first independent global VIP lounge access Programme, Priority Pass to being the first to sell direct travel insurance in the UK through Columbus Direct and creating the first loyalty agency of its kind in the travel sector with ICLP. Today we still invest heavily in innovation to ensure that we continue to deliver superior customer experiences.

Key clients include Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, LATAM, Flying Blue, Accor, EasyJet, HSBC, Chase, HDFC.

Our mission is focused on doing good beyond profit, which for us means we seek out opportunities for our people to share in our success and that we give back to the communities and people within which we work.

Never short of ambition, the success of our business is delivered through the diverse and talented team of over 1,800 global colleagues.

Purpose of the role 

To support the planned changes to a more global leadership team approach within CIL and to enhance Finance’s role as a strategic business partner, we are creating a newly created position of SVP Commercial Finance – Collinson International. Reporting directly to the Group CFO, the SVP will lead all CIL commercial finance teams and fully support the CIL Leadership Team across all functions and regions. The Commercial VPs for the Americas, APAC and EMEA along with a Senior FP&A Manager will report to this new SVP and each will also take on more global responsibilities aligned to their key internal customers.

Accountable for overseeing all aspects of the Commercial Finance teams across international regions, this role ensures strong forward looking financial management and business partnering is in place across all global business areas within CIL including Commercial, Partnerships, Marketing, Product, Technology & Data and Operations. With a dotted line to the CIL CEO the role works closely with the executive team to align financial and commercial strategies and deliver financial targets. A critical responsibility is driving
global financial performance improvement, enhancing forecasting accuracy, operational efficiency, and supporting key initiatives like Product, Technology and Finance Transformation programmes.

This role also ensures robust collaboration with the centres of excellence including Controllership, Global Financial Shared Services Centre (FSSC) in Cape Town to streamline processes, ensuring forecasting accuracy is delivered, strong governance and transactional excellence.

Key Responsibilities

Global Finance Leadership: serving as the primary finance contact for the CEO for CIL, the SVP for CIL, will be responsible for overseeing the aligning financial strategies across all functions and regions, while ensuring global objectives are met. The role includes overseeing the prioritisation of transformation activity as new products and platforms are delivered, providing financial oversight and support in
these critical areas.

International Financial Accountability: Take ownership of the overall commercial financial activities across functions and global regions, driving initiatives that support growth and profitability, while maintaining financial control and compliance (via dotted lines oversight of 3 regional Financial Controllers).

Strategic Financial Oversight: Develop and lead financial strategies across international regions, ensuring alignment with corporate goals. Drive financial transformation, overseeing all aspects of forward financial planning, governance, and risk management.

Financial Planning & Analysis: Oversee and drive financial planning, forecasting, and performance analysis for international regions, ensuring accurate and timely reporting. Lead the long-term planning process across global teams and guide the development of financial goals. Prepare effective presentations to explain the plans and performance against them highlighting opportunities and risks, developing strong actionable insights.

Commercial Decision Support: Provide key financial insights to support commercial decision-making at both the regional and global levels. Ensure that pricing, profitability analysis, and client strategies are financially sound and aligned with long-term goals. Shine a light on business performance through effective reporting to drive accountability and effective forward looking financial decision making across all CIL functions.

Mergers, Acquisitions & Joint Ventures: Lead financial support for any CIL strategic initiatives such as mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures across international markets. Work closely with the Group Strategy and Tax teams to ensure financial alignment with corporate growth objectives.

Operational Excellence & Process Optimisation: Drive collaboration across Commercial Finance teams with the Global FSSC in Cape Town and the regional Accounting & Controlling teams to optimise financial processes, improve tax compliance, and streamline transactional operations. Ensure that financial operations align with both global and regional requirements.

Team Leadership & Development: Lead and mentor a high-performing team of VPs for CIL Commercial Finance, commercial finance business partners and a CIL FP&A team fostering a collaborative and results-driven culture. Ensure alignment across global teams and business areas.

Change Management & Transformation: Drive financial transformation and system integration initiatives to support global business growth. Ensure that all regions and business areas are aligned with
company-wide transformation goals. In particular ensure that Enterprise Performance Management systems are optimised and developed to support future AI opportunities to improve forecasting accuracy and future profitability.

 Knowledge, Skills and Experience Required 

• International Finance Leadership: Extensive experience in leading finance teams across multiple regions, with a focus on global functions such as product innovation and operations.
• Proven Leadership in Multinational Organisations: Demonstrated success in managing complex financial operations and driving change in a fast-paced, international business environment.
• Commercial Acumen & Strategic Insight: Expertise in supporting commercial decision-making and financial planning across regions and business units within a large organisation. Strong interpersonal and financial communication skills to communicate financial plans and performance simply and effectively to drive high engagement and action within management teams.
• Mergers & Acquisitions: Strong track record of financial leadership in M&A, joint ventures, and other growth-related initiatives.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Ability to partner with global teams in product, innovation, services, and operations to align financial strategies with business goals.
• Team Leadership & Development: Proven ability to lead and develop finance professionals across regions, fostering collaboration and accountability.
• Professional Qualifications: ACA, CPA, ACCA, CIMA, or equivalent certifications are highly desirable.
• Financial Systems & Transformation: Experience leading financial system integrations and process improvements.
• Operational & Tax Compliance Expertise: Deep knowledge of financial governance, tax compliance, and transactional processes in international markets.

Collinson is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes differences in all their forms including: colour, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, neurodivergence, family status, age, individuals with disabilities and people from all backgrounds, cultures and experiences as we strongly believe this contributes to our on-going success.

We are focused on continually evolving our purpose driven, high performing culture, providing an environment where our people have the opportunity to achieve their full potential and do interesting and meaningful work. Our company values are: Act smarter, Do the right thing, One team and Be insight led. These help guide everything we do internally in terms of how we think, act and interact, right through to how we deliver value to our customers and clients.

In your application, please feel free to note which pronouns you use (For example - she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/theirs, etc).

If you need any extra support throughout the interview process, then please email us at ukrecruitment@collinsongroup.com