Welcome to the Harper May newsletter, a fortnightly snapshot of the UK senior finance hiring market, written by the people who do the placements.

No fluff, no filler. Just what we're seeing, what it means, and roles worth knowing about.

Live medians from the Finance Pay Index, our crowdsourced UK salary benchmark. Add your own numbers at financepayindex.com to unlock the full breakdown.

From our latest salary survey of senior finance professionals, figures shown are the cohort average.

Most PE-backed businesses between £50m and £150m revenue reach the same inflection point: the finance function that got them through acquisition needs to be rebuilt for growth, reporting rigour, and eventual exit. The CFO hire at that stage isn't a like-for-like replacement, it's a structural upgrade, and getting it wrong costs more than a failed search fee. It costs board credibility with investors.

This case study walks through exactly how that played out in a £90m PE-backed business. It covers what the board initially thought they needed versus what the brief actually required, how investor reporting gaps shaped the scorecard, and why the successful candidate wasn't the most obvious CV on the longlist. If you're a CEO, founder, or operating partner facing a similar hire, or even questioning whether your current finance leadership is fit for the next stage, the parallels will be immediate.

Read the full piece →

A lot of a finance leader's week goes on turning data into an answer: what is driving the variance, which cohort is slipping, what the cash looks like under three scenarios. The analysis is rarely hard, the setup is.

Julius lets you upload a spreadsheet and just ask. It writes and runs the analysis, charts it, and shows the code behind it, so you check the logic rather than trust a black box. For a quick variance dig or a board question you did not prep for, it is minutes rather than an afternoon.

The habit worth building: when a number surprises you, upload the underlying data and ask it what changed before you ask your team. You often walk into the conversation already knowing the answer. Mind what you upload on anything sensitive, as with any external tool.

We're working on 8 live vacancies across London, refreshed daily.

Our market data shows shortlists are thinning, particularly at FP&A and Controller level. We work best when we can map the market before a brief is finalised, not after. If you have a live mandate or a seat you know is coming, a 20-minute scoping call now saves weeks later.