Work Life Balance and the Portfolio FD

A portfolio FD is a part time Finance Director who has multiple clients at the same time, the nature of this type of work is naturally more flexible than the traditional FD role which is full time at the best of time and working all hours often on a regularly cycle month ends, year ends and so on.  If you life requires more flexibility than a traditional role can offer, then it is well worth considering as an option.  This type of working arrangement is growing in popularity and we are seeing these roles come along more regularly.

Becoming a Portfolio FD  is appealling as you can select clients whose time commitments match your own availability, giving you a better work life balance, for example if you have childcare responsibilities then you may be able to work 10-3 on a regular pattern or work two or three days per week and not the rest of the week.  A typical day rate for a Portfolio FD is around £450-650 per day depending on location and experience so the potential to earn good money is certainly there.

One of our team spends long weekends throughout the summer traveling to European cities for long weekends and works Tues,Wed and Thusdays that she can see the as much of Europe as she wishes and still keep up the work commitments fully which gives her a better work life balance.

Work Life Balance and the Portfolio FD

Those are two example of course another approach is to work 5 days per week in Winter and less in the summer making the most of the weather to enjoy your other interests such as Golfing.  If you think about it the options and combinations are very varied.

An issue is that work like this is niche, and therefore not so easily come by, you need to expect to be prospecting for work for three or so months until a suitable role comes along, it is worth it thoughm when you are able to achieve your desired work life balance.  Currently I spend one day per week at home, pursuing my other interests and at the same time use this day for job applications, meetings with Audit firms, Banks and private equity houses of which there are a surprising and encouragingly large number these days.

For this reason it makes sense to join a network such as FD Capital, we are Finance Directors and CFO’s ourselves and specialise in this area.

To get an understanding of the areas FD Capital covers please review the following pages to see the disciplines currently on offer:-

• Part Time FD’s – This is our main focus covering the London and West Midlands areas.
• Portfolio FD’s – Part Time FD’s who work for multiple businesses.
• Private Equity FD’s – Finance Directors with experience of working with Private Equity Houses and Venture Capitalists.
• Interim FD’s – Finance Directors needed for short periods.
• Turnaround FD’s – Finance Directors with particular experience of distressed situations and turnarounds.
• E-Commerce FD – Finance Directors with expertise with E-Commerce website and Search marketing.
• Non-Executive FD – Non Executives or NED’s with finance expertise for boards

Work Life Balance and the Portfolio FD

Hopefully you can see that we are a niche agency and specialist / boutique finance house offering recruitment but also professional solutions through executive recruitment.

Finding roles within the Portfolio FD space can be a challenge as they are far less common than regular FD roles, but it is a growing area and companies like us are appearing and the market is developing.   We can recommend a couple of articles written by team members in-house

How to Find Portfolio Finance Director Roles and Are you looking for a Portfolio FD Role?

If you are a candidate with expertise in any of the above disciplinesm after a better work life balance, or an active interest in breaking into this niche, then please reach out for a chat with us today, we are always looking for additional skills to add to our database.

We are always interested to hear from new businesses, if you are an SME based in London or the West Midlands then we are keen to speak with you, we have a lot of experience with PE Houses.  We specialise in Finance Director and CFO Recruitment.

Our main locations at present are

Part-Time London FD’s   We cover all of the areas within the M25 and the Home Counties.

Part-Time Birmingham FD’s We cover Birmingham and the West Midlands, Shropshire and Cheshire.

Part-Time Oxford FD’s We recently started to cover the Oxford area as we have two new clients in this area now.

Often working as a Portfolio FD means working with SME clients, which is not for everyone, but once you realise you need to flexible and roll up your sleeves it is fine, you skills will often add more value in an SME and that in turn leads to greater job satisfaction.

If you are an employer looking for a Portfolio FD then reach out to use today we are specialists in this niche and can locate your ideal candidate in no time at all.

If you are thinking about becoming a Portfolio CFO or Portfolio FD, then check back regularly our job board section as we typically have a number of roles advertised at any one time, there are more roles that are not advertised as we tend to be able to fill roles within our existing network.

It is also a great way to expand your career gaining experience of working with PE houses,  creating pitch decks and presenting and pitching them to PE houses, its much more informal and relaxed than the Dragons Den shows present it as, but it does involve preparation, good powerpoint skills and the ability to convey your clients business proposition convincingly and in a professional way.

The majority of the roles we see at FD Capital are no different from regular Finance Director or CFO ones, it is purely that the client’s scale of operations is not yet at the level when it can justify a full time role.   Some rapid growth clients scale up quickly and move to needing an FD full time, others are on lower trajectory but nevertheless still need support with their Management Accounts, Year ends, looking at acquistions, financing and all the other good areas that FD’s and CFO’s get involved with on a day to day basis.