Chief Financial Officer

About the Job

As a key growth accelerator, A11 partners with Europe’s most ambitious startups and scaleups, corporates, and SMBs to connect them with top-tier talent ready to make an impact.

We’re looking for an experienced Chief Financial Officer (m/f/d) to own the financial architecture of the company and be a core member of the executive leadership team. Your mandate is to design, operate, and continuously evolve a financial system that enables scale, resilience, and capital efficiency in a complex, capital-intensive environment. As the company's first CFO, you'll be part of an exciting growth period in the A11 Ecosystem. The company is backed by top-tier investors as well as global institutional banking partners, having recently closed its $40m series B - Atomico, Project A, and Invent Capital with institutional backing from Commerzbank and KfW.

This is a system-building CFO position with active M&A and financing responsibilities —not a reporting role. The position is on-site in Berlin.

Join the A11 Ecosystem – A next-generation supply chain platform, the company is redefining how one of the world’s largest industries sources, distributes, and finances materials. Engineered to unlock the full potential of global trade, it harnesses agentic AI and workflow automation to provide seamless, high-efficiency access to premium materials at scale. Since its commercial rollout, the platform has fueled exponential growth, optimizing procurement for thousands of businesses while setting new benchmarks for speed, transparency, and efficiency. Its competitive edge lies in full digitization and AI-driven supply chain management automation, eliminating inefficiencies and creating a direct, intelligent bridge between suppliers and buyers. With a team of 80+ FTEs across Europe (Berlin HQ), China, and India, the company is rapidly scaling toward profitability, driving triple-digit million GMV, and setting new industry standards in autonomous, AI-powered supply chain orchestration.

In this role, you’ll:

Financial Architecture & Operating System

• Own the end-to-end financial operating system, including P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, and working capital management
• Translate operational reality into accurate, decision-ready financial insight
• Design financial structures that scale with transaction volume, geography, and organizational complexity

Capital Structure, Financing & M&A

• Own and evolve the company's capital structure across growth phases
• Design a scalable financing model supporting organic growth and selective M&A, combining venture/growth equity, senior and subordinated debt, and working capital instruments
• Partner with the CEO on M&A strategy, including target evaluation, valuation, structuring, and deal economics
• Ensure acquisitions strengthen the platform and integrate cleanly into financial and technological systems

Financing as a System

• Ensure financing and capital deployment are embedded into the technology platform
• Work with product and technology leadership to integrate financing and acquisition logic into pricing, quoting, order flows, risk assessment, and working capital allocation
• Build architecture that scales automatically with transaction volume

Accounting, Controls & Governance

• Own statutory accounting, audits, and compliance across multiple entities and jurisdictions
• Ensure audit-ready, institutional-grade financials
• Design scalable internal controls that preserve operational speed
• Establish governance structures supporting fast decision-making

Financial Modeling & Strategic Support

• Own and continuously improve financial models, including operating plans, scenario and stress cases, and acquisition/integration models
• Support pricing, market expansion, partnerships, and M&A evaluations
• Act as strategic sparring partner to CEO and leadership team

Finance Organization & Leadership

• Build and lead a high-performance finance organization (Accounting, FP&A, Treasury, Risk)
• Grow and support the development of the existing team of 3 (one Head of Accounting, one Head of Finance and 2 accountants, supported by external accounting, top-tier tax, and legal advisers
• Hire, develop, and retain top-tier talent capable of supporting scale and M&A activity

Your Profile: 

• Strong background in accounting firms (transaction services preferred), investment banking, or private equity (growth equity, infrastructure, industrials preferred)
• Hands-on experience in company building or scale-ups with exposure to acquisitions
• Proven track record across equity, debt, and M&A transactions
• Demonstrated ability to design and evolve capital structures
• Deep understanding of accounting, controls, and risk frameworks. Excellent financial modeling skills
• Experience in working-capital-intensive or transaction-heavy businesses is a strong plus
• Language & Market Fit Background from Germany, France, or the UK
• Fluent in German or French AND English at native or near-native level
• Comfortable operating across cultures and jurisdictions
• Thinks in systems, not spreadsheets
• An operator who wants proximity to the business and is comfortable with ambiguity
• Combines strong conviction with intellectual honesty
• Sees M&A as a strategic tool
• Wants to develop, build and scale a team
• Committed to the long-term journey

Please note that this position is based in Berlin. 

Benefits and Perks:

• Fulfil a role with entrepreneurial freedom and help scale a high-impact business model
• Join an experienced founding team of serial and 2nd-time founders
• Collaborate with top-tier investors and angels (incl. various unicorn founders) as well as leading market experts

If you’re eager to join the A11 Ecosystem and shape what’s next, we want to hear from you!

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

A11 is committed to diverse and equal opportunities hiring for all – applicants, candidates, and employees alike. We value humans – with all our glorious multifaceted backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences – and look forward to your application.