Job Description

Closing Date 2025/12/19
Reference Number SAA251205-1
Job Title Chief Financial Officer
Division Finance
Business Unit Finance Management
Job Type Permanent
Location - Country South Africa
Location - Province Gauteng
Location - Town / City Kempton Park
Job Purpose
The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is the airline's strategic financial leader, supporting senior management and the board responsible for financial sustainability and growth.
At the highest level, the CFO is accountable for financial and fiscal management of the company taking into account the business strategy and operational requirements.
Principal Accountabilities
Formulate the Financial Strategy

• Support the CEO and Board in major capital allocation, raising capital fleet financing, business case analysis, investment decisions and M&A opportunities and capital market reporting
• Support of the business profitability goals and corporate strategy throughout the Group

Financial Management and Reporting

• Maintain a deep understanding and leadership of the Group's revenue and cost performance, capital structure, and competitive financial performance
• Validate and monitor departmental capital, forecasting, financial modelling and operating budgets throughout the Group
• Conduct ongoing analysis and optimisation of the capital structure requirements
• Ensure the accountability of each department within the Finance function in the running of the organisation

Treasury Funding and Reporting

• Ensure that SAA has an efficient and effective Treasury function
• Oversee commercial banking relationships, managing liquidity, working capital and management of foreign currency exposure

Corporate Cash Management

• Have an understanding of hedging instruments and their risk ratings
• Structure and negotiate debt financing and leasing transactions involving commercial aircraft including aircraft acquisition and sale-leaseback transactions
• Manage the overall organisation's assets, investments and liabilities as well any other liquidity related decisions that may arise in conjunction with the business strategy

Compliance Risk and Governance

• Ensure continuously improved audit outcomes
• Translate the Financial Strategy for stakeholders (shareholder, parliament, employees, and lenders) to develop an understanding of the financial future of the organisation
• Ensure compliance to all policies, standards and regulations such as IFRS and PFMA
• Adherence to IATA BSP/ARC accounting, aviation tax, and aviation accounting standards

People Management

• Plan and understand the future requirements in the Finance function especially related to changes in skills requirements
• Develop and lead high performing teams
• Ensure the integration and successful embedment of the culture themes into the current initiatives that will drive the culture evolution
• Lead and drive talent management, performance management, training and development of staff in Finance Division

Oversee the Supply Chain function through:

• Ensuring that the strategy developed will ensure the organisation achieves cost optimisation and regulatory compliance including adherence to PFMA prescripts
• Ensure the management of irregular expenditure and eliminating fruitless and wasteful expenditure
• Ensure efficient contract management of all service providers
• Partner with the Chief Commercial Officer on network, pricing, and revenue optimization decisions to ensure overall revenue performance of the company

Oversee the Corporate Real Estate and Services function through:

• Ensure that there are proper strategies and plans to manage the facilities
• All physical assets are optimised from a revenue and usage perspective
• Optimise space usage including extracting financial value from SAA properties
• Adherence to all legal requirements in terms of facilities management

Qualifications & Experience

• CA (SA) required
• Master's degree or MBA preferable
• At least 10 - 15 years' experience in a financial role of a large organisation of which at least 7 years' is in progressively responsible financial leadership roles at an executive level
• Experience in financial strategy formulation and execution
• Funding and/or Treasury experience will be an advantage
• Experience in SOE's and related industries will be an advantage
• Aviation Sector or other related industry experience preferred including international experience
• Leadership proven ability to lead large finance teams (>100 staff), influence at board level, and manage investor relations
• Experience implementing ERP and airline financial systems (SAP, Oracle etc)

Knowledge and Skills

• Industry knowledge
• Financial acumen
• Expertise in finance, accounting, budgeting and cost control principles
• Experience in financial strategy formulation and execution
• Knowledge of digital technologies and trends in Finance
• Negotiation skills
• Strategic aviation, logistics, asset heavy industry knowledge
• In-depth African market knowledge
• Capital marker skills
• Data analytics and technical skills
• Leadership skills
• Cross industry and global business acumen

Attributes

• Leadership
• Analytic and Data led
• Communication skills (written and verbal in English)
• Presentation skills
• People development skills
• Service orientated (internal and external)
• Detail orientated
• Integrity
• Stakeholder Management
• Transparent
• Assertive/ decisive
• Strategic Thinker
• Commercially Astute
• Resilient and Ethical
• Collaborative Leader
• Change leader
• Technical Proficiency
• Industry Leader

Additional Information
SAA is using an online recruitment tool. Applicants are required to complete an individual registration profile capturing essential personal and career selection criteria. Applicants must please note that they only need to complete the online registration once and thereafter they can update their online profiles as and when necessary.
PLEASE NOTE: The onus are on applicants to ensure all mandatory fields are completed. Incomplete online profiles will be disqualified from the application process. Online profiles are used for screening and shortlisting purposes. A CV is only for verification and record keeping purposes. Applicants need to ensure that their online profiles are completed with correct and current information. Incomplete sections can disqualify applicants from the screening and selection process.
This applies to all internal and external applicants.

Skills Required