From Series A to Scale-Up: Placing the Chief Financial Officer to Professionalise Finance at a French Cybersecurity Company

The Challenge

The company is a French-headquartered cybersecurity software business building endpoint detection and response technology for corporate and government clients. It raised a €25M Series A in 2023 from a syndicate of European VC investors, on the back of 250% prior-year revenue growth and an ARR run rate that had already crossed €10M. By 2026, headcount had grown into the 150–200 range.

That kind of growth outpaces founder-led finance quickly. The company needed someone in the CFO seat who could build proper reporting discipline around SaaS metrics like ARR and churn. Finding a finance leader who had already done that inside a comparable software business, and was willing to join a company still building that infrastructure rather than one where it already existed, narrowed the field considerably.

They turned to The Big Search.

Overview of the Executive Search

• VC-backed European cybersecurity SaaS company, France
• One executive hire
• April 2026 → June 2026
• VC Value Creation: Finance Function Maturation Phase

In April 2026, The Big Search partnered with the company to find a CFO to build out its finance function as it scaled. The search opened and closed within a single engagement window, with no parallel mandates running alongside it. We closed it in 46 days.

Executive Search Across French and European B2B SaaS Finance Leadership

The hunting strategy targeted operating CFOs and near-CFOs inside VC-backed B2B SaaS and cybersecurity businesses across France and wider Europe, with a bias toward people who had built financial infrastructure from an earlier stage rather than managed an already-mature function.

Profile criteria:

• Operating CFO or a clear step-up candidate (VP Finance, Group Controller) inside a B2B SaaS or software business
• Experience building financial reporting and controls from a growth-stage starting point
• Fluency in core SaaS metrics: ARR, NRR, churn, CAC, revenue recognition
• Comfort operating hands-on in a company still building its finance infrastructure
• Based in or willing to work from France
• Cultural fit for a fast-scaling, engineering-led organisation

Target archetypes included VC-backed B2B software and cybersecurity businesses at Series A to Series B stage.

We mapped 89 candidates across France and Europe.

First shortlist

2 days from kick-off

Of the 89, 42 were contacted, 8 reached consultant interview, 3 made the shortlist, 2 went to client interview, and 1 was hired. Forty-seven candidates were ruled out early against the scorecard, and another 24 sat in a second-tier longlist that was never activated once a strong front-runner emerged. The Big Search introduced its eventual hire within two days of the search opening, while a smaller comparison slate of credible CFOs and step-up candidates was assessed in parallel to pressure-test the decision.

The Placed Candidate: A Finance Leader Who Grew Into the CFO Seat From the Inside

At the time of the search, they were Group CFO of another French software company, a seat they had grown into after several years running that company's finance function from an earlier stage. Before that, close to a decade in financial audit and advisory work across Europe and Latin America, including a long stretch with a Big Four firm.

• Built the finance function themselves — rose from a finance leadership role to Group CFO inside the same business, so the reporting discipline the client needed was already muscle memory.
• Fluent in SaaS economics — operated day to day against ARR, churn, and revenue recognition inside a comparable growth-stage software company.
• International audit pedigree — years of financial audit and advisory work across two continents gave them a technical foundation the operating role could lean on immediately.
• Fast alignment — introduced to the client within two days of the search opening, and moved through the process without a competing lead candidate ever displacing them.

Companies scaling past their early-stage headcount and revenue tend to postpone the CFO hire until the gap in financial infrastructure is already causing pain. The Big Search closed this mandate in 46 days, delivering a CFO with direct experience building the kind of finance function the client needed next. Finance leaders who combine live SaaS operating experience with hands-on infrastructure-building are thin on the ground, and most credible names in that pool are already anchored at companies further along than this one.

If your finance function hasn't caught up with your growth, let's talk.