Retained executive search
Exclusive searches for CFO, Finance Director and other leadership roles. A mapped market, a met and vetted shortlist, and a placement that stays.
Finance people, chosen by finance people.
HireFinance is a specialist recruitment practice for finance roles at every level in the UAE and the wider Gulf. Every search is run by people who have closed month ends, presented to boards and built finance teams, not by generalists working from a keyword list.
Practitioner led
Run by chartered accountants who have held senior finance roles in industry, not by career recruiters.
Deliberately small
A handful of retained searches at a time. Your mandate is never one of forty on a board.
UAE grounded
Based in the UAE, with a working network built inside the region's largest employers, not imported from abroad.
Why this firm exists
Every company says people are its greatest asset, then hands finance hiring to recruiters who have never closed a month end. HireFinance exists to fix that.
HireFinance is run by chartered accountants who have spent their careers in senior finance roles at large employers across the region. We have hired, built and led finance teams, and sat on the other side of the interview table for the same roles this firm now fills.
That experience is the product. Clients get a shortlist assembled with the judgement of a hiring CFO. Candidates get straight answers about roles from people who have actually held them.
Why clients stay
The four things we do that most recruiters do not
Any agency can send you CVs. Here is what you are actually paying for.
We test the numbers, not the story
Every candidate on our shortlist has sat with us and worked through real finance problems before you see them. A cash flow bridge that does not reconcile. A consolidation with a minority interest. A month end that closed late, and why.
Career stories are rehearsed. Technical judgement is not, and it is the only thing that predicts whether someone can do the job.
We check what they actually ran, not what the CV says
"Led the finance function" can mean fifty people and twelve entities, or two people and a bookkeeper. Before anyone reaches your shortlist we establish the real size of what they managed, the systems they worked in, the audits they sat through and the board they reported to.
Then we match that to your role, honestly. If it is a stretch, we say so.
We know whether they will actually take the offer
The most expensive search is the one that collapses at offer. Before anyone reaches your shortlist we know their current package, their notice period, why they would leave, and whether they have resigned before and been talked into staying.
You get that in writing with the shortlist. No surprises in week eight.
We tell you when the role will not fill as written
If the salary is twenty percent below market, the title is wrong for the scope, or the brief is really two jobs, you hear it from us before we go to market, not after three months of silence.
A search that starts from an honest brief closes. One that starts from a wish list does not.
We do all four on every search, without exception. That is the whole difference.
What we do
Confidential replacements
When a change at the top of the finance function needs to happen quietly, we run the search without the market knowing whose seat it is.
Interim finance leadership
Experienced finance leaders for transformations, audits, system implementations and gaps between permanent hires.
Hiring advisory
Honest input on role scoping, structure and pay before you go to market, so the search starts from a brief that can actually be filled.
How we charge
Retained or contingent
Agreed with you before the search starts. Retained for roles that need a dedicated, mapped search. Contingent where you want us alongside other routes and only pay on a hire.
A percentage of first year package
One fee, linked to what the person actually costs you. No retainers that vanish if the search stalls, no hidden extras for advertising or admin.
Replacement guarantee
Every placement comes with a guarantee period. If the person leaves early, we find you another at no extra cost. We share the risk of a hire that does not stick.
Nothing you have not heard first
Full terms are sent in writing before any work begins. Everything in them will already have been discussed with you on the phone.
Roles we place
The whole finance function, at every level and across every industry. From a first hire in accounts payable to a group CFO, and everything in between. What we look for is the right fit, whether that comes from proven skills and experience or from a clear willingness to learn and grow into the role. If a role sits outside finance, we will tell you and point you somewhere better suited.
Planning, Budgeting and Reporting
IFRS and Statutory Reporting
Operations Finance
Treasury Management
Commercial Finance
Tax Management (CT and VAT)
ERP Transformation
Internal Audit
Data Analysis
..... and the list goes on
How a search runs
Brief
We sit with the hiring leader and agree what the role actually needs. It is often narrower, and more honest, than the job description that arrives with it.
Map
We map who holds comparable roles across the region, then approach directly. The best finance people are rarely applying to advertisements.
Meet
Every candidate on a shortlist has been interviewed by us in depth, on technical ground and not just career story, because we can tell the difference.
Shortlist
Three to five people who can all do the job, with a written view on each: strengths, risks, and what it will take to land them.
Follow through
Formal references are taken at offer stage, with named referees and the questions that matter, and any further background checks are arranged on your instruction. We then stay involved through offer, notice and the first months in the seat. A placement that leaves early is a failure we share, and our fee terms reflect that.