Director - Finance and Portfolio Operations

Director, Finance and Portfolio Operations

Turin, Italy (preferred) or Lugano, Switzerland – Permanent | Competitive package

About our client

Lithe People is working exclusively with a fast-moving international investment firm focused on digital assets, financial infrastructure, and technology across the global financial ecosystem. Operating across multiple jurisdictions through a lean, entrepreneurial team, the firm invests from early stage through to pre‑IPO and public companies.

As the portfolio and the firm's operational complexity continue to grow, they are looking for a sharp, organised, and genuinely hands‑on finance professional to work directly alongside the founding partner. This is a one‑person finance function supporting the GP across everything from fund administration and portfolio monitoring to treasury, entity management, and financial analysis.

The role

This is not a management role. There is no team to run, no meetings to chair, and no layers between you and the work. You will spend your days in Excel, in the detail, and in direct contact with external lawyers, fund administrators, auditors, and banking counterparties – alongside close day‑to‑day collaboration with the founding partner.

The right person will be deeply organised, highly detail‑oriented, and entirely comfortable managing four or five parallel workstreams at once. You will bring structure to a documentation and portfolio management system that needs it, and you will operate with the kind of quiet reliability that lets a busy GP trust that the financial and operational engine is running properly.

A background as a Big 4 auditor who moved into fund operations or financial control, or a financial controller with fund or investment management experience, is exactly the profile we have in mind. If you have spent the last few years managing people and stepping back from the detail, this probably is not the right move. If you have been wondering how to get broader exposure, more variety, and direct access to a senior principal without the bureaucracy of a large institution, read on.

What you will be doing

Fund administration and portfolio monitoring

• Work directly with external fund administrators to verify NAVs, review reporting, and maintain portfolio records
• Monitor performance across investment cohorts from early stage through to pre‑IPO and public
• Maintain clean, well‑organised portfolio documentation and tracking systems
• Coordinate information flows between the GP and external service providers, lawyers, and counterparties

Finance operations

• Own treasury and cash management across multiple entities and jurisdictions
• Run AP/AR, payroll, expense tracking, and intercompany processes personally
• Coordinate payment workflows, banking activity, and liquidity planning
• Maintain accurate records, reconciliations, and approvals across entities

Legal entity and offshore administration

• Support management of multiple legal entities including offshore structures
• Coordinate KYC/AML, banking, signatory updates, and corporate records processes
• Liaise with external legal counsel, corporate service providers, and accountants
• Maintain entity maps and corporate administration documentation

FP&A and reporting

• Prepare budget vs actuals, cash flow analysis, and management reporting for the GP
• Support budgeting, forecasting, and long‑range planning
• Identify liquidity needs and financial risks proactively

Portfolio company support

• Act as a finance and operations resource for the GP's interactions with portfolio companies
• Support founders on budgeting, reporting, treasury setup, and finance processes as needed

About you

• 7–12 years of relevant experience in audit, financial control, fund operations, fund administration, PE/VC, or a family office environment
• A Big 4 or fund administration background is a strong advantage
• Genuinely hands‑on — you use Excel yourself, you build the models, you do the reconciliations
• Experienced working with multi‑entity and cross‑border structures; offshore entity administration is a plus
• Comfortable working directly with external lawyers, auditors, fund administrators, and banking partners
• ACCA, CPA, or equivalent is preferred
• Highly organised — you are the kind of person who builds systems, not relies on them being there already
• Able to manage multiple parallel workstreams with precision and without being told what to prioritise
• Fluent English required; fluent or native Italian strongly preferred; Chinese or Spanish is a bonus
• Based in or willing to relocate to Turin (preferred) or Lugano
• Right to work in Italy or Switzerland — no sponsorship available

Why this role

Direct access to GP‑level decision making from day one. Broad exposure across fund operations, entity management, treasury, portfolio monitoring, and strategic financial analysis — with no corporate layers in the way. If you want variety, ownership, and the chance to build something properly, this is it.