The right first finance hire is not a bookkeeper, it is someone who can own the numbers today and grow into the layer below you tomorrow. Everything else in a scaling finance function follows from getting that one decision right, then adding people in a deliberate sequence rather than in a panic.
This is the story of a business we will call Northbridge, a B2B software and services company that grew from roughly 4m to 30m in revenue over four years. The finance leader, a Finance Director we will call Priya, built her team from one hire to twelve. Here is how she did it, and what she would tell you if you were sitting across the table.
What was the very first hire, and why did it matter so much?
At 4m, Priya was doing almost everything herself. Board pack, payroll, cash, the audit. Her instinct was to hire a junior to take the transactional load off her desk.
She resisted that instinct. Instead she hired a strong Financial Accountant who could own month end independently and had the potential to become a Financial Controller within eighteen months.
That decision shaped the next three years. A capable second in command freed her week far more than a junior would have, because it removed the work only she could otherwise do.
How did the team grow as revenue climbed?
The sequence mattered more than the speed. Priya added roles as pain became predictable, not when it became unbearable.
Around 8m, transactional volume was the bottleneck. She brought in a purchase ledger clerk and a part qualified Finance Manager to run day to day operations under her now promoted Financial Controller.
At 15m, reporting became the constraint. The board wanted forecasts, not just history. She hired an FP&A Manager, her first genuinely commercial hire, to build models and partner with department heads.
By 22m, she split the function into two clear pillars. A control side under the Financial Controller, covering accounting, transactional and compliance. A commercial side under a Head of FP&A, covering planning, analysis and business partnering.
By 30m, the function was twelve people. A Financial Controller with a management accountant, two transactional staff and a financial accountant beneath. A Head of FP&A with two analysts. A payroll and treasury specialist. And Priya, finally able to spend most of her week on strategy and capital rather than reconciliations.
What was the biggest hiring mistake along the way?
One hire went wrong, and it is worth being honest about it.
At 12m, Priya hired a Head of Finance who looked excellent on paper but had only ever operated in businesses twice the size. The role was too big for the stage and the person was used to inheriting process, not building it.
They parted ways within seven months. The lesson she took was simple. Hire for the stage you are in and the next one, not for the logo on someone's CV. A brilliant operator from a 200m business can struggle badly when there is no infrastructure to lean on.
When she replaced that role, she looked for someone who had built rather than maintained, and who was energised by ambiguity rather than drained by it.
How did she decide between promoting and hiring externally?
Priya promoted wherever she credibly could. Her original first hire became Financial Controller. Her FP&A Manager grew into the Head of FP&A.
Internal promotion did three things. It rewarded people who had earned trust, it protected institutional knowledge, and it signalled to the whole team that growth here was real.
But she hired externally when a role needed a skill the team simply did not have. The first FP&A hire came from outside because nobody internal had built a driver based model before. That balance, promote for continuity and hire for capability, kept the function both loyal and sharp.
What would she tell a finance leader starting this journey?
Three things.
First, always hire slightly ahead of where you can promote from within, so you have a bench. A team with no succession is a team that breaks the moment someone leaves.
Second, define the pillars early. Control and commercial are different disciplines and different people. Trying to find one person who is world class at both, at every level, will slow you down.
Third, protect your own time deliberately. Every hire should be measured against the question of what it frees you to do. If a role does not move work off your desk or off your controller's desk, question whether you need it yet.
If you are building or reshaping your own team, Harper May works with finance leaders on exactly these decisions, and you can see the kind of people we place on our live roles.
Common questions
When should I make my first dedicated finance hire?
When you personally become the bottleneck on work that someone else could own, usually around the point where month end and reporting start eating into strategic time. Hire someone with room to grow, not just someone to process.
How do I structure a finance team as we scale past 20m?
Split into a control pillar and a commercial pillar with clear ownership. One side protects accuracy and compliance, the other drives planning and partnering. This prevents either discipline from being neglected as complexity rises.
