Chief Operating Officer at Robert Walters

• A leading Financial Services organisation in Cape Town is seeking a Chief Operating Officer to become the central pillar of their organisation, driving operational excellence and supporting growth across multiple funds and investment vehicles. This is a rare opportunity for you to step into a role with real gravity, where your entrepreneurial mindset and broad operational expertise will be valued and leveraged to shape the future of a distinctive, fast-growing firm.

What you'll do:

As Chief Operating Officer, you will be responsible for orchestrating the entire operational landscape of the organisation.

• Serve as the primary contact for fund administrators and CFOs, managing relationships and ensuring effective coordination.
• Lead investor onboarding, ensuring a smooth, compliant process from close through ongoing engagement.
• Oversee treasury, cash management, and fund liquidity, monitoring cash positions and funding requirements across funds and SPVs.
• Manage capital calls, ensuring accurate, timely execution and investor communication.
• Ensure fund governance, compliance, and reporting obligations are consistently met.
• Oversee investor and fund reporting, ensuring accurate, high-quality, and timely delivery.
• Coordinate fund operations, driving execution across stakeholders and proactively resolving issues.
• Partner with investment teams to maintain visibility on transactions and align capital planning with the investment pipeline.
• Forecast capital requirements and coordinate funding for future investments.
• Oversee portfolio reporting, ensuring accurate data capture, performance reporting, and actionable insights for partners and investors.

What you bring:

• To excel as Chief Operating Officer in this environment you will bring proven experience managing complex organisations or business units where you were solely responsible for operational outcomes.

Your background may include:

• Previous roles as COO or CFO at startups or scale-ups or as COO within an investment fund, where you built teams from scratch or grew them through thoughtful hiring decisions.
• You understand fundraising processes intimately from an operational standpoint: tracking progress; coordinating onboarding; ensuring investor satisfaction post-close.
• Your fluency in cash dynamics allows you to plan liquidity confidently across multiple funds/jurisdictions while maintaining visibility for all stakeholders.
• You thrive working independently across varied fields, anticipating needs before they arise, and synthesising perspectives from investors/entrepreneurs/internal teams into actionable priorities.
• Your financial literacy enables you to handle complex reporting/governance/compliance requirements without defaulting into pure finance roles.