About Emerge

Emerge is an ambitious New Zealand fintech scale-up rethinking banking and payments for SMEs and individuals.

Emerge is tackling the areas where traditional banks often fall short, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses. It is more than an SME banking alternative. Emerge is building a broader financial technology platform across banking, payments, investment products and customer infrastructure, serving individuals, businesses and an increasing range of specialist segments across New Zealand.

This includes personal and investment accounts, SquareOne, and growth areas such as charities and incorporated societies.

With international licensing opportunities emerging for its technology infrastructure, Emerge is entering a new stage of complexity and scale. For a finance leader, this means much more than managing an SME-focused finance function. It means helping shape the commercial, financial and governance foundations for a multi-product, multi-segment fintech with global potential.

This is a business with momentum, complexity and genuine ambition. With strong commercial traction and product validation beyond New Zealand, Emerge is at an exciting inflection point where finance will play a critical role in enabling scale, strengthening governance and supporting confident decision-making.

About the role

Reporting to the Board and working as a pivotal member of the leadership team, the Head of Finance will lead the finance function end to end. You will bring the financial infrastructure, strategic insight and operational discipline required to help Emerge scale well.

This is a broad, influential and hands-on role within a scaling fintech operating in the payments and banking ecosystem. You will lead financial strategy, improve reporting and forecasting, represent financial performance to the Board, and continue evolving the systems and automation that support an efficient, future-fit finance function.

You will:

• Lead financial strategy alongside the leadership team, owning models, budgets, forecasts and analysis that guide strategic and operational decisions.
• Present financial performance, SaaS metrics and business health to the Board with clarity and confidence.
• Drive capital efficiency through scenario planning, runway management, and product and feature optimisation.
• Translate financial, operational and customer data into clear, actionable insight for executives and directors.
• Lead core finance operations including payroll, treasury, month-end close, audit requirements and compliance deadlines.
• Continue evolving the automation, systems and technology that enhance the finance function.
• Support future finance team design and advise on key strategic hires as the business grows.

You will bring:

• CA, CFA or equivalent professional qualification.
• Proven experience in GAAP reporting, financial controls and bank audit processes.
• Significant finance experience in fintech, payments, SaaS, banking, financial services or technology. Candidates with a mix of start-up or scale-up and larger business or banking experience will be ideal.
• Strong commercial finance capability across modelling, forecasting, reporting, unit economics, scenario planning and capital efficiency.
• Experience working with senior stakeholders, Boards, auditors, regulators or external partners.
• Confidence improving financial systems, reporting processes and automation.
• The ability to operate strategically while staying close enough to the detail to build strong foundations.

About you

You are commercially sharp, curious and confident working in ambiguity. You enjoy building, improving and influencing, and you are energised by the chance to shape a modern finance function inside a scaling business.

You can handle scale-up ambiguity and pace while bringing the discipline, controls and maturity developed in larger business or banking environments. You bring high EQ, clear communication and the resilience to work with complexity and evolving priorities.

You will suit this opportunity if you are proactive, technology-minded and comfortable moving between Board-level conversations and hands-on operational execution. You know how to turn data into insight, insight into action, and action into measurable business impact.

Apply now

If you are ready to lead finance in a high-growth fintech and help shape the next stage of Emerge’s journey, apply now with your CV and a cover letter detailing why this is the role for you.

Applicants must have existing NZ work rights to apply.