Chief Operating Officer / Chief Financial Officer (COO/CFO)

Chief Operating Officer / Chief Financial Officer (COO/CFO)

Leadership

Bielefeld / Remote

Full-time

Reports to: CEO

The Opportunity

This is the senior-most operational and financial role in the company, acting as the strategic partner to the CEO. You are not just managing finance; you are architecting the entire operational and financial engine of the company. You will be responsible for translating our strategic plan into operational reality, ensuring we have the financial discipline, scalable processes, and cross-functional alignment to achieve our ambitious growth targets.

Core Responsibilities

• Financial Strategy & Management (CFO): Own the company's financial model, FP&A, and budgeting process. Act as the financial lead in all strategic planning, providing data-driven insights to the CEO and leadership team.
• Profitability & Burn Management: Drive the company toward its profitability goals by meticulously managing our monthly burn rate. Identify and execute on cost-saving opportunities, such as reducing reliance on external development teams.
• Pricing & COGS: Partner with the CEO and VP Business Strategy to model and implement pricing strategies for our existing suite and new Agentic AI products. Continuously optimise Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), including data generation, server infrastructure, and third-party API/token usage.
• Funding & Grants: Manage all aspects of grant funding. Lead the exploration and application for new grants to bolster our Agentic AI and core development initiatives.
• Reporting & Compliance: Oversee all accounting, deliver timely and insightful financial reports to the CEO and Board, and ensure ironclad tax and regulatory compliance.
• Operational Execution: Translate the 3-year business plan into actionable quarterly and monthly operational plans. Drive cross-functional alignment between Product, AI, Sales, and Marketing to ensure key milestones are met.
• Process Architecture: Design and implement scalable, lean processes across the organisation to support rapid revenue growth and team expansion.
• Team & Resource Management: Oversee all Admin & Operations functions, including HR (managing Personio and recruitment) and legal. Develop our 'scaling assumptions' for hiring and create the operational playbook for talent acquisition.
• Legal & Data Compliance: Serve as the executive lead for data compliance (GDPR) and manage all customer and vendor contracts, working with our external counsel.
• Force Multiplier: Act as a force multiplier for the leadership team, identifying and resolving operational bottlenecks, driving a culture of accountability, and ensuring the entire organization executes with velocity and precision.

Qualifications

Required

• 10+ years in a senior finance and/or operations leadership role (e.g., CFO, COO, VP Finance, Head of Operations) within a high-growth B2B SaaS, AI, or high-tech company.
• Mastery of FP&A: Demonstrable 'hands-on' expertise in building and managing complex financial models, budgets, and forecasts in a fast-paced environment.
• Operational Architect: Proven experience building and scaling operational processes (HR, legal, finance, IT) from the ground up to support a company scaling from ~€1M to €10M+ ARR.
• Strategic Co-pilot: A track record of acting as a true strategic partner to a CEO and leadership team, using financial and operational data to inform critical business decisions.
• Resilience & Agility: Thrives in a dynamic scale-up environment, comfortable with ambiguity and capable of being both a high-level strategist and a hands-on executor.

Preferred

• Industry Experience: Prior experience in Pharma-tech, Health-tech, AI/Agentic AI or a related R&D-heavy industry.
• Funding Experience: Experience with venture capital fundraising, M&A, and/or managing complex, non-dilutive government or EU grant funding.
• Technical Acumen: A strong understanding of the cost drivers for AI/data companies (e.g., cloud infrastructure, data licensing, API usage).
• International Operations: Experience managing finances and operations across multiple countries (especially EU and US).

Why Semalytix?

• Co-pilot the Company: This is not a back-office role. You are the strategic co-pilot to the CEO, shaping the operational and financial future of the company. You will be the architect of the engine that enables our growth.
• Drive the Execution: You will have end-to-end ownership, translating our cutting-edge Agentic AI vision into a profitable, scalable, and market-leading reality.
• Build a Differentiated Company: You will be at the centre of innovation, building a company that is fundamentally changing how an entire industry (Pharma) leverages AI to understand the patient voice.

Ready to Join Our Team?

Take the next step in your career and help transform pharmaceutical innovation.