Director - Finance and Portfolio Operations, Lugano

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.

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