Chief Financial Officer; CFO

Overview

We are seeking an exceptional Chief of Staff to act as the CEO’s closest partner. You are the internal owner of investor readiness, equity story, and Series C execution. You are the leader of strategic initiatives. You will lead the development and execution of our growth strategy, and work closely with finance and marketing. You don’t just coordinate projects, but drive them end-to-end.

You will define the total equity narrative, assess whether RIFT meets institutional infrastructure quality standards, and actively close gaps across leadership, business model, governance, and commercial execution. You act as a strategic partner to internal and external stakeholders, including our institutional shareholder base.

RIFT develops and deploys Iron Fuel Technology to decarbonise industrial heat. After years of technology development and pilots, the company has secured substantial capital and is now moving into commercial deployment. We have secured €114 million in financing. The first large-scale project is progressing toward Final Investment Decision, while preparation for the next equity phase is already underway.

The Chief of Staff provides strategic leadership as the company transitions from a scale-up to an industrial-scale organization, helping shape a more mature organisational structure and helping prepare the business for key milestones, including the upcoming Final Investment Decision (FID).

The core emphasis of the position is on ensuring full institutional readiness and strategic commercial leadership. This includes aligning strategic priorities, strengthening governance frameworks, enhancing financial reporting and transparency, and refining the overall investor narrative. The objective is to ensure that all structural, operational, and capital-related prerequisites are firmly in place before entering the market.

The Chief of Staff will assume responsibility for investor positioning and capital strategy within a capital-intensive, multi-entity organization that is fundamentally strong and well-supported, yet not fully institutionalized. A critical aspect of the mandate is to create clarity, discipline, and alignment across entities and stakeholders to meet the standards expected by institutional investors.

The role carries substantial autonomy and accountability, with a clear strategic commercial and consulting focus and focus on establishing the capital foundations necessary to support long-term industrial scale-up and sustainable growth.

Serie C strategy & execution

• Own the end-to-end preparation and execution of the €150M Series C round
• Define fundraising milestones, readiness criteria, and internal timeline
• Coordinate all advisors (legal, financial, IR, banks) and internal and external stakeholders, RVC and Investment meetings
• Lead data room preparation, diligence processes, and investor Q&A

Investor story & equity narrative

• Define and continuously refine RIFT’s total equity story
• Ensure a single, coherent narrative across pitch decks, models, board materials, and external communication

Commercial and strategic leadership and business partnering

• Strategic commercial traction
• Business model robustness
• Leadership
• Stakeholder management with legal, financial, IR, banks, investors

Ensure RIFT meets expectations on:

• Governance and decision-making maturity
• Risk management and downside protection
• Cash-flow predictability and asset quality
• Long-term platform and portfolio logic
• Translate investor expectations into concrete internal requirements

You manage and substantiate the investment thesis behind equity returns across different scenarios, entry valuation, value drivers, exit options and attractiveness of long-term ownership. In addition, you assess whether the business model’s repeatability and capital efficiency support value creation and rigorously test assumptions from an institutional investor’s perspective. This role combines operational excellence with high-level strategic thinking and a consulting mindset.

Rift’s Chief Strategy Officer

You have at least 6 years working experience, preferably evaluating large-scale energy or infrastructure,…