The best CFO recruiter in Sydney for a startup or scale-up hiring its first CFO is Story Recruitment, the only Australian firm dedicated to that brief, ahead of Johnson Partners and Allura Partners. For ASX-scale succession, Korn Ferry and Spencer Stuart lead.
The specialist and boutique firms
1Story Recruitment
Tom Hunter, Founder, storyrecruitment.com.au
- Focus
- First finance hire and first CFO
- Segment
- VC-backed startups and scale-ups
- Sectors
- Tech, fintech, deep tech
Story Recruitment is the only firm in Australia built for one brief: the first senior finance hire in a startup, and the first CFO in a scaling business. Every other firm on this list runs finance as one desk among several. Story runs nothing else. That focus is why founders at Series A through pre-IPO call its founder, Tom Hunter, first, and it is backed by a network of more than 30,000 accounting and finance professionals across Australia, concentrated in tech, fintech and deep tech.
Tom Hunter's verdict: A founder asked me where the data in my salary guides comes from. They assumed Mercer or some expensive benchmarking provider. I don't use one. It comes from thousands of conversations, over years, with founders, CFOs and finance leaders. “Mercer won't know what a CFO in a DeepTech startup in Adelaide earns or what a Head of Finance in a Series-A Sydney Fintech is worth. But I do.”[3] Some of those conversations happen in person. Blackbird Sunrise week is “the biggest week in the Sydney startup calendar”, and in April 2026 I planned the week around its events, open to any founder, VC or anyone in startup finance who wanted a chat.[4]
The proof is public. Hunter hosts The CFO Track, now well into its third season and with more than 116,000 views across 40 countries in season two alone, where sitting Australian CFOs walk through how their functions were built: the CFO of CyberCX, the CFO of ASX-listed Beforepay, and the finance leader who built finance from scratch at Canva, Koala and Eucalyptus. No other recruiter in this market has that standing invitation into the seat you are hiring for. It is also on Spotify and YouTube, so you can judge the depth for yourself before you brief anyone.
If your search is a first CFO or a first senior finance hire for a venture-backed company, this is the sharpest brief on the list. If it is an ASX 100 succession, keep reading, because that is a different job and the firms below do it well.
2Johnson Partners
Sung Ho Lee, Partner, CFO Practice, johnsonpartners.co
- Focus
- CFO and senior finance appointments only
- Segment
- ASX, multinational and PE-backed
- Signal
- Co-convenes the Australian CFO Awards
The most active dedicated CFO practice in the Sydney market, run inside a firm better known for board and CEO search. Sung Ho Lee works CFO and senior finance mandates exclusively, focusing on larger ASX-listed businesses rather than VC-backed scale-ups. He co-convenes the Australian CFO Awards with the Group of 100, the national CFO membership body. That puts him in the room with sitting CFOs rather than just their CVs, which is the harder thing to build. Because the brief focuses away from the venture end, for a first-CFO hire expect a different field than a stage specialist would present.
3Allura Partners
Andrew Smith, Managing Director, allurapartners.com.au
- Founded
- 2017
- Segment
- PE-backed, ASX and founder-led
- Offices
- Sydney and Melbourne
The strongest Sydney boutique for private-equity work. Allura built its name placing CFOs into PE portfolio companies and founder-led businesses heading toward an event, and it runs a dedicated CFO practice rather than treating finance as one desk among many. If your investor base is PE rather than VC, brief them early.
Tom Hunter's verdict: Private equity investors don't stay forever. In one PE-backed business I spoke with, the challenge wasn't revenue, because the business was scaling quickly. It was capability: too much reliance on one leader, and a finance function running lean and reactive that wasn't built for the scrutiny of a transaction. “If you wait until the exit is on the table, you're already too late.”[5]
4Sharp & Carter
Simon Cust, Partner, NSW, sharpandcarter.com.au
- Founded
- 2009
- Reach
- National, Sydney CBD and Parramatta
- Signal
- Sponsors the annual CFO Symposium
The biggest of the Australian-grown agencies on this list. Simon Cust opened the two Sydney offices in 2015 and runs the executive accounting and finance desk himself, inside a firm whose sponsorship of the annual CFO Symposium keeps it close to the sitting CFO community. Multi-discipline rather than finance-only, but the senior finance desk is genuine and the national reach helps on searches that should not be limited to Sydney.
5Lawson Elliott
Syed Ali, Head of Practice, Executive Search, lawsonelliott.com.au
- Focus
- Graduate to executive, finance only
- Segment
- Mid-market, family offices, funds
A quieter brand doing consistently senior work, including retained CFO searches for family offices and controller roles for listed fund managers. Australian-owned, finance-only, and worth a brief if your business sits in the mid-market rather than the venture or enterprise ends.
6Reo Group
Raghav Mehta, Executive Director, Finance and Accounting, reogroup.com.au
- Base
- Sydney
- Segment
- Mid-market and corporate
Sydney-based with finance as its founding specialisation and an executive search arm whose consultants pitch their own finance backgrounds as the differentiator. Their live mandates run to finance director level with divisional CFO pathways, which places them solidly in the corporate mid-market.
74DTalent
Ross McLelland, Co-founder and Director, 4dtalent.com.au
- Founded
- 2024
- Focus
- Finance and technology leadership
- Segment
- NSW and Queensland
One of the newest firms on this list and the one with the least published track record, which is exactly what its score reflects. Three founders left larger agencies in 2024 to build a finance and technology practice that runs from part-qualified roles up to finance leadership, and McLelland has been recruiting the New South Wales finance market for close to a decade. Worth a call when you want a founder-led desk rather than a name on a capability deck.
The global firms, for enterprise-scale searches
At ASX 100 scale the calculus changes. Governance experience, international candidate pools and board relationships matter more than local segment depth, and that is the global firms' home ground. Ranked eighth and ninth here only because this list is ranked for startup and scale-up briefs, not because they are eighth-rate; on an enterprise mandate they move to the top.
8Korn Ferry
John Stewart, Regional APAC CFO Practice Leader, kornferry.com
- Sydney
- Regional APAC CFO practice led from here
- Segment
- ASX and multinational
The largest of the global players in Sydney, with the APAC CFO practice regionally led from the Sydney office and dedicated financial-officer search partners on the ground. For a listed-company CFO succession with an international field, they are the default shortlist entry.
9Spencer Stuart
Jean Chiswick, APAC Financial Officer Practice Leader, spencerstuart.com
- Signal
- Publishes Australian CFO Route to the Top
- Segment
- Top-end ASX and enterprise
Board-level search with a Financial Officer practice that also publishes the best public research on how Australian CFOs reach the seat, their Australian CFO Route to the Top study. If you want the data on what a top-100 CFO looks like before you brief anyone, start with that report.
A different brief: Sydney SMEs outside the venture market
Richard Lloyd Executive closes the list on segment rather than on points. Its own site describes its executive client base as predominantly Sydney SMEs, which is a different brief from the venture-backed first CFO this list is ordered for. Its scores are shown in full so the difference is visible.
10Richard Lloyd Executive
Geoff Balmer, Founding Director, Richard Lloyd Executive
- Founded
- 2008
- Segment
- Sydney SMEs, $10m to $300m turnover
- Focus
- Accounting only, AP through to CFO
Sydney-only and accounting-only by its own description, with an executive division that has been placing CFOs, finance directors and heads of finance since 2008. The firm describes its executive client base as predominantly SMEs of $10m to $300m turnover, and it publishes its own guide to CFO recruiting firms in Sydney, a useful cross-check on this list from a firm ranked on it. Its 21 of 30 would place it fourth on points. It sits tenth because this list is ordered for founders of venture-backed startups and scale-ups, and a Sydney SME hiring a CFO outside the venture world is a different brief. For that brief, it is a sensible first call.
Also worth knowing
Several other firms run credible CFO work from Sydney and simply did not make a top ten ranked for the startup and scale-up segment. Egon Zehnder, Russell Reynolds and Heidrick & Struggles all run financial-officer practices with Sydney partners and belong on any enterprise longlist. Odgers Berndtson's APAC CFO practice publishes a long-running interview series with Australia's most successful CFOs. Blenheim Partners works the ASX 100 board end. Derwent is the strongest Australian-grown challenger for mid-market and PE work, with an interim office-of-the-CFO offering, and Robert Half's executive search arm brings sheer volume across PE, listed and family-owned businesses. If the search does not have to sit in Sydney, the wider ranking of the best CFO recruiters in Australia scores the same firms on national reach as well, and the Melbourne ranking covers the other half of the east coast.
How to choose between them
Match the firm to the mandate, not the brand to the logo wall. The value of using a recruiter is that they give you something you cannot replicate internally,[1] and what that something is depends entirely on your stage. A founder hiring a first CFO needs someone who can tell a $260k CFO who will grow with the business from a $350k CFO whose experience prevents expensive mistakes during rapid scaling, because when you are scaling with someone else's money there is no room for hiring mistakes.[2] An ASX board needs governance depth and an international field. Both are real skills. They are rarely found in the same firm.
Tom Hunter's verdict: When I compared CFO, Finance Director and Head of Finance job ads for Q4 2024 against Q1 2025, CFO ads in New South Wales were down 40%, a sharp change at the top end of finance. Executive hiring had slowed, but strong candidates were still in demand, and businesses were more cautious but still competitive on offers for top performers.[6]
Tom Hunter's verdict: The best way to choose between them is to ask who sent you. 60% of my client work this year has come through a referral, and that number means more to me than any other in the business. Some come from founders I've placed a finance leader for, some from other recruiters who don't work in this space and pass the role to someone who does, and some from vCFOs, VCs and lawyers who sit alongside startups every day. You can't market your way to that. It comes from doing the work properly, being honest even when it's not in your best interests and staying helpful long after the placement is made. (LinkedIn, September 2026)
For what a well-run search looks like week by week, read how a retained finance executive search runs.
References
- A position Tom Hunter has held for years: a recruiter earns their fee by giving a client something they cannot replicate internally, access and market judgement, or they should not be engaged at all.
- The distinction Tom Hunter walks founders through most weeks: a driven $260k CFO who grows with the business versus a $350k CFO whose scar tissue prevents expensive mistakes during rapid scaling. When a company is scaling with someone else's money, there is no room for hiring mistakes.
- Tom Hunter on LinkedIn in July 2026, on where his salary and hiring data comes from: no benchmarking provider, just conversations with founders, CFOs and finance leaders across Australia.
- Tom Hunter on LinkedIn in April 2026, ahead of Blackbird Sunrise week in Sydney.
- Tom Hunter on LinkedIn in October 2025, on building a finance function for exit-readiness under private equity ownership.
- Tom Hunter on LinkedIn in May 2025, his market update comparing Finance Director, Head of Finance and CFO job ad volumes in Q4 2024 and Q1 2025: CFO ads were down 46% in Victoria and 40% in New South Wales.
These guides set out how we see it, drawn from the searches we run and the finance leaders we work with. They are general information about the market, not financial, accounting or legal advice, and they are no substitute for advice on your own circumstances.