Where the standalone role actually exists
Australia is a small market and the population of dedicated treasury leadership roles reflects that. The genuine head of treasury seats sit in the major banks, insurers, superannuation and asset managers, large ASX-listed corporates and resources businesses with material FX and debt exposure. Those roles turn over slowly, they are usually filled from a known pool, and they rarely reach a public advert.
That is the honest picture, and it has a direct implication. If you are searching for head of treasury jobs and finding very little, the market is not hiding from you. It is genuinely thin, and the answer is to widen the frame rather than refresh the search.
In startups and scale-ups, treasury is a capability not a title
In the segment I work in, treasury shows up as part of a finance leadership mandate rather than a separate function. It appears in the CFO and Head of Finance briefs as cash management, banking relationships, funding runway and FX exposure once revenue goes offshore. Most Australian startups will need offshore revenue from regions like the US, Europe and APAC to hit their desired scale, which pushes international entity setup, cross-border tax and foreign compliance onto finance.[1] That is where treasury work enters a scale-up, attached to someone else's job title.
The interim and transformation mandates make the shape clear. An interim CFO brief I worked on called for commercial and strategic partnership on M&A, capital allocation and banking relationships, alongside driving a significant ERP and systems transformation.[2] Banking relationships sit in the same sentence as M&A and systems, which is exactly how treasury appears at this stage: one strand of a broad executive remit.
The candidate profiles reflect it too. I am currently working with a senior finance candidate who built and sold a bootstrapped business, established finance functions from scratch across a startup, a family office and a VC fund, and served on investment committees for fintech deals, covering treasury, forecasting, controls, reporting and board materials from seed to Series C.[3] Treasury is one line in that list, and that is the realistic shape of a treasury-heavy career in the Australian startup market.
| Corporate or banking treasury | Treasury inside a scale-up finance seat | |
|---|---|---|
| The mandate | A defined function: liquidity, funding, FX and banking risk, with policy and a team behind it. | One strand of a broad executive remit, alongside M&A, capital allocation and systems transformation. |
| Where it sits | Banks, insurers, super and asset managers, large ASX-listed corporates and resources businesses. | Inside the CFO or Head of Finance seat, appearing once offshore revenue brings FX and entity complexity. |
| How you get hired | Deep specialist track record, assessed against policy and institutional scale. Slow-moving, rarely advertised. | Evidence you can build with no playbook. Treasury depth is the differentiator, not the proposition. |
How to position if this is your background
Two routes are open. The first is to stay in the deep specialist pool and accept that the market is small and slow, which means relationships with the handful of firms that work it matter more than any search activity. The second is to broaden into general finance leadership, where your treasury depth becomes a differentiator rather than the whole proposition.
If you take the second route, the objection you will meet is adaptability, not competence. The best hires at the first finance hire and first CFO level are not defined by the size of their previous business, but by their ability to think when there is no playbook.[4] A treasury career in a large institution is the opposite environment: heavily proceduralised, well resourced, deep in policy. So lead with the times you built rather than ran, because that is the evidence that transfers.
The transformation angle is the strongest bridge. One candidate I work with implemented ERP, payroll, banking and expense systems, moving their previous business from reliance on Excel and email to automated workflows.[5] Banking system implementation is treasury work that reads as scale-up-relevant capability, and that is exactly the translation worth making on your own CV.
If broadening into finance leadership is the direction, how we work with senior finance candidates is set out here.
What Story does, and does not, cover
I should be clear rather than take a meeting under false pretences. I work across senior finance leadership roles including CFOs, VP and SVP Finance, Heads of Finance, Finance Directors, Heads of FP&A and Financial Controllers,[6] for Australian VC-backed startups and scale-ups, focused on the first finance hire and the first CFO.[7] I do not run standalone corporate or banking treasury search. If your target is a head of treasury seat at a major bank, a specialist banking search firm is the right call.
Where I am useful is the crossover: a treasury-strong finance leader moving into a startup or scale-up, or a scale-up CFO search where genuine treasury capability is part of the brief. Those conversations are worth having early, because the roles rarely advertise and the market is small enough that being known matters more than being available.
Common questions
Are there many head of treasury jobs in Australia?
Not many. The standalone role concentrates in the major banks, insurers, superannuation and asset managers, large ASX-listed corporates and resources businesses with material FX and debt exposure. Those seats turn over slowly, are usually filled from a known pool and rarely reach a public advert. If your search is returning very little, the market is genuinely thin rather than hidden, and widening the frame is more productive than refreshing the search.
Do startups and scale-ups hire a head of treasury?
Almost never as a title. Treasury shows up as a capability inside the CFO or Head of Finance mandate: cash management, banking relationships, funding runway and FX once revenue goes offshore. Most Australian startups need offshore revenue from the US, Europe or APAC to reach scale, which pushes entity setup, cross-border tax and foreign compliance onto finance. So the treasury work is real, it just sits under someone else's title.
How do I move from corporate treasury into a scale-up finance role?
Expect the objection to be adaptability rather than competence, and answer it directly. The strongest hires at the first finance hire and first CFO level are defined by the ability to think when there is no playbook, and a large-institution treasury career is the opposite environment: proceduralised, well resourced and deep in policy. Lead with the times you built rather than ran. Systems work is the strongest bridge, because implementing ERP, payroll, banking and expense systems reads directly as scale-up capability.
Does Story Recruitment place treasury roles?
Not standalone corporate or banking treasury search, no. We cover senior finance leadership roles including CFOs, VP and SVP Finance, Heads of Finance, Finance Directors, Heads of FP&A and Financial Controllers, for Australian VC-backed startups and scale-ups, focused on the first finance hire and the first CFO. Where we are useful is the crossover: a treasury-strong leader moving into a scale-up, or a scale-up CFO search where treasury capability is genuinely part of the brief.
References
- Tom Hunter on Australian startups: most will need offshore revenue from the US, Europe and APAC to hit their desired scale, making international entity setup, cross-border tax and foreign compliance fall to finance.
- Story Recruitment interim CFO mandate: commercial and strategic partnership on M&A, capital allocation and banking relationships, plus driving a significant ERP and systems transformation.
- Story Recruitment candidate profile: built and sold a bootstrapped business, established finance functions from scratch across a startup, a family office and a VC fund, served on fintech investment committees, covering treasury, forecasting, controls, reporting and board materials from Seed to Series C.
- Tom Hunter: the best first finance hires are not defined by the size of their previous business, but by their ability to think when there is no playbook.
- Story Recruitment candidate: implemented ERP, payroll, banking and expense systems, moving their previous business from reliance on Excel and email to automated workflows.
- Story Recruitment coverage: senior finance leadership roles including CFOs, VP/SVP Finance, Heads of Finance, Finance Directors, Heads of FP&A and Financial Controllers.
- Story Recruitment focus: the first finance hire in a startup and the first CFO hire in a scaling business, at Australian VC-backed startups and scale-ups.