Skip to main content

Functional Practices

Our Corporate Functions Team partners with clients to appoint senior leaders across the functions that underpin organisational performance, governance and strategic delivery. Spanning Actuarial, Financial Officers, General Counsel, Human Resources and Risk, Compliance & Internal Audit, we combine deep functional expertise with a strong understanding of the regulatory and commercial landscape.

 

Through close collaboration and disciplined assessment, we deliver appointments that strengthen leadership teams, enhance capability and support sustainable outcomes.

Financial Officers

 

We support CFO and senior finance leadership appointments that shape strategy, enable performance and build confidence with Boards, regulators and investors. From Group CFO mandates to divisional and regional leadership roles, we advise clients from FTSE 100 organisations to high-growth, investor-backed businesses, accessing best-in-class talent aligned to each operating model and strategic agenda.

Our searches also cover Financial Controller, Chief Accountant, FP&A, Tax, Treasury and Finance Transformation leadership.

Risk, Compliance & Internal Audit

We appoint second- and third-line leaders across Risk, Compliance and Internal Audit, supporting organisations to strengthen governance and operate confidently within risk appetite in a demanding regulatory environment. Our track record in financial services spans the evolution of modern risk frameworks and operating models since the Global Financial Crisis.

We help clients secure leaders with the judgement, influence and resilience to provide effective oversight, constructive challenge and assurance with impact, balancing control and compliance with commercial enablement.

Actuarial

 

Per Ardua Associates has an established track record in Chief Actuary appointments across the insurance market, including a number of the sector’s most high-profile mandates. We support clients ranging from specialist London Market businesses to the largest life and general insurers across the UK, Europe and North America. Drawing on detailed knowledge of actuarial operating models and market dynamics, we help organisations secure leaders with the technical authority, commercial judgement and stakeholder presence required to steer risk and capital decisions in a complex environment.

Human Resources

We support Chief People Officer/CHRO and senior HR leadership appointments that strengthen culture, capability and performance as business models and workforce expectations evolve. Combining financial services insight with broader market access, we identify leaders who bring both sector credibility and the perspective to shape modern people strategies at scale.

Our searches also cover Heads of HR, Reward, Organisation Development, Talent, and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion leadership.

 

We also support our Board practice through Remuneration Committee appointments.

General Counsel

 

The remit of the General Counsel continues to expand as organisations navigate regulatory expectations, complex stakeholder environments and increased focus on conduct and reputational risk. Per Ardua Associates supports clients across financial services to appoint legal leaders who provide trusted counsel. Our sector insight and assessment approach help ensure the right balance of technical rigour, pragmatic judgement and leadership capability.

Technology & Operations

In a fast-moving environment, organisations depend on resilient, customer-centric operating models and coherent technology and digital strategies to deliver performance and manage risk. We support Boards and executive teams to appoint leaders who can stabilise and modernise operations, strengthen controls and drive complex transformation agendas with pace and discipline.

We have a strong track record of appointing Group Chief Operating Officers, Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Digital Officers and Chief Transformation Officers, alongside their leadership teams, across financial services. We also deliver specialist mandates including Chief Information Security Officer, Chief Product Officer, Chief Data Officer and Chief Architect, and—where it strengthens the brief—access talent from adjacent sectors to bring fresh perspective and transferable best practice.

 

We also support Boards to appoint Non-Executive Directors with operations, technology and digital expertise.

Key Contact

Simon Lowndes

Director & Head of Corporate Functions

Team

Freddie Montagu

Principal, Technology & Operations

Callum Jones

Associate

Jorden Hinscliff

Executive Assistant

Simon Lowndes

Director & Head of Corporate Functions

Simon Lowndes

Director & Head of Corporate Functions

Simon is a Director at Per Ardua and leads our Corporate Functions practice.

 

Simon joined in 2010 to build Per Ardua’s capability in hiring for executive leaders within the Finance & Actuarial, Risk & Compliance, Operations, and Internal Audit functions.  He works across Investment Management, Real Estate, Insurance, Retail & Corporate Banking, FinTech and Private Equity in the provision of executive search and leadership advisory and is a member of each of these sector practices.  As part of the Board practice, he also undertakes searches for Board Risk and Audit Committee appointments.

 

Simon is also a member of Per Ardua’s D,E&I Committee and is proud to have established our partnership with The Brokerage.  He sits on The Brokerage’s Changemaker Board, with Per Ardua being one of the founding supporters of their Young Leaders Programme.

Envelope Linkedin-in

Freddie Montagu

Principal, Technology & Operations

Freddie Montagu

Principal, Technology & Operations

Freddie joined Per Ardua in 2024 as a Principal, to lead the Digital & Technology capability. With extensive experience in search, Freddie has a proven track record working with companies undergoing significant growth and transformation, where solving technology issues around transformation, security, digital, product, cloud and data are central for success.

 

Prior to joining Per Ardua, Freddie was a senior member of Korn Ferry’s Global Technology & Digital Officers Practice and also led the EMEA Cyber Security Centre of Expertise. During that time, Freddie led a variety of Group CIO, CTO, CDO and CISO searches for both public and private equity backed businesses. Prior to entering search, Freddie worked in the Insight & Communications team for a global loyalty marketing company, where he worked closely with one of the UK’s largest supermarket chains.

 

He holds a BA (Hons) in Geography from Durham University.

Envelope Linkedin-in

Callum Jones

Associate

Callum Jones

Associate

Callum is an Associate within Per Ardua’s Corporate Functions team, having joined the firm in 2026. He supports research, search delivery, and business development across the Technology, Digital, Operations, Finance & Actuarial, and Risk & Compliance practices.

Prior to Per Ardua, Callum spent five years at a specialist executive search firm, where he focused on Technology, Digital, Data, Product, and Cyber Security appointments across global public and private sector organisations.

He holds a BA in History from Swansea University and an MSc in Computer Science from Queen Mary, University of London.

Linkedin-in Envelope

Jorden Hinscliff

Executive Assistant

Jorden Hinscliff

Executive Assistant

Jorden is the Executive Assistant to Simon Lowndes, Director Corporate Functions and Freddie Montagu, Principal Technology & Operations.

 

Prior to joining Per Ardua in April 2022, she worked within the Creative Industries & Education sector as an Administration Manager, where she provided support at Director level.

 

Jorden attended Palmers College where she gained qualifications in a Legal Secretarial Studies course.

Linkedin Envelope