Head of Finance

À propos de nous Computing is hungry for electricity. AI and the cloud consume it faster than land-based grids can supply it. On land, data centres are hitting three walls: available power, freshwater and land. CIRCEO chose to head offshore. Founded in Nantes in 2025, the company designs autonomous energy ships: hulls carrying wind turbines that harvest the open-ocean wind, stronger and steadier than on land, and power on-board servers cooled directly by seawater. No grid connection, no freshwater draw, no land take. Behind the project are three founders with a proven track record: Fabien Bardinet (former COO of Aldebaran Robotics, former CEO of Balyo, former VP at Airbus), Boris Morinière (CEA, Airbus) and Michel Soubrier (twenty years at Naval Group, from nuclear submarines to shipyard production). The roadmap is concrete: a demonstrator, a 16-metre trimaran, with construction starting in late 2026 and launch in 2027, then an 80-metre ship, currently in preliminary design, the first of a fleet built for series production. CIRCEO is now hiring its first team: the people who will commit everything to opening a territory no one has explored yet. Around twenty people, each working directly with the founders, each owning their system end to end. The culture taking shape fits in a few words: enthusiasm, shared intelligence and a diverse team, drawn from energy, naval, computing and beyond. Stimulating, brilliant people, maybe a little crazy in places, and genuinely electrifying when they come together around the same problem. Here, we ship machines, not slide decks, and the sea has the final say: every assumption will be measured there. Want to see more? Dive into the project at and explore every open position on the Careers page: To finance its first ship and the ones that follow, CIRCEO is hiring its: Head of Finance New position – Permanent contract (CDI), based in Nantes, France Mission Reporting to Fabien Bardinet, CEO, you build CIRCEO's finance function from the ground up. You do not inherit an organisation: you build it. Your priority is clear: secure non-dilutive funding, which accounts for close to half of the financing plan up to the first commercial fleet. 1. Win public funding Bpifrance, ADEME, France 2030, European programmes: you identify the schemes, build the applications, defend them and secure them through to payment. You are the go-to contact for public funders. 2. Structure the finance function Accounting, management control, compliance, financial modelling: you lay the foundations, tools and processes of a capital-intensive industrial company. You hold your ground with auditors and statutory auditors. 3. Coordinate legal matters You manage the relationship with law firms and external advisers. Equity fundraising remains led by Fabien, who will involve you and train you in it. On everything else, you are his right hand. Profil Trained at a business school or in finance, you have more than 10 years of experience, including time in an audit or advisory firm. Your signature: deep-tech public funding you have personally secured, in France and in Europe.

• Your track record with French and European non-dilutive schemes is demonstrable. You know what funders expect and what makes an application succeed.
• Your command of financial modelling for capital-intensive projects lets you turn a ship into a credible financing plan.
• Your rigour gives you the authority you need with auditors and statutory auditors.
• You want to build rather than manage what already exists. A blank page energises you.
• You build on proven foundations rather than intuition. AI (Claude, Gemini or another) is already one of your tools, to analyse, model or multiply your thinking.
• You speak fluent French and English : the funders are French and European, the team works in English.

Above all, and this is the founders' first criterion, you are passionate. About finance, energy, the sea or anything else, it does not matter, as long as it is genuine. Curious in life as in your work, you like to understand the technology you finance, and you look for the solution before flagging the problem. Joining CIRCEO means financing a new class of maritime infrastructure, and watching its first ship put to sea. It means joining the founding team at a time when every decision counts, with direct access to the founders and real freedom to build. Do you recognise yourself in this description, and does chasing funding that dilutes no one make you happy? Then apply under the reference #MoneyTime Salary and benefits · Salary: shaped around your background and what you bring to the founding team. We discuss it openly from our very first conversation. Process and inclusion

• 1/ With L'Etincelle RH: a phone call + an interview (supported by tools and tests to understand you more finely)
• 2/ With CIRCEO: meetings with at least two of the three founders, Fabien Bardinet (CEO), Boris Morinière (CTO) and Michel Soubrier (COO)

The position is open now, with a start as soon as possible. If you have a notice period, let's talk, we can work with it. Gender diversity is a deliberate goal at CIRCEO, for this role as for every other. L'Etincelle RH stands for companies open to diversity and difference. Non-discrimination is second nature to us: you can count on our objectivity.