How to hire a Treasury team

The Treasurer leads strategy and debt management. Treasury Directors and Managers oversee daily execution. Analysts handle the data and cash positioning. Align your staff to the complexity of your debt covenants and payment volumes.

Define the scope by mapping specific tasks to your current debt complexity and bank volume. Do not guess the required skill level based on job titles. Ask candidates to walk through the exact steps they took to solve a liquidity crisis. Look for evidence that they have personally configured a Treasury Management System rather than just inputting data into one. A strong candidate provides a clear answer on how they manage intercompany loans and netting. Watch for their process on bank fee analysis. Ask them how they detect ghost accounts or unauthorized bank access. If they say they use spreadsheets for cash positioning, ask how they handle version control during an audit. Question them on their involvement in credit facility negotiations. Did they draft the documents, or did they only provide the data for someone else to finalize? Real treasury work requires direct interaction with bank portals and real-time execution of payments. Demand specific examples of how they handled a wire transfer failure or a settlement delay. Check if they have experience with specific instruments like cross-currency swaps or interest rate collars. If they only mention accounting journals, they lack operational treasury depth. Listen for how they prioritize daily cash management during a period of high volatility. Ask how they communicate cash positions to executives when there is a short-term deficit. Does the candidate own the process or are they dependent on the accounts payable team for payment timing? Discuss how they verify data integrity before initiating large capital movements. If they cannot explain the underlying logic of a 13-week forecast, they will struggle to provide accurate reporting. Ask them to explain how they reconcile bank charges against historical trends. A solid candidate knows exactly which bank accounts are active and why each exists. If they describe a process that relies on manual entry for bank statements, they are likely to fail under volume. Focus on their technical capability to automate reporting and hedging workflows. Confirm their familiarity with regional banking regulations if your cash is held in multiple jurisdictions. Ask for the specific metrics they track to measure bank performance. Do not accept vague descriptions of their previous duties. Require concrete examples of their direct technical actions.

Credentials differentiate specific knowledge areas. Verification must include status checks with the issuing body. Distinguish between examinations and certifications.