Finance chiefs are still facing a murky macroeconomic environment, but the age-old challenge of the role remains the same: finding that key balance between risk and reward.

Hitting that mark means finance chiefs may need to grow more comfortable with the risk side of the equation: global payroll and HR platform Remote, for example, is investing in “where we see that customers will want us to be in three years,” even though it’s still unclear what that future will look like, CFO Michiel Boere said. That approach includes releasing products early to see if they are “really filling a customer need,” and then adapting accordingly, he said.

Remote is investing “quite a bit” in product developments that are not part of its core business; the bulk of its R&D spending is funneled to “parts of the business where only a minority of revenue is currently coming from,” Boere said in an interview.

Getting comfortable with uncertainty  

Based in the Netherlands, the company provides payroll and HR solutions for global employees, including an AI-powered job platform. Boere joined the platform in April 2023 as its CFO, according to his LinkedIn profile. Previously, he served a seven-year tenure at rideshare Uber in roles such as VP finance, global CFO delivery (Uber Eats). His past experience also includes serving as CFO for Netherlands-based greeting card firm Greetz, as well as various roles at consulting firm McKinsey.

 At the HR platform, Boere is taking what he described as a “risk-on” approach, a term which typically indicates “investing in something with an uncertain outcome,” Boere said. At his past employer Uber, for example, the company had been funneling money toward its Uber Eats product, “even though that was deeply unprofitable at the time when I joined,” he said.

Boere joined the company in 2016, approximately a year after the launch of its Uber Eats app, as its head of CRM & marketing analytics, EMEA, per his LinkedIn profile. Uber Eats’ restaurant delivery service reached profitability for the first time in Q3 2021, CFO Dive sister publication Restaurant Dive reported at the time. Uber overall, which faced years-long scrutiny over its cash burn, reached profitability for the first time in 2023, the Verge reported.  

“We were tolerating quite a bit of initial losses, and doing a lot of investment; not blindly burning money as it might have looked from the outside because we knew ultimately, it was a good underlying business,” Boere said of Uber Eats’ development. 

At Remote, Boere is putting the lessons he learned from Uber to use, tapping into Remote’s store of dry powder to make investments that put a careful toe over that risk and reward line. The company raised a $150 million Series B funding round in 2022 at a valuation of more than $1 billion, meaning “we sort of have the luxury that we can make long-term decisions and long-term investments,” Boere said. “But you have to stay flexible in this environment. You have to stay flexible in how you react to all the changes.”

A global business, Remote is currently scenario planning for how ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty could impact areas such as hiring and interest rates, as well as taking steps to reduce its currency risk, he said.  

Melding strategy, operations

The need to maintain that balance between risk and reward is all the more important as macroeconomic conditions continue to fluctuate, with the CFO playing an increasingly critical role. Today’s finance chiefs need to be both “strategic and operational at the same time,” Boere said.

“There is this traditional picture of a CFO being very risk averse and conservative,” he said. “I think that's not how, these days, modern CFOs are. They have to be in the trenches with the executive team.”

For businesses to chart a path to future expansion, it’s also crucial for today’s finance leaders to ensure their finance teams are well-prepared for oncoming twists and turns. Founded in 2019, Remote has expanded into a multinational company which operates across 100 countries, in 60 currencies, Boere said. As such, the finance team is facing a lot of operational complexity that it’s looking to manage more and more efficiently as it continues to expand, he said.

“The team is doing a great job there, but we can't underestimate how much work and how much complexity there is in building a multinational [business] in such a short time,” he said.

The company is also keeping a careful watch on how ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical changes are impacting the labor market, as well as other trends that could affect the global talent pool, such as the push many companies are making for return-to-office policies.

“We see an enormous amount of people working remotely, globally, and we think that will continue to be the case regardless of the return-to-office trend,” Boere said.

Another development looming over the labor market is the impact of automation and artificial intelligence, he said. Job postings with “AI” in the title doubled from April 2025 to June 2025 on Remote’s job board, the company told CFO Dive in an email. However, so far the company hasn’t seen AI and automation impact the labor market that much, Boere said.

“I think we will, but exactly how fast and what direction that will take? The jury is still out on that one,” he said.