Position: Chief Financial Officer
Location: Omaha, NE (onsite)
Reports to: CEO
Company: PE- backed Building Products Company
Chamberlain Advisors is conducting an executive search for a CFO to join a private equity-backed building products company. As a cornerstone of the executive team, the CFO will serve as the principal finance and accounting leader, providing strategic financial direction, supporting essential business functions, and collaborating with private equity sponsors. This is an exciting opportunity for a seasoned finance executive looking to influence a company’s financial trajectory, drive operational excellence, and fuel significant business growth.
Role Overview: to be considered for this role, alignment with the following competencies is highly desirable:
- Accounting, FP&A, and Reporting: The candidate must possess CPA-level expertise with a strong background in financial planning, analysis, and accounting. This role involves preparing budgets, managing multi-year forecasting, projecting cash flow requirements, and ensuring adherence to GAAP policies and procedures. The candidate should have a solid grasp of accounting fundamentals, including the general ledger, reconciliations, and financial statements. Additionally, they should have experience fostering banking relationships, handling audits, and participating in investor meetings.
- Financial Modeling & Forecasting: The ideal candidate should have experience with financial modeling, including performing scenario and sensitivity analysis, evaluating cost changes, modeling future margins, product mix analysis, and building a standard cost model. They should be highly skilled in data collection and synthesizing complex financial information to present it clearly and concisely. The candidate should also bring strategic foresight to forecasting and budgeting processes, aligning financial goals with overarching business objectives.
- Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management: The candidate should understand manufacturing processes as this role involves working with a contract manufacturing firm, managing work-in-progress and raw materials, and maintaining visibility of quality and cost metrics. Ensuring accurate data integration from third-party suppliers is also crucial.
- M&A, People, and System Integrations: Candidate should have demonstrated success in leading integration planning and activities for acquired companies and should have experience building integration plans that ensure alignment with the acquisition strategy, mitigating known risks, and capitalizing on the synergies and opportunities created by the combined entity.
- PE-backed Company Experience: Candidate should ideally have previous experience in the intense and fast-paced nature of private equity environments. Key to this role is the ability to work with and report to private equity stakeholders, preparing fit-for-purpose reporting, driving value-creation initiatives with a sense of urgency, capital structures, fundraising, and growth strategies, and building a strong relationship between the company's leaders and its private equity partners.
- ERP Implementation - The candidate will play a key role in the implementation and oversight of the company's ERP system (Netsuite). They should be experienced in managing early-stage ERP implementations, ensuring the system is properly integrated with existing processes, and providing ongoing oversight to optimize its functionality.
- Process Optimization & Prioritization: The candidate should have experience improving business processes while aligning with organizational goals. This includes identifying and implementing key business optimization initiatives, such as process flow improvements and automations that lead to cost savings and enhanced operational efficiency. At the same time, they must be able to evaluate and prioritize initiatives based on strategic importance and resource availability.
- Team Building - The ideal candidate should have a proven track record in building and developing high-performing teams. They must be capable of assessing and delineating team responsibilities and identifying what is needed at various stages of team development.
What You Will Be Accountable For
Executive and General Leadership:
- Acts as the chief finance & accounting expert, extending support to the CEO, individual business functions, and private equity sponsors, and offering informed recommendations to progress the business.
- Provides technical and financial modeling support throughout the organization, ensuring all departments align with the company's overarching vision and mission.
- Partners with senior management and other company leaders on formulating and driving business strategies.
- Focuses on ensuring the firm operates with a continuous improvement and forward-thinking mindset, always prepared for future challenges and opportunities.
- Leads continued implementation of ERP system (Netsuite) for enhanced operational efficiency and accurate financial reporting.
- Cultivates a strong and transparent working relationship with the executive team and board of directors to ensure open communication about the measurement of performance against stated milestones and goals
- Drives an asset optimization, product quality and delivery performance environment.
- Manages and leads key programs such as 401k Administration, Insurance, and Customer Rebate/Warranty Administration. Leads the management of employee insurance and benefits. Is informed and consulted regarding serious human resource issues.
- Leads the management of information technology and business systems as the point of contact for network service, software, and communications systems.
- Manages projects requiring legal input and direction.
- Supervises 2 direct reports: Senior Accountant and ERP Specialist
Accounting Function Leadership
- Sets and drives the accounting vision and objectives, rapidly addressing gaps and advancing processes to align with organizational goals.
- Engages in regular, transparent communication with staff, direct reports, and external stakeholders, focusing on refining administrative and financial processes for scalable growth.
- Collaborates with external auditors, proactively addressing concerns and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
- Manages treasury functions such as cash management, forecasting, and maintaining strong banking relationships.
- Ensure controls are in place for key business processes and employees follow relevant procedures
Financial Strategy & Planning
- Directs annual strategic planning, budgeting, and forecasting processes, ensuring the organization works with updated and accurate financial reporting and KPI assessments.
- Develops timely and accurate reporting packages for the executive team and Board of Directors
- Monitors actual figures versus budgeted, performs variance analyses, and adjusts forecasts in response.
- Supports M&A transactions from due diligence through post-acquisition integration
- Shares in-depth strategic insights on business performance, emphasizing P&L, KPIs, and other critical metrics.
- Formulate and execute comprehensive cash management strategies to minimize risk and ensuring uninterrupted operations.
- Provides insights about market, products, competition, customers to develop profitable growth.
What Qualifications You Need
- Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting or Finance is preferred; an MBA or equivalent experience is highly desirable.
- CPA or other relevant professional certifications are a plus.
- 15+ years of total professional experience with progressive career growth
- Strong knowledge of accounting foundations and best practices in accordance with GAAP principles.
- Proven experience in FP&A, including modeling, budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting.
- Experience working with private equity-backed companies is preferred.
- Demonstrated success in aligning the finance function to support and drive strategic growth objectives.
- Experience managing financial operations across multiple plants or sites.
- Background in the manufacturing or distribution sectors is a plus.
- Experience with ERP system implementation; NetSuite experience is a plus