The posting
About the Company
Build the finance function and shape the growth of a confidential, sponsor-backed FinTech SaaS and data business. The company helps mortgage lenders, real estate platforms, and other financial technology businesses connect homebuyers with financing resources that improve access to homeownership. The Brydon Group is backing the planned acquisition. The transaction is still in progress, so the company name remains confidential.
About the Role
As Chief Financial Officer, you will be the founding in-house finance leader, report to the CEO, and work closely with the CEO, President, leadership team, and sponsor. This is a full-time, strategic, hands-on finance role with substantial ownership of FP&A, cash management, operating metrics, systems, and decision support. Strong finance leaders ready for their first CFO role are welcome.
The company operates remotely. Chicago-area candidates are preferred for collaboration with leadership, but Chicago residence and relocation are not requirements. The business currently uses accrual accounting and QuickBooks, with an outsourced finance/accounting relationship. You will manage that relationship, improve financial controls and reporting, and help determine when to add a controller. You are accountable for reliable financial outputs without being expected to perform every month-end close task personally.
Responsibilities
Financial Strategy, FP&A, and Value Creation
- Own financial modeling, forecasting, and an efficient, rigorous annual budgeting process.
- Partner with the CEO, President, and leadership team to size, refine, and track the annual value creation plan.
- Translate financial analysis into actionable recommendations on growth investment, pricing, packaging, and resource allocation.
- Work with other functions to define and track KPIs that drive value creation, including gross revenue retention, net revenue retention, renewals, and customer revenue trends in a recurring-revenue business with enterprise customers and longer sales cycles.
Cash Management and Controllership
- Establish a detailed rolling 13-week cash forecast and actively manage burn, liquidity, and spending as the business invests in growth.
- Improve and streamline monthly financial processes and establish best practices for controllership and financial management.
- Strengthen internal spend approvals, cash controls, financial accountability, and finance-related risk and compliance practices.
- Oversee the outsourced accounting relationship, ensure accurate accrual-based reporting, and help build an effective finance team over time.
- Review billing and revenue recognition processes and implement appropriate controls and best practices.
Reporting, Board Support, and Finance Systems
- Build repeatable weekly, monthly, and quarterly reporting, including a monthly operating pack.
- In the first 60–90 days, co-create the board reporting pack with leadership: monthly financials and financial inputs for quarterly board decks.
- Build an operating KPI dashboard and ensure underlying data, metric definitions, and reconciliations are reliable.
- Evaluate improvements or migrations from existing finance systems to strengthen reporting, analysis quality, and scalability.
- Support implementation of payroll and spend systems, including Rippling and Ramp.
- Personally use AI and automation to improve finance and HR workflows, while validating outputs and handling company data appropriately. Practical hands-on experimentation is valued; specific tool brands are not mandatory.
Leadership and Broader Operations
- Be a clear, confident financial advisor to the executive team and help translate strategic choices into financial tradeoffs.
- Support payroll, benefits, compensation planning, recruiting operations, and employment compliance with the broader team.
- Help lead board and private equity investor relations.
- Support opportunistic M&A analysis, financial tracking, and integration when relevant, and help prepare the company for growth and an eventual exit. This is not a high-volume roll-up mandate.
Qualifications
Required
- Approximately 7–10+ years of progressive finance leadership experience in a CFO function or relevant professional-services environment, with demonstrated readiness to own a lean company’s finance function.
- Substantial FP&A, cash forecasting, and financial modeling experience, including personal ownership of operating decisions and forecasts.
- Finance experience in a SaaS or comparable subscription software/data business, with practical command of retention, renewal, and recurring-revenue metrics.
- Experience building or materially improving finance processes, reporting, controls, or systems in a lean environment.
- Strong accounting and controllership fundamentals, including oversight of billing, revenue recognition, financial controls, risk/compliance practices, and accurate financial reporting.
- Hands-on adoption or meaningful experimentation with AI and automation; ability to describe what you personally built, tested, and improved.
- Experience collaborating with executive leadership and communicating financial analysis clearly in writing and presentations.
Preferred
- FinTech, mortgage technology, lending technology, or adjacent financial data experience.
- Private equity portfolio-company experience and contributions to board reporting materials; direct ownership of board communications is not required.
- Prior CFO experience, although a strong step-up finance leader is equally welcome.
- Experience with M&A, post-merger integration, company growth, and exit preparation. Deep deal or integration credentials are not required.
- Familiarity with QuickBooks, subscription billing platforms, Rippling, Ramp, or comparable systems.
- Chicago-area location.
Pay Range and Benefits
- Target annual total cash compensation: $225,000–$275,000, including base salary and bonus. This is an OTE range, not a stated base-salary range.
- Comprehensive benefits, including health insurance and remote work.
- Equity and the base/bonus split have not been specified and will be discussed if applicable.
Selection Process
Urrly video screen, an initial sponsor conversation, a deeper conversation with operating leadership, and a finance case study presented to the sponsor/deal team and board participants. An NDA is required before the case-study stage. CCAT and PII assessments are planned around the board round, after at least one sponsor interview. Timing and disclosure will be coordinated confidentially.
Apply now and get a response within 24 hours.
