Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Location: Austin, Texas Metro Area (Primarily On-Site)
Compensation: $275,000 – $325,000 Base Salary + Performance Bonus + Meaningful Equity Participation
Industry: Private Equity–Backed Construction Services Platform (HVAC)
Company Overview
Our client is a rapidly growing private equity–backed HVAC services platform headquartered in the Austin, Texas metro area. The company specializes in commercial and residential HVAC installation, maintenance, and service operations, with a strong regional footprint and a robust acquisition pipeline.
Backed by an experienced sponsor, the platform is executing a disciplined buy-and-build strategy, targeting founder-led HVAC businesses across Texas and the broader Southeast. With multiple acquisitions completed and additional add-ons planned over the next 24–36 months, the organization is entering a critical phase of integration, operational optimization, and margin expansion.
The incoming CFO will be instrumental in building the financial infrastructure required to scale the platform and drive enterprise value creation.
Position Summary
The Chief Financial Officer will serve as a strategic partner to the CEO and private equity sponsor, leading the financial vision, capital strategy, and infrastructure development of a multi-location HVAC services platform.
This executive will oversee accounting, FP&A, treasury, job costing, working capital management, acquisition diligence, post-close integration, and financial systems scalability.
The ideal candidate has prior experience as a CFO (or senior finance leader) within a private equity–backed construction, HVAC, field services, or skilled trades platform and has successfully led multiple add-on acquisitions.
Core Responsibilities
1. Strategic Leadership & Value Creation
- Partner with CEO and PE sponsor to drive margin expansion and enterprise value
- Lead development of multi-year strategic financial plan aligned with acquisition roadmap
- Implement KPI dashboards tied to service revenue, backlog, technician productivity, gross margin by job type, and working capital metrics
- Drive pricing strategy, labor utilization improvements, and cost structure optimization
- Support expansion into new geographic markets
2. M&A Execution & Integration
- Lead financial due diligence and quality of earnings coordination for add-on acquisitions
- Evaluate deal economics, synergy targets, and capital structure impact
- Build acquisition models and integration forecasts
- Develop standardized post-acquisition integration playbooks
- Rapidly align financial reporting, job costing, payroll, and systems across acquired entities
- Track synergy realization and integration performance
3. Finance Infrastructure & Operational Discipline
- Build and scale a multi-entity finance organization
- Oversee accounting, payroll, AR/AP, and revenue recognition
- Strengthen job costing accuracy and project-level profitability reporting
- Improve visibility into WIP (Work-in-Progress) reporting and backlog forecasting
- Establish disciplined month-end close and reporting timelines
- Enhance internal controls and compliance processes
- Support audit readiness and lender reporting requirements
4. Working Capital & Cash Flow Optimization
- Improve billing cycles and collections processes
- Optimize inventory management and vendor payment terms
- Manage debt covenants and lender relationships
- Develop rolling 13-week cash flow forecasts
- Monitor leverage ratios and capital structure alignment
5. Systems & Technology Leadership
- Evaluate and upgrade ERP and field service management systems
- Standardize reporting tools across platform companies
- Integrate acquired entities into centralized financial systems
- Improve real-time operational visibility for leadership
6. Board & Sponsor Reporting
- Prepare monthly performance packages for private equity sponsor
- Present at board meetings with data-driven insights
- Deliver variance analysis and operational performance metrics
- Support exit readiness preparation, including QoE readiness and data room buildout
Organizational Leadership
- Build, mentor, and retain a high-performing finance team
- Establish accountability and performance standards
- Partner cross-functionally with operations, sales, service managers, and field leadership
- Institutionalize financial discipline across a historically founder-led environment
Ideal Background
- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance (CPA preferred)
- 12–20+ years of progressive finance leadership experience
- Prior CFO experience within a PE-backed construction, HVAC, or field services platform strongly preferred
- Demonstrated experience executing and integrating multiple add-on acquisitions
- Strong expertise in job costing, WIP reporting, and project-based revenue recognition
- Experience managing lender relationships and debt structures
- Big 4 or Transaction Advisory background preferred
Critical Success Factors
The successful candidate will demonstrate:
- Operational mindset beyond accounting oversight
- Deep understanding of project-based and service-based revenue models
- Ability to integrate acquisitions quickly and effectively
- Strong executive presence with board-level credibility
- Balance of strategic thinking and hands-on execution
Why This Opportunity Is Compelling
- Meaningful equity participation aligned with value creation
- Active acquisition pipeline with immediate M&A exposure
- Direct partnership with sponsor and CEO
- Opportunity to build a scalable HVAC roll-up platform
- Austin-based leadership team positioned for aggressive growth
