Chief Financial Officer — Multi-Site Commercial & Industrial Building Services Platform
Location: Indianapolis, IN area (open to out-of-market candidates willing to travel)
Reports to: CEO / President
The Opportunity
We are conducting a confidential search for a Chief Financial Officer on behalf of a founder-led, family-owned platform in the commercial and industrial building services sector — a company that designs, engineers, fabricates, installs, and maintains mission-critical building systems for data centers, industrial and manufacturing facilities, pharmaceutical and healthcare campuses, and large-scale distribution operations.
The business is $250M+ in revenue with high-teens EBITDA margins, has compounded revenue at roughly 20% annually, and has funded that growth out of its own cash flow. Repeat clients drive the large majority of revenue, and average client tenure runs well over a decade.
Management's long-range plan calls for more than doubling the business over the next five years. Getting there means scaling two engines at once: continued organic growth across multiple Midwest locations and a service footprint spanning much of the country, and an accelerating acquisition program on top of the several deals already completed and integrated.
The incoming CFO will be the financial architect of that next phase — building the infrastructure, reporting, and discipline required to absorb rapid organic and inorganic growth without giving up the margin profile and operating rigor that got the company here.
First 12 Months: What Success Looks Like
Build the financial reporting infrastructure. Strengthen the monthly POC close and forward-looking forecasting. Improve close speed, reporting accuracy, internal controls, and chart-of-accounts design. Assess the existing finance team, identify gaps, and hire selectively. Stand up decision-grade reporting and KPI dashboards the executive team actually runs the business on.
Install cash flow and working capital discipline. Own the 13-week cash flow forecast with weekly actual-versus-forecast analysis. Manage the working capital dynamics unique to project-based services — retainage, WIP, billing cycles, and the gap between revenue recognition and cash collection — with focused attention on DSO and DPO. Optimize vendor spend and strengthen liquidity and capital structure oversight.
Build KPIs that drive field behavior. Partner with Regional Vice Presidents and branch managers to hit aggressive service division targets for growth, gross margin, and EBITA margin. Define and present service- and construction-based KPIs that connect branch, customer, labor, and procurement decisions to EBITDA and cash conversion.
Prepare the platform for M&A velocity. Support sourcing, diligence, financial modeling, and valuation on a target of multiple acquisitions per year — including deals already closed and under LOI. Ensure the core business can absorb add-ons without disrupting reporting, including consolidation across multiple ERPs, and lead post-close integration planning.
Non-Negotiable Requirements (Please, only apply if you have this experience)
- Proven finance leader in a project-based or construction-related business — someone who understands the swings of a project-based P&L and margin volatility
- Financial stewardship of a business at least $200M in revenue - substantial FP&A and forecasting experience
- Operations oriented - this is role that will work closely with the CEO/President on every aspect of the business.
- Deep command of project-based working capital: retainage, WIP, billing cycles, revenue-recognition-to-cash timing
- M&A Experience - Integration and valuation experience
- Experience managing multi-site P&Ls and holding branch leaders accountable for entity-level performance
- Track record of implementing service- and construction-based KPIs that change field behavior
Preferred Experience
- 15+ years of progressive finance leadership, including CFO or VP Finance in a multi-site field services business; credible with lenders, sponsors, and auditors
- Strong "step-up" candidates will be considered — a #2 reporting directly to a CFO today with a clear record of accomplishment
- M&A experience across sourcing, diligence, modeling, and post-close integration
- Financial consolidation across multiple ERPs or financial systems
- History of helping scale a business toward $500M+ in revenue
- Bachelor's in Finance or Accounting required; MBA and/or CPA preferred
The Person
- Hands-on and strategic in equal measure. Bias for action. High adaptability in a lean, fast-paced environment. A collaborative communicator who can partner effectively with a founder-led executive team and earn credibility with geographically distributed field leaders. Accountability-driven, high integrity, and comfortable holding business leaders to their numbers.
