Job Description

Posting number: 082126

Department: Finance

Job classification: Chief Financial Officer | Director of Finance

Posting type: Open

Categories: Administration, Accounting and Finance, Executive Management

The City of Springfield is seeking an accomplished, forward-thinking financial leader who finds pathways to success to serve as its Chief Financial Officer/Director of Finance.

A TRANSFORMATIONAL MOMENT

Springfield is Missouri's third-largest city and sits in the fastest-growing region in the state, making this an exciting time to join the City of Springfield Leadership Team. Under the City Manager's strategic direction, the City is entering an era of modernization, streamlining, and process reengineering focused on greater efficiency and organizational effectiveness. This work is about more than improving individual processes. It reflects a broader vision for a fiscally sound future - and the strategies, systems, and disciplined choices required to get us there. The next Chief Financial Officer/Director of Finance will have an opportunity to help shape that future. Change agents and culture builders who can pair responsible stewardship with thoughtful transformation will thrive here.

This is an opportunity to do more than manage the finances of a major municipal organization. Springfield is looking for a leader who can help shape the City’s financial future—strengthening long-term sustainability, modernizing financial systems and practices, improving how work gets done, and giving City leaders the information and insight needed to make sound decisions for the community.

The next Chief Financial Officer will inherit the essential responsibility of protecting the City’s financial integrity while also helping lead meaningful organizational change.

If you are a financial leader who values public service, sees opportunities where others see longstanding processes, and can balance innovation with responsible stewardship, we invite you to consider Springfield.

The Leader we are seeking is more than a technically accomplished finance professional. We are looking for an executive leader. The successful candidate will bring financial expertise together with curiosity, judgment, courage, humility, and an ability to build trusted relationships.

The successful leader will:

• Create clarity. Translate complicated financial issues into understandable choices. Establish clear priorities, responsibilities, expectations, and measures of success.

• Build trust. Earn credibility through competence, transparency, consistency, ethical conduct, communication, and follow-through.

• Think long term. Look beyond today’s budget and consider the financial consequences of decisions five, ten, and twenty years into the future.

• Challenge constructively. Respect the reasons practices were created while remaining willing to question whether they continue to serve the organization effectively.

• Build partnerships. Position Finance as both a guardian of public resources and a trusted partner that helps departments accomplish their missions responsibly.

• Develop people. Build organizational capacity through clear expectations, coaching, professional development, succession planning, and opportunities for employees to improve their work.

• Deliver results. Move important work from discussion to execution and establish meaningful measures to determine whether improvements are producing the intended results.

Reporting directly to a Deputy City Manager and serving as a member of the City’s executive Leadership Team, the Chief Financial Officer serves as Springfield’s principal financial advisor. The Director provides executive leadership for the City’s financial operations and helps connect resources to priorities, long-term obligations, organizational capacity, and community needs.

Strengthen Long-Term Financial Sustainability

Help the City look beyond the annual budget cycle and develop a clearer, integrated understanding of its long-term financial position. The Director will advance multi-year forecasting and scenario planning and help City leadership understand structural pressures, revenue sustainability, reserves, debt capacity, capital requirements, deferred maintenance, lifecycle replacement, technology investments, workforce obligations, and other long-term commitments.

The objective is straightforward: identify tomorrow’s financial challenges early enough to make thoughtful choices today.

Modernize the City’s ERP and Financial Systems

Springfield is preparing for the future of its enterprise financial systems. The Chief Financial Officer will serve as the executive business owner for financial systems transformation, working closely with Information Systems, Human Resources, operating departments, and other partners.

This will be more than a software project.

The City wants to use the opportunity to examine how work should be performed, improve data and reporting, strengthen integration, simplify processes, enhance internal controls, and create a better experience for employees and departments.

Reengineer How Work Gets Done

Like many established organizations, the City has accumulated policies, approval processes, workflows, and administrative practices over time. Some remain essential. Others may be ready for a fresh look.

Reengineer How Work Gets Done

Like many established organizations, the City has accumulated policies, approval processes, workflows, and administrative practices over time. Some remain essential. Others may be ready for a fresh look.

The Chief Financial Officer will help create a culture of continuous improvement by asking:

The goal is not change for the sake of change. It is thoughtful modernization that reduces unnecessary administrative burden while preserving accountability and appropriate controls.

Turn Financial Information Into Decision Support

Springfield wants Finance to do more than report what happened. The next CFO will strengthen the City’s ability to understand what the numbers mean, what may be coming next, and what choices are available. Through forecasting, scenario analysis, dashboards, financial modeling, and clear executive communication, the CFO will help City Council, the City Manager, and departments understand financial implications, risks, alternatives, and tradeoffs.

The City of Springfield, Missouri is seeking an accomplished, forward-thinking financial leader to serve as its next Chief Financial Officer/

Director of Finance.

This is an opportunity to do more than manage the finances of a major municipal organization. Springfield is looking for a leader who can help shape the City’s financial future—strengthening long-term sustainability, modernizing financial systems and practices, improving how work gets done, and giving City leaders the information and insight needed to make sound decisions for the community.

The next Chief Financial Officer/Director of Finance will inherit the essential responsibility of protecting the City’s financial integrity while also helping lead meaningful organizational change.

If you are a financial leader who values public service, sees opportunities where others see longstanding processes, and can balance innovation with responsible stewardship, we invite you to consider Springfield.

Springfield is looking for a leader who can operate successfully in two worlds

• Protect what matters. Maintain strong financial controls, accurate reporting, responsible budgeting, sound investments, prudent debt management, transparency, compliance, and stewardship of public resources.
• Transform what can be better. Challenge outdated practices, modernize financial systems, simplify inefficient processes, improve access to meaningful financial information, and help build a more agile and sustainable organization.

The successful candidate will understand that these responsibilities are not competing priorities. Strong financial stewardship provides the foundation for thoughtful innovation.

The Chief Financial Officer will help create a culture of continuous improvement by asking:

• Why do we do it this way?
• What purpose or control are we trying to achieve?
• Can we achieve that purpose more simply, quickly, or effectively?
• Should this process be standardized, automated, consolidated, redesigned—or eliminated?

The goal is not change for the sake of change. It is thoughtful modernization that reduces unnecessary administrative burden while preserving accountability and appropriate controls.

Excellent Compensation Package:

The role offers an excellent total compensation package including anticipated starting salary of $205,000/annually, however compensation is flexible based on qualifications.

Benefits include:

• No-cost employee-only health insurance
• Pension through the Local Government Employee Retirement Systems (LAGERS) with employee contribution made 100% by the City and full vesting after five years
• Deferred Compensation 457(b) plan with employer match programs
• Annual performance increases
• Generous Leave time with holiday, vacation, floating holidays, exempt, and sick leave
• Car allowance of $740 per month

To learn more about our competitive benefits package, Click here!

WHAT YOU WILL LEAD

• Financial strategy and long-range planning
• Annual operating and capital budgeting
• Accounting and financial reporting
• Treasury, cash management, and investments
• Debt management and capital financing
• Accounts payable and payroll
• Procurement and purchasing
• Financial policies and internal controls
• Audit coordination
• Revenue and expenditure accounting
• Licensing and other assigned administrative functions
• ERP and financial systems modernization
• Financial data, analytics, forecasting, and decision support
• Process improvement and organizational modernization

The Chief Financial Officer also provides financial advice to the City Manager and City Council and works collaboratively with department directors throughout the organization.

THE LEADER WE ARE SEEKING

• Springfield is seeking more than a technically accomplished finance professional. We are looking for an executive leader. The successful candidate will bring financial expertise together with curiosity, judgment, courage, humility, and an ability to build trusted relationships.
• Create clarity. Translate complicated financial issues into understandable choices. Establish clear priorities, responsibilities, expectations, and measures of success.
• Build trust. Earn credibility through competence, transparency, consistency, ethical conduct, communication, and follow-through.
• Think long term. Look beyond today’s budget and consider the financial consequences of decisions five, ten, and twenty years into the future.
• Challenge constructively. Respect the reasons practices were created while remaining willing to question whether they continue to serve the organization effectively.
• Build partnerships. Position Finance as both a guardian of public resources and a trusted partner that helps departments accomplish their missions responsibly.
• Develop people. Build organizational capacity through clear expectations, coaching, professional development, succession planning, and opportunities for employees to improve their work.
• Deliver results. Move important work from discussion to execution and establish meaningful measures to determine whether improvements are producing the intended results.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
Success in this role will certainly include accurate budgets, reliable financial reporting, clean audits, compliance, responsible investments, and strong internal controls. But Springfield expects more.

Over time, the successful Director/Chief Financial Officer will help create an organization that:

• Anticipates financial challenges earlier.
• Understands its long-term obligations and financial capacity more clearly.
• Makes better-informed resource and investment decisions.
• Has modern, reliable, and integrated financial systems.
• Uses meaningful data to support decisions.
• Has simpler and more effective financial policies and processes.
• Reduces unnecessary manual work and administrative burden.
• Maintains strong controls while providing responsive internal customer service.
• Develops the next generation of financial leaders.
• Builds confidence among City leadership, employees, City Council, and the community in the stewardship of public resources.

WHY SPRINGFIELD?
Springfield offers the opportunity to lead financial strategy in a full-service municipal organization responsible for services that residents rely upon every day.

Located in southwest Missouri, Springfield serves as a regional center for government, healthcare, education, business, workforce development, recreation, culture, and economic activity. It combines the professional opportunities and amenities of a regional city with the accessibility and quality of life associated with the Ozarks.

For the right financial executive, this position offers something increasingly difficult to find: the opportunity to maintain a strong financial foundation while helping redesign the systems, processes, and strategies that will support the City’s next chapter.

You will have a seat at the executive table, direct access to the City Manager, meaningful interaction with City Council, and an opportunity to influence decisions across the organization.

Most importantly, the work has a purpose. Sound financial leadership determines the City’s ability to maintain infrastructure, support public safety, invest in employees, improve neighborhoods, deliver essential services, respond to emerging needs, and remain financially strong for the residents who come next.

LEAD WITH CLARITY. SERVE WITH PURPOSE.
If you believe public finance can be both disciplined and innovative, if you enjoy building strong teams and improving organizations, and if you want your work to have a visible impact on a community, we invite you to consider becoming Springfield’s next Chief Financial Officer/Director of Finance.

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Examples of duties

Experience, Education, and Training

• Graduation from an accredited college or university with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, business administration, public administration, financial management, or a closely related field

• Seven years of progressively responsible professional experience in finance, accounting, budgeting, or a related field;
• Significant supervisory or management experience;
• Public-sector or governmental finance experience is required

• Demonstrated experience leading significant financial, organizational, technology, or process-improvement initiatives is strongly preferred
• Experience with ERP implementation, replacement, optimization, financial data and analytics, automation, or major financial systems transformation is highly desirable.

Licensing/Certification

• A master’s degree in a related field and/or CPA, CPFO, CGFM, or comparable professional certification is highly desirable

Qualifications

For more information on essential functions and other requirements, please see the

Supplemental information

Equal Opportunity Employer/Disability and Vet

The City of Springfield promotes equal employment opportunities to all without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, status as a protected veteran, or status as a qualified individual with a disability, or other legally protected status. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment.

Individuals with disabilities who believe they will need an accommodation to undergo any part of the interview, examination, or pre-employment process, should request a reasonable accommodation in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act prior to the testing or appointment. Requests should be requested by contacting City of Springfield Human Resources by phone, 417-864-1607, or in person at the Municipal Busch Building, 840 Boonville Ave. Springfield, MO 65802.

Proof of United States Citizenship/Authorization to Work in the United States as established by the Immigration Reform Act of 1986 is a condition of employment. We are committed to a drug-free workplace. Pre-employment drug testing is required.

All interested candidates MUST complete the City of Springfield on-line application in its entirety. The candidate profile must include all employment history with accurate and complete information prior to submission. Resumes alone will not be accepted as the application, but they may be submitted as supplemental documentation.