Job Description

Our client was founded by three successful entrepreneurs who, over the past decade, have collectively launched more than half a dozen services roll-up platforms representing >$6 billion in total enterprise value. They have reunited to build a differentiated, technology-enabled platform of boutique M&A advisory firms. Their thesis sits at the intersection of local expertise and national scale: thousands of local M&A advisory firms are best led by the teams that built them, yet can benefit meaningfully from enterprise-grade technology and shared services. The company is backed by an equity commitment of up to $100 million from a permanent-capital holding company.

As the team is rapidly growing, they're hiring a VP of Finance to own the finance function from the ground up, starting with the foundational building blocks of monthly reporting, forecasting, and budgeting, then scaling the operation and its capabilities as more firms join. It calls for someone scrappy and ambitious who wants to build. They're sharp enough to learn the business fast and build things that scale, and they listen first, communicate effectively, and build strong relationships across the business.

This role reports directly into the company President.

The Mandate
Own the finance function for the whole platform, and shape it to keep pace with the business. You would start from the reporting that's already running and put the rest in place: the systems, the standards, and the rhythm leadership comes to rely on.

What You'll Own in Year One

• Own the monthly operating review Deliver it every month, at the firm level and consolidated, from close through the finished deck and live readout for leadership. Each one says what drove performance and what to do about it, and scales as new firms join.
• Revenue forecasting: Build it with each firm inside 90 days, update it deal by deal, and push past the CRM's stated probabilities.
• Stand up the first budget cycle: The platform has never run one. Design the calendar, templates, and assumptions, and run it alongside each firm so they own their number. The equity group brings the structure; you own the execution.
• Settle the reporting-infrastructure decision Keep the inherited system accurate through the handoff, then make the call: extend it, or move to a dedicated FP&A tool used elsewhere in the network.
• Become the partners' first call: Be the trusted partner on all things finance and a thought partner to Partner Firm leaders and platform leadership on the broader business.

Who We're Looking For

• Pedigree and seniority: Required. Came up through investment banking, private equity, or a top-tier strategy consulting firm, and you're roughly 10–14 years in at a VP level, or a standout ready to step up.
• Operating-company experience: Required. Time in a finance seat inside an operating company (PE-backed, venture-backed or hyper-growth, or a larger corporation), where scrappiness and instinct matter. Outside-in operators without an in-seat role are considered case by case.
• Recurring executive reporting: Required. A track record of turning raw data into management or executive reporting that leadership acted on, on a monthly cadence.
• Built from a blank page: Required. Designed or substantially rebuilt a model, report, or process you owned end to end, and can point to decisions the business made from what you surfaced.
• Owner-facing communication: Required. Credibility with non-finance operators, or trust built with senior non-finance counterparts in another setting.
• Pipeline-based forecasting: Preferred. Experience building and owning revenue forecasts for inconsistent, deal-driven revenue (success-fee, transaction, backlog, or portfolio-company) from pipeline data, ideally improving on the stated probabilities.
• Revenue recognition: Preferred. Working familiarity with success-fee or deal-contingent revenue. Familiarity, not mastery.
• Data & systems fluency: Preferred. Built automated reporting against an ERP and CRM (NetSuite, HubSpot, or comparable) and evaluated or implemented an FP&A tool such as Vena or Adaptive.
• Multi-entity consolidation: Preferred. Entity-level plus consolidated reporting across three or more entities, including newly acquired businesses mid-integration.

Qualities That Will Make You Successful

• Drives the pace: You set ambitious goals, ship finished work, and move fast where things change quickly.
• Curious about the mechanics: You dig into unit economics and an unfamiliar industry until they make sense.
• Grounded in the numbers: You're precise, catch the error before it ships, and diagnose why a forecast missed.
• Trusted by operators: You win over skeptical, busy owners through follow-through, not charisma.
• Independent-minded: You form your own point of view and voice it early.
• Candid without being blunt: You give the plain read, and you'd rather call and ask than assume.
• Puts tools to work: You bring AI and automation into finance where they earn their place, with judgment in the loop.

The Process