Role Overview

The Director of Finance is a senior operational finance leader responsible for overseeing all financial and project-level financial controls for a key division operating across the United States. Reporting directly to the CFO and serving as the primary finance partner to the Chief Operating Officer, this role is deeply embedded in project execution, productivity monitoring, margin performance, and cash conversion.

The position requires a leader who combines strategic financial leadership with rigorous, hands-on oversight of project performance—ensuring that financial outcomes are actively managed, not merely reported.

Strategic & Executive Partnership

• Serve as a trusted finance leader within both the corporate finance organization and the operational leadership team.
• Act as the primary financial advisor to the Chief Operating Officer, providing forward-looking insights that influence operational strategy, project execution, and resource allocation.
• Align divisional financial performance with enterprise financial objectives set by the CFO and corporate leadership and work with the broader leadership team (include CEO, Vice Presidents, and Chief Operating Officer) to develop the long- and short-term financial strategy for the business

Project Financial Oversight & Performance Management

• Provide direct financial oversight across the full lifecycle of engineering and construction projects, from pre-award through closeout. Leads new acquisition back office integrations activities to ensure timely and accurate financial and operational reporting .
• Actively participate in weekly project productivity reporting, partnering with operations and project management to:
• Review labor productivity, equipment utilization, and cost performance
• Identify emerging cost overruns or execution risks
• Drive timely corrective actions and accountability
• Lead and oversee monthly project margin reporting, including:
• Cost-to-complete and earned value analysis
• Forecasted margin updates and trend analysis
• Variance explanations versus original and revised budgets
• Ensure consistent application of project controls, forecasting methodologies, and financial assumptions across all projects.
• Lead budget and reforecasting process across the business
• Lead corporate financial statement close process in collaboration with the corporate controller

Construction Accounting & Controls

• Oversee all construction accounting activities, including job costing, revenue recognition (percentage-of-completion or applicable methods), work in process accuracy and financial treatment of change orders and claims.
• Ensure compliance with corporate accounting policies, internal controls, and audit requirements established by the CFO organization.
• Partner closely with estimating, operations, and project controls teams to ensure financial alignment from bid through execution.

Billing, Collections & Cash Flow Optimization

• Own divisional performance related to billing accuracy, billing timeliness, and collections effectiveness.
• Establish, monitor, and report on key billing and collections metrics, including:
• Billing cycle times
• Unbilled receivables and over/under billings
• Days Sales Outstanding (DSO)
• Project Manager leader board reporting
• Work directly with project teams, customers, and corporate finance to resolve billing issues, reduce disputes, and accelerate collections.
• Drive a culture in which billing and collections are treated as core operational metrics essential to project success and cash flow performance.

Forecasting, Budgeting & Financial Reporting

• Lead divisional budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning processes in coordination with corporate finance.
• Deliver timely, accurate monthly financial reporting to the CFO and divisional leadership, with clear linkage between project performance, margin movement, and cash trends.
• Develop dashboards and KPIs that integrate productivity, margin, billing, and cash metrics into a cohesive operational performance view.

Risk Management & Decision Support

• Identify and escalate financial risks at both the project and portfolio levels, including cost exposure, contract risk, claims, and customer credit risk.
• Support go/no-go bid decisions, major change orders, and dispute strategies with disciplined financial analysis.
• Coordinate with corporate risk, legal, bonding, and insurance teams as required.

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, mentor, and develop a geographically distributed finance and project accounting team aligned with corporate finance standards and divisional operational needs. Grow the capabilities of the direct reports in the finance team to foster growth of emerging future finance business leaders.
• Set clear expectations for project financial rigor, reporting cadence, and partnership with operations.
• Build strong cross-functional relationships with project management, operations, estimating, procurement, and corporate finance.

Education & Credentials

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or related field (required).
• MBA, CPA, or CMA strongly preferred.

Experience

• 10+ years of progressive finance experience with increasing leadership responsibility.
• 5–7+ years of experience in construction, engineering, or infrastructure.
• Demonstrated experience supporting multi-project, multi-location operations across the United States.
• Proven success operating in a matrixed environment with both corporate and divisional stakeholders.
• Integration Experience: Potential experience with acquisition integration on the finance and financial systems side. (Multiple ERP integrations, standardization of differing accounting practices, etc.)

Technical & Professional Skills

• Deep expertise in construction accounting, project controls, and cost-to-complete forecasting.
• Strong command of productivity analysis, margin management, and project performance reporting.
• Advanced financial modeling, forecasting, and analytical skills.
• Experience with construction ERP systems and project management platforms.

Leadership Attributes

• Highly credible executive presence with the ability to influence both corporate and operational leaders.
• Hands-on, detail-oriented approach balanced with strategic perspective.
• Comfortable challenging assumptions and driving accountability.
• Willingness to travel regularly to support projects and leadership teams.

Success Measures

• Accurate, timely weekly productivity and monthly margin reporting across all projects.
• Improved predictability of project margins and reduced forecast volatility.
• Measurable improvement in billing discipline, DSO, and cash conversion.
• Strong alignment between divisional financial performance and corporate financial objectives.
• Trusted partnership with both the CFO and Division President.