Job Description
Chief Financial Officer / Hands-On Controller Private, Family-Owned Construction Services Company | Baltimore Area
We are partnering with a successful, family-owned construction services company in the Baltimore area to identify a CFO who is comfortable operating as both the strategic finance leader and the hands-on controller for the organization.
Founded in 1979, the company is a $50M, profitable business with a national footprint, providing industrial painting, surface preparation, and specialty contracting services-primarily supporting government and infrastructure projects. The organization has grown steadily, diversified intelligently, and is now at a point where ownership wants to elevate the financial function while maintaining a grounded, practical operating culture.
This is a growth-driven hire, not a turnaround. The business is healthy and respected. The role exists because the company has outgrown its current financial structure, and ownership needs a senior leader who can both do the work and build the function.
Why This Role Is Unique - True seat at the table with ownership in a family-run, values-driven business
- CFO title and mandate, with direct influence on strategy, bids, and profitability
- Hands-on environment with no other senior accounting leader in place
- Opportunity to modernize processes, controls, and reporting without corporate bureaucracy
- Strong foundation, backlog, and long-term expansion plans (including owned real estate)
Leadership is deeply involved in the business and values judgment, directness, and integrity. They are looking for a CFO who wants to be a partner, not just an advisor.
Scope of the Role (Important) This is not a purely conceptual or oversight CFO role.
The CFO will be the most senior and most capable accounting and finance professional in the company. While there is an existing accounting/payroll staff, there is no other true technical accounting resource. The right candidate must be willing and able to get into the details, especially early on.
You will personally:
- Run through and improve the monthly close process
- Own the integrity of financial statements and job-cost reporting
- Define roles, expectations, and accountability within the accounting team
- Identify inefficiencies, overlaps, and gaps-and fix them
This role requires someone who actively enjoys being hands-on and takes pride in building order, clarity, and discipline.
Key Responsibilities - Serve as the company's senior financial leader and trusted advisor to ownership
- Oversee and directly manage project-based accounting, including WIP, cost-to-complete, unit pricing, and margin analysis
- Review and sign off on all significant bids and contracts
- Establish and enhance accounting policies, controls, and reporting cadence
- Translate financial data into clear guidance for project managers and operators
- Periodically visit job sites to understand how work is executed and where risk exists
- Hire, develop, and structure the accounting function for scale
What Success Looks Like In the first year:
- Faster, cleaner closes with higher confidence in the numbers
- Consistent, timely project-level financial visibility
- Improved accountability from project and operations teams
- Ownership spending less time in finance and more time running the business
Long term:
- A finance function that supports larger, more complex projects
- Strategic insight guiding growth decisions and capital allocation
- Expansion of the in-house shop operation toward $5M in revenue
- A CFO viewed internally as a business builder, not just a scorekeeper
Ideal Background This opportunity is best suited for a:
- Hands-on CFO or a senior controller ready for a true CFO role
- Leader with construction, government contracting, or project-based industry experience
- Professional from a $30M-$100M privately held business (or equivalent division)
- CFO who has personally owned accounting, not just overseen it
- Leader comfortable moving between spreadsheets, job trailers, and owner conversations
Local Baltimore-area roots and familiarity with the regional market are strongly preferred.
Job Tags
Contract work, Local area