Head of Finance

COMPANY:

A privately held real estate investment and development company with a growing presence across the Southeast, the organization owns, develops, and manages a diverse portfolio of commercial and mixed-use assets.

REPORTS/RELATIONSHIPS:

This position will report directly to the Real Estate Division Vice President, with a dotted-line reporting relationship to Corporate Finance. The role will have direct oversight of a six-person accounting and finance team, including the Real Estate Controller.

BASIC FUNCTIONS:

The Division’s Head of Finance is the Division Vice President’s true number two: a single, division-wide leader with full visibility across the business and the standing to act on the Division Vice President’s behalf. The role is deliberately finance-forward and owns the Division’s operating rhythm and its core recurring processes – leasing from pipeline through renewal or sunset, budgeting, forecasting, development, internal performance management, and debt placement and refinancing – with first-chair authority to set, change, and enforce how that work gets done.

Specific duties will include, but not necessarily be limited to:

Operating Rhythm and Process Ownership:

Set and enforce expectations, metrics, and cadence for recurring deliverables across the Division, including leasing pipeline reporting and periodic project and asset updates.
Define, publish, and maintain the swim lanes – this role’s own scope and the scope of the functions it works across – so that neither this role nor its counterparts must infer where responsibility begins and ends.

Financial and Organizational Leadership:

Develop and execute the Division’s financial strategy, including long-range business plans, annual budgets and forecasts, and multiyear capital plans in partnership with the Controller and Corporate Finance and Accounting (F&A).
Partner with development to evaluate acquisition, disposition, development, and refinancing opportunities, provide financial perspective, test key assumptions and sensitivities, and identify risks, trade-offs, and opportunities to support informed decision making.
Lead the RE F&A department, with the Controller as a direct report overseeing a five-person accounting team; drive the team’s OKRs and accountability for measurable results, with quarterly and board-level financial reporting remaining with this role.
Serve as the architect and thought leader for the content and structure of division-level management reporting, with the Real Estate FP&A function responsible for installing and maintaining any resulting changes; act as first chair on corporate financial reporting, with changes to corporate reporting made only in partnership with and approval from Corporate F&A leadership.
Drive the optimization and modernization of financial systems, reporting processes, and technology to improve financial visibility, efficiency, accuracy, data transparency, and scalability.

Capital Markets and Treasury:

Partner with the development team to evaluate and execute debt and equity transactions, including construction loans, permanent financing, mezzanine debt, credit facilities, and joint venture equity; this role is not the Division’s capital-origination lead but takes the lead on larger, more complex, or corporate-level transactions, including recapitalizations, refinancings, and exits.
Review and provide financial and business input on letters of intent, term sheets, joint venture structures, operating agreements, financing agreements, and other transaction documents; support negotiations to achieve appropriate economics, governance, risk allocation, and financial protections; partner with outside counsel engaged on capital markets and treasury matters to ensure transactions are appropriately documented and legally sound.
Maintain lender and capital-partner relationships jointly with the development team and serve as the senior financial representative throughout the transaction process.
In conjunction with Corporate F&A, manage the Division’s capital structure, cash management, and funding requirements, including interest rate and debt-maturity risk management.
Serve as a key voice in Investment Committee presentations, with particular focus on capital at risk throughout the development process – earnest money, due diligence costs, and other at-risk capital committed ahead of final investment decisions – to ensure disciplined risk management as projects progress from pursuit to close.

Financial Planning and Analysis:

Review and challenge financial models, forecasts, and investment analyses prepared by development and other business teams; evaluate key assumptions, sensitivities, financial returns, and downside scenarios.
Translate financial and operating information into clear insights and recommendations for the Division Vice President and leadership team; highlight key performance drivers.
Support preparation of Investment Committee and investor materials, including investor relations, quarterly performance reports, and return metrics.

Accounting, Reporting, Compliance, and Governance:

Ensure timely, accurate financial statements and property-level reporting in accordance with GAAP and maintain a strong internal control environment consistent with debt covenants and lender/investor requirements.
Oversee external audits, tax filings, property tax strategy, insurance renewals, and other compliance activities in coordination with the Controller, Corporate F&A, and external advisors.
Oversee entity structuring and legal/tax risk in coordination with general counsel, corporate tax, asset management, and outside advisors.
Serve in a pseudo-Corporate Secretary role; ensure accuracy of corporate records, proper execution of legal and financial documentation, and adherence to governance requirements across entities.

REQUIREMENTS:

Minimum of 12-15+ years of progressive finance/accounting leadership experience in commercial real estate (investment, development, or property management), including five or more years in a senior finance leadership role (CFO, VP of Finance, or Treasurer) with responsibility for financial strategy, capital markets, and team-leadership accountability.
Has run finance and accounting for an operating portfolio of comparable or greater scale, including multiple mixed-use commercial and residential projects managed simultaneously on Yardi or a comparable platform with a fast, reliable monthly close, and experience partnering with a development team executing more than one transaction annually within a mature Investment Committee framework.
Demonstrated track record structuring and closing real estate debt and equity transactions, including construction and permanent financing, as a principal rather than an advisor; experience with joint venture and fund structures, waterfall distributions, and institutional investor reporting is highly valued.
Strong command of real estate financial concepts (NOI, cap rates, IRR, cash-on-cash return, debt yield, and loan-to-value analysis), advanced financial modeling and Excel proficiency, and experience with real estate/accounting systems (e.g., Yardi, MRI, or comparable platforms).
Excellent communication and presentation skills, able to engage effectively with the board, lenders, investors, and auditors; proven people-leadership skills, with experience building and developing a finance and accounting team.
Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, or a related field required; MBA or master’s degree preferred; CPA and/or CFA strongly preferred.

COMPENSATION:
Compensation will be commensurate with experience, including a competitive base salary, bonus opportunity, long-term incentive, and competitive benefits package.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Jonas Hedin, Managing Partner
jhedin@CLCBsearch.com
704.377.0362