Principal, Finance Excellence

COMPANY:

A lower middle-market private equity firm focused on actively partnering with leading management teams in support of buyouts, recapitalizations, and corporate divestitures, with targeted businesses primarily within value-added distribution, business and facility services, and specialized manufacturing, among other sectors.

REPORTS/RELATIONSHIPS:

The Principal, Finance Excellence will be a senior member of the firm’s Portfolio Support Group (PSG), reporting to the Principal of Portfolio Operations and working closely and directly with the firm’s Managing Partner and investment professionals. The Principal will have significant interaction with portfolio company CEOs, CFOs, finance teams, and boards and will serve as the firm’s senior portfolio finance resource while operating collaboratively within PSG.

BASIC FUNCTIONS:

The Principal, Finance Excellence will serve as the firm’s senior finance advisor and operational finance resource across the portfolio. The primary mandate is to help portfolio company CFOs and finance teams build exceptional, scalable, operationally oriented finance organizations capable of supporting the demands of a growing private equity-backed business.

The successful candidate will bring the judgment, credibility, and practical operating experience of an accomplished private equity-backed CFO. This person will assess finance organizations and their leaders, define what “great” should look like for each company, translate the firm’s investment objectives and value creation priorities into practical finance initiatives, and work alongside management teams to implement needed change while building company capability rather than dependence on the firm.

Engagement will vary based on company needs and maturity. At newly acquired platforms or companies undergoing significant transformation, the Principal may work hands on alongside the CFO, Controller, and/or finance team. As capabilities and disciplines become institutionalized, involvement should evolve toward an ongoing advisory cadence and targeted support around major decisions, acquisitions, or leadership transitions.

A defining element of the role is serving as a trusted two-way bridge between the firm’s investment professionals and portfolio company finance leaders. The Principal must build alignment around the “why,” translate priorities into executable plans, help teams solve problems, and create accountability for follow-through. The role also requires the experience and independent judgment to constructively challenge, refine, sequence, or prioritize requests from the investment team when detailed company context supports a different approach.

For an accomplished CFO, the role offers the opportunity to apply a career’s worth of operating experience across a portfolio of growing businesses while developing multiple CFOs and finance teams, partnering with CEOs and investment professionals, shaping value creation across multiple companies, and serving as a trusted senior resource on important financial and operational challenges.

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

Build Exceptional Portfolio Finance Organizations

Assess the maturity, capabilities, talent, processes, systems, and effectiveness of portfolio company finance organizations and establish practical priorities for improvement.
Work alongside CFOs and finance teams to build timely and accurate accounting and reporting, disciplined close processes, strong controls, rigorous budgeting and forecasting, effective cash management, and robust FP&A and KPI capabilities that improve operating visibility and decision making.
Build organizational depth and develop finance talent so departments are resilient, scalable, and capable of supporting substantial growth without dependence on a single individual.

Bridge the Firm and Portfolio Finance Leadership

Serve as a trusted advisor to the firm’s investment professionals and portfolio company CFOs, CEOs, and finance teams, translating investment objectives and value creation priorities into practical finance initiatives.
Build alignment around why initiatives matter; help management teams develop efficient and fit-for-purpose solutions; and establish the ownership, milestones, and accountability required to ensure agreed-upon priorities are implemented.
Bring detailed company context, finance expertise, and independent judgment to the investment team; respectfully challenge, sequence, or refine requests when doing so will improve outcomes or better focus company resources.
Coach, challenge, and support CFOs without displacing ownership from the portfolio company management team, while providing the firm with candid assessments of finance capabilities, progress, risks, and priorities.

Drive Finance-Led Value Creation

Help CFOs and finance teams become true strategic and operational partners to CEOs and management teams rather than primarily stewards of accounting and historical reporting.
Connect financial analysis, operating data, and business performance trends to actionable opportunities involving pricing, margin, customer and product profitability, labor productivity, working capital, cash conversion, resource allocation, and other drivers of enterprise value; develop forecasting, scenario analysis, and decision-support capabilities that improve execution against the value creation plan.

Develop, Assess, and Recruit Finance Leadership

Coach and mentor portfolio company CFOs, Controllers, FP&A leaders, and other finance professionals, while assessing organizational design, bench strength, and leadership capability.
Provide candid, independent assessments to the firm and portfolio company leadership regarding whether incumbent finance leaders and organizational structures can support the company’s next phase of growth, and recommend practical solutions when gaps exist.
When a CFO search is required, help define the role and candidate scorecard; participate actively in screening and substantive CFO-to-CFO interviews; assess technical, operational, leadership, and cultural fit; advise the CEO and the firm throughout selection; and help the successful candidate onboard effectively.

Provide CFO-Level Support During Critical Transitions

Provide increased CFO-level support during finance leadership transitions, calibrating involvement to the strength and maturity of the existing team.
At newly acquired founder-owned businesses or other companies without a true CFO function, be prepared to take a substantially more hands-on approach to establish financial discipline and visibility around liquidity, leverage, cash forecasting, lender and board requirements, reporting, KPIs, and FP&A, while supporting the search for a permanent CFO.
At mature companies with strong Controllers and institutionalized processes, serve as an active senior advisor and sounding board while a permanent CFO search is completed.
Build capabilities that can be transferred cleanly to permanent company leadership rather than creating long-term dependence on the Principal.

Support Acquisitions, Systems, and Scalable Infrastructure

Advise CFOs and management teams on acquisition integration, including financial reporting alignment, systems and process integration, purchase accounting considerations, working capital, and post-close performance tracking; help develop repeatable capabilities to absorb add-on acquisitions.
Advise finance leaders on ERP, business intelligence, reporting, analytics, automation, AI-enabled tools, and data priorities, emphasizing practical, high-ROI improvements rather than unnecessary complexity.
Promote clean, audit-ready financial records and appropriate exit data readiness throughout the ownership period.

Advance Portfolio Finance Standards and Community

Establish and continuously improve practical portfolio standards for monthly financial reviews, reporting packages, weekly KPIs, cash flow reporting, annual budgeting, and forecasting, while allowing appropriate flexibility for differences among businesses.
Organize and chair periodic CFO roundtables and create opportunities for portfolio finance leaders to share best practices, lessons learned, and practical solutions.

REQUIREMENTS:

15+ years of progressive finance leadership experience, including meaningful experience serving as the CFO of one or more private equity-backed lower middle-market or middle-market companies.
Demonstrated success building, upgrading, and scaling finance organizations, including experience with growth, acquisitions and integration, FP&A and reporting development, leveraged balance sheets, working capital, systems/process change, and value creation initiatives.
Deep command of accounting, FP&A, KPI reporting, budgeting, forecasting, cash flow management, working capital, financial controls, board and investor reporting, and the financial implications of operational decision making.
Demonstrated ability to hire, develop, assess, and upgrade senior finance talent and to credibly evaluate CFO candidates.
Strong executive presence, change-management capability, and independent judgment, with the credibility and confidence to influence and, when appropriate, respectfully challenge CEOs, CFOs, senior finance leaders, and the firm’s investment professionals through relationships, judgment, and practical operating experience rather than positional authority.
Low-ego, hands-on operating style with no reluctance to roll up their sleeves alongside portfolio company teams when doing so will accelerate progress, build credibility, or develop internal capability.
A genuine teacher and mentor who derives satisfaction from developing other finance leaders, combined with the standards and interpersonal judgment to deliver candid assessments and difficult feedback when necessary.
Ability to diagnose issues quickly, prioritize what matters most, and translate financial and operational complexity into clear, practical recommendations.
Bachelor’s degree required, preferably in accounting, finance, or a related discipline; CPA, MBA, or other relevant advanced qualification preferred but not required; sector-specific experience is not required.
Ability and willingness to travel meaningfully across the portfolio, particularly during new platform onboarding, finance transformations, acquisitions, and leadership transitions.

COMPENSATION:

Compensation will be commensurate with experience and will include a competitive base salary, bonus opportunity, competitive benefits package, and eligibility to participate in the firm’s long-term incentive programs.

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