Finance role
Chief Financial Officer / Chief Operating Officer (CFO / COO) (combined role) Search Firm
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
Financial Headhunters: The challenge of finding a leader who manages both financial ledgers and operational infrastructure.
This is what we do all day: recruit accounting, finance, banking and insurance professionals.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
- Controller
- CFO
- VP Finance
- FP&A Director
- Accounting Manager
- Director of Accounting
- Assistant Controller
- Tax Director
- Treasury Manager
- Internal Audit Director
- Senior Accountant
- Financial Analyst
- Head of Financial Reporting
- Commercial Lender
- Chief Credit Officer
- Business Systems Finance Lead
- No upfront fee
- Pay only if you hire
- Accounting, finance, banking and insurance
- We reach people who aren’t on job boards
- Replacement terms on standard searches
01
What does this hire really come down to?
The CFO/COO split requires managing two distinct functional areas. You need someone who shifts quickly between granular financial accuracy and broad operational execution. They manage the bank, the audit, and the ledger while simultaneously handling real estate, procurement, and HR infrastructure. The overlap happens at the intersection of resource allocation and output efficiency.
Expect them to own the P&L as a tool for operational change. They should translate your board objectives into specific departmental budgets. When the warehouse is inefficient, they see the cost. When a software contract costs too much, they renegotiate it. They run the business by the numbers, not by intuition.
We ask these questions. What is your framework for choosing between outsourcing and hiring internal staff? Describe a specific instance where you reduced operating costs without disrupting the revenue cycle. How do you resolve conflicts between a department head requesting new equipment and quarterly profit targets? Describe a situation where you terminated a vendor due to poor output. How do you reconcile a budget request that appears sound on an operational level but hurts monthly cash flow? What ERP settings have you used to link non-financial operational KPIs with general ledger entries? How do you perform legal oversight in the absence of internal counsel?
02
What do we check before you see anyone?
We verify their history of building ERP structures to confirm they can manage automation in a split role. We audit their management of non-finance departments to see if they hold authority outside of accounting. We examine their history of lease renewals, vendor contracts, or facility maintenance to confirm they have controlled physical assets. We demand proof of audit and tax preparation to confirm they know the liability. We assess how they speak to board members compared to staff to confirm they can communicate at different levels. We check their history of monitoring debt covenants to identify early warning signs of liquidity shocks. We verify they held final decision-making power over capital expenditures. We check their ability to interpret legal contracts for business application. We require them to explain their process for quarterly audit preparation and tax filing without outside help. We look for evidence of direct P&L control for three separate non-finance business units.
Before you interview, we conduct a scope conversation to map which business areas require immediate financial oversight versus those needing administrative cleanup. We ask specific evidence questions about trade-offs between hiring in-house staff versus using external vendors to maintain operational flow. We evaluate their history of sacrificing short-term departmental growth to preserve long-term cash reserves. We demand examples where they chose between manual ledger tracking and software automation to fix broken processes. You need to know if they prioritize immediate operational output or long-term financial reporting accuracy when these two goals conflict during daily decision cycles.
03
Where do we find them?
We search in mid-market organizations where the CFO has naturally inherited operations. People move when they hit a ceiling in a role that only allows them to manage one half of this equation. We also look for those in PE-backed companies that just exited where the structure is changing. We target candidates who have reached the maximum scale of their current firm and want more decision-making authority over the operational stack. We also recruit from firms where the owner is stepping back and needs a single deputy to handle both the books and the day-to-day work. These candidates are tired of departmental silos and want to control the entire machine.
We avoid the following common mistakes:
Choosing a pure accountant who has never touched operations or human resources.
Selecting an operator who views the finance department as a nuisance rather than a foundational system.
Hiring someone who expects to build a large staff rather than operating lean in this combined capacity.
Overlooking someone who lacks experience with physical inventory or facility management if your firm deals in tangible goods.
Hiring a candidate who treats the role as a stepping stone rather than a permanent operational commitment.
Failing to vet their experience with specific compliance standards relevant to your specific sector.
04
The search in three steps
- 01First, we map companies with fewer than two hundred employees where the CFO holds a broader mandate than standard finance.
- 02Second, we screen candidates for a dual focus on accounting compliance and operational administrative oversight.
- 03Third, we present only those who have directly owned operational costs alongside financial reporting.
How your CFO / COO (combined role) search runs
How does The Six-Step Search work?
One sequence, from a well-defined seat to a shortlist you can judge.
Search Calibration
We start with a call about the seat, the books, the owners and the people the hire will work with. We learn what the role must fix in the first year and what would make a candidate wrong even if the resume looks right.
You get: A written search brief: scope, must-haves, deal-breakers and the pay range, agreed with you.
Market Mapping
We map the companies and institutions where the right people already work: similar size, similar ownership, similar complexity, in your market and in others.
You get: The target list of companies and institutions we will search, reviewed with you before outreach.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We find direct ways to reach the people on the map. Most are employed and not reading job boards, so reaching them takes real research.
You get: Direct routes to people who are not on job boards, researched for your search.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We call and write to people individually and follow up. Interest varies, so we discuss the actual opportunity rather than promising a particular response.
You get: One-to-one conversations about your actual role, followed up, never a mass email blast.
Live Candidate Qualification
We speak with every candidate before you do. We check scope, systems, reporting lines, compensation expectations, location and why they would move.
You get: Only candidates we have spoken with, checked on scope, systems, pay, location and motive.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You receive a short written brief on each finalist covering what they have done, where they are thin and what they want. Then we help with interviews, references and the offer.
You get: A short written brief on each finalist, plus help with interviews, references, counteroffer risk and the offer.
Questions people ask
What happens if we do not hire anyone you introduce?
You pay nothing. We operate on a contingency basis where our fee is earned only when you hire a person introduced through our process.
How do you vet their ability to manage operations?
We look for specific project examples where they owned profit margins, facility costs, or vendor procurement. We verify that they were the primary decision maker on these non-finance outcomes.
What is the difference between a CFO and a CFO/COO?
A standard CFO focuses on capital and accounting accuracy. The combined role adds direct responsibility for the day-to-day administrative output and operational overhead of the firm.
When do you collect a fee for finding someone to balance financial ledger and operational output?
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Can this role work remotely?
Yes, provided the role allows for the necessary site visits to manage operations. We will adjust the search to prioritize those with proven success in managing distributed teams or remote operational environments.
How soon will I see a CFO / COO (combined role) shortlist?
It depends on the seat, the location and the pay. We give you an honest read after the calibration call and we do not promise dates we cannot control.
What about counteroffers on a CFO / COO (combined role) hire?
We ask every CFO / COO (combined role) candidate early why they would move and what their employer might do to keep them. Counteroffer risk goes in the written brief before you make an offer.
What is your guarantee?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What don't you do?
We do not post your CFO / COO (combined role) job and forward whoever applies. We do not send stacks of unscreened resumes, and we do not recruit outside accounting, finance, banking and insurance.
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No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
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What does the published pay data show?
Ask us for a current range. There is no reasonable SOC wage match shown for this title.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Released 2026-05-15. This is not a separately measured salary for this exact title.
Read the full salary guide