Finance role
Director of FP&A Recruiters
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
Financial Headhunters: Hire an FP&A Director who builds models to clarify P&L drivers and influences outcomes in every business review.
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.
- Senior Director FP&A
- FP&A Director
- 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?
Your next director must turn the finance department from a historical ledger into a tool for future planning. Executives do not need reports that repeat past mistakes. You need a leader who identifies why margins move and builds driver-based models. Provide an example of a model you built that caused a change in business strategy.
Financial modeling is the baseline, but the test is their influence on non-financial department heads. If your finance lead cannot explain the math behind the numbers to the sales or operations teams, their models remain isolated files. We look for individuals who challenge weak assumptions and require operational clarity that leads to predictable numbers across the company.
We prioritize leaders who resolve data errors without waiting for a new ERP purchase. Capable directors treat fragmented data as a problem to solve manually. They connect legacy systems to modern tools so you receive accurate insights while the team works on long-term infrastructure improvements.
02
What do we check before you see anyone?
- 01We audit their history of building driver-based models from scratch to see if they understand P&L logic instead of just filling rows in a spreadsheet.
- 02We verify their experience with EPM or cloud planning tools to confirm they can launch a system rollout without halting daily reporting.
- 03We interview them on their process for business partnering to verify they convert financial data into terms that sales and operations managers act upon.
- 04We test their approach to data reconciliation when faced with bad inputs, checking for the persistence to find and fix structural flaws in the reporting pipeline.
- 05We evaluate their board readiness by asking how they defend specific forecast lines under direct questioning from ownership groups.
- 06We probe their management style to see if they train junior analysts to build their own independent business cases instead of just checking cells.
03
Where do we find them?
We target finance managers in middle-market firms or private equity portfolio companies. We look for people who currently own the forecasting of revenue and margins in high-growth or volatile business settings. These people move when they hit a ceiling in their current firm or want to take full control of a new financial strategy.
We identify managers in large, rigid companies who want a director role where they can force real change. They move because they want to build a finance engine rather than acting as a small component of a massive system. We reach these individuals through direct research rather than relying on job board applications.
We also identify managers at companies that are currently merging or splitting business units, as these situations force a complete re-evaluation of the underlying data drivers. These individuals are looking for a move because they have done the heavy lifting of structural integration and now face a permanent, static maintenance role. We ask them to explain the most significant error they discovered in their data pipeline and how they corrected it without external help. If they describe a process of digging into underlying source systems to find the root cause of an inconsistency, it proves they have the hands-on persistence to clean your data. We look for a clear desire to own the entire P&L logic from end to end, which indicates they will likely stay engaged if your firm provides them the authority to redesign the core reporting infrastructure.
04
Which hiring mistakes should you watch for?
- 01Hiring from bureaucratic environments where they relied on automated systems they never had to maintain themselves.
- 02Prioritizing software certifications over a history of changing operational decisions through defensible financial arguments.
- 03Selecting a candidate for a resume title that masks a back-office focus rather than the business leadership you require.
05
The search in three steps
- 01We map the market to find finance leaders in businesses similar to yours to verify their experience with specific revenue and cost drivers.
- 02We conduct qualification interviews to stress-test their modeling logic and their ability to explain financial conditions to non-financial executives.
- 03We present candidates with evidence of their past work in building models, cleaning data, and influencing executive decisions in sensitive environments.
In this family
Healthcare providers (hospitals, physician groups, ASCs, senior living, behavioral)
OpenManufacturing and distribution
OpenTechnology and SaaS
OpenPrivate equity backed portfolio companies
OpenFintech and payments
OpenHospitality, restaurants and multi-unit franchise
OpenPublic companies and IPO-bound companies
OpenProfessional services firms (law, architecture/engineering, consulting)
OpenFP&A and Strategic Finance
Open
How your Director of FP&A 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
How soon can I expect a shortlist of candidates for this FP&A role?
We provide a timeline once we discuss your specific complexity. We search directly to identify relevant talent immediately.
How do you assess if a candidate can successfully handle our board's questions regarding financial models?
We evaluate their history of defending forecasts during intense reviews. We look for leaders who remain objective during investor questioning.
What steps do you take to prevent losing our preferred candidate to a counteroffer?
We address potential retention issues early in our vetting process. We clarify their motivations to help you make a logical and effective offer.
Can we keep our company name confidential during the outreach phase?
We control communication until you are ready to reveal your identity. We agree on the disclosure approach before we contact any prospect.
What is the fee policy if we decide to hire one of your candidates?
You pay only if you hire a candidate we present. All fee conditions are set in a contract before we start the search.
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 Director of FP&A job and forward whoever applies. We do not send stacks of unscreened resumes, and we do not recruit outside accounting, finance, banking and insurance.
Start a search
Tell us about the seat.
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.
Not ready to start a search?
Get a practical read on the talent market or the job description. No fee or obligation.
What does the published pay data show?
$166,570 national annual median. SOC 11-3031: Financial Managers.
BLS reports Director of FP&A within a broader occupation. It does not publish separate wages for this exact title, credentials, seniority or industry. Compare the listed SOC duties with your actual role before using this range.
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