Chief Financial Officer
The City of Roanoke is seeking a strategic, innovative, and collaborative leader to serve as its next Chief Financial Officer (CFO). As a member of the City's executive leadership team, the CFO will provide vision, direction, and oversight for all financial operations, ensuring the City's long-term fiscal sustainability while advancing organizational priorities and exceptional public service.
The CFO is responsible for leading financial planning, accounting, debt administration, procurement, financial reporting, internal controls, and strategic financial policy development. This position plays a critical role in aligning financial resources with the City's goals and supporting informed decision-making by City leadership and elected officials.
Why Join Us?
As Chief Financial Officer, you will have the opportunity to:
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Lead the City's long-term financial strategy and ensure fiscal sustainability.
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Advise executive leadership on financial policies, risks, and opportunities.
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Guide the development and administration of the City's capital budgets.
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Strengthen financial transparency, accountability, and operational effectiveness across the organization.
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Oversee debt management, capital financing, investments, and cash management strategies.
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Modernize financial systems, processes, and performance measurement tools.
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Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, continuous improvement, and customer service.
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Develop and mentor a high-performing finance team while building organizational capacity.
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Support major strategic initiatives that enhance quality of life and economic vitality throughout the community.
About Roanoke
The City of Roanoke is a vibrant and diverse community of approximately 100,000 residents nestled in the heart of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. Known for its historic downtown, thriving arts and culture scene, strong neighborhoods, and outstanding outdoor recreation opportunities, Roanoke combines the amenities of an urban center with an exceptional quality of life.
The City is committed to responsible stewardship of public resources, transparent governance, and innovative service delivery. The CFO will play a key leadership role in advancing these priorities while helping shape the City's future.
The Position
Reporting directly to the City Manager or an Assistant City Manager, the Chief Financial Officer provides executive leadership for the City's Finance Department and serves as a trusted advisor to the City Manager, City Council, department directors, and external stakeholders.
The CFO oversees all financial operations and leads a team of finance professionals responsible for accounting and financial reporting, payroll, procurement, debt management, risk management, and financial systems administration.
The City of Roanoke is an Equal Employment Opportunity/AA/M/F/Disability Employer.
To elevate the performance of the organization, we are committed to respecting, celebrating, and embracing the collective mixture of differences and similarities between our employees as a rich tapestry. Our behaviors will demonstrate open communication, and we will seek opportunities to learn, recognizing and rewarding actions that promote acceptance while suspending judgment. By doing this, we will foster an inclusive, open work environment that delivers excellent service and creates a more vibrant and inviting community.
This is an exempt position.
Ideal Candidate
The successful candidate will be a strategic and forward-thinking financial executive with a demonstrated record of leadership in complex governmental or public-sector organizations.
The ideal candidate will possess:
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Extensive experience in municipal finance, budgeting, accounting, treasury management, and financial planning.
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Strong knowledge of local government finance, public-sector accounting standards, debt management, and capital financing.
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Experience presenting complex financial information to elected officials, executive leadership, and community stakeholders.
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Exceptional analytical, communication, and relationship-building skills.
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A collaborative leadership style with a commitment to transparency, innovation, and service excellence.
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Experience leading organizational change, process improvement, and financial modernization initiatives.
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The ability to balance strategic vision with operational execution.
Minimum Qualifications
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Bachelor's degree in finance, accounting, public administration, business administration, economics, or a closely related field.
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Master's degree in finance, public administration, business administration, accounting, or a related field is preferred.
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Ten or more years of progressively responsible financial management experience, including significant leadership and supervisory responsibilities.
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Experience in local government finance is strongly preferred.
Preferred Certifications
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Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), or other relevant professional certification preferred.
Leadership Competencies
The successful candidate will demonstrate:
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Strategic and systems thinking
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Financial stewardship and accountability
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Ethical leadership and integrity
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Political and organizational acumen
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Effective communication and public presentation skills
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Team development and talent management
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Collaboration and partnership building
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Innovation and continuous improvement
The City of Roanoke seeks a CFO who is committed to public service and who can provide the financial leadership necessary to support a growing, vibrant, and resilient community.
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Ability to read, analyze, and interpret complex documents. Ability to respond effectively to sensitive inquiries or complaints orally and in writing. Ability to make effective and persuasive presentations on controversial or complex topics to city council, management, public groups, and/or boards of directors. Ability to negotiate and resolve conflicts. Ability to organize, direct and coordinate a complete range of administrative activities obtaining maximum efficiency.
REASONING ABILITY
Ability to apply principles of logical or scientific thinking to a wide range of problems. Ability to deal with complex problems or issues. Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical information and deal with several abstract and concrete variables. Ability to formulate a vision and develop practical courses of action to accomplish goals. Ability to identify key stakeholders and create teams to solve complex issues. Ability to think strategically.
CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS
Must possess a valid appropriate driver's permit issued by the Commonwealth of Virginia.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; and reach with hands and arms. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include ability to adjust focus.
WORK ENVIRONMENT
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
This is a job description and not an individualized position description. A job description defines the general character and scope of duties and responsibilities of all positions in a job classification, but it is not intended to describe and does not necessarily list the essential job functions for a given position in a classification.
