INTERIM CFO (GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING)
ABOUT CFO'S DOMAIN:
CFO's Domain is a national accounting & finance consulting and recruiting organization serving CFOs and their stakeholders. Our consultants are among the best practitioners in the marketplace, serving clients across a diverse range of industries and stages of growth. Our consultants serve clients with mission critical deliverables when they are experiencing capacity or capability constraints. Our consultants receive benefits, competitive compensation, gain access to the full breadth of our recruiting capabilities and are introduced to roles that are accretive to their personal and professional growth.
THE OPPORTUNITY:
Our client is a private equity-backed organization that provides services to federal government customers across a geographically distributed operating footprint. The business is being established as a standalone entity following a separation from a larger parent company, and is doing so without existing finance, HR, or IT leadership in place.
They are seeking an Interim CFO to stand up the finance function for the new standalone entity from Day 1, manage the transition services agreement (TSA) separation from the parent, and serve as the interim owner of HR and IT until permanent leaders are hired. The engagement is scoped for an initial 90 to 120 days. The central value-add is government contract finance operations: invoice submission, unbilled receivables, indirect rates, and the working capital and liquidity dynamics that determine cash timing in a GovCon environment.
This opportunity is particularly well suited for a hands-on, middle-market CFO with deep government contracting and DCAA experience who has personally built or rebuilt a finance function, is comfortable operating with limited infrastructure and incomplete data, and can move quickly in a newly formed entity where systems, staffing, and processes are still being established.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Stand up the standalone finance function for the new entity from Day 1, including people, processes, close cadence, controls, and reporting infrastructure.
- Oversee interim bookkeeping and the monthly close while accounting support transitions off the parent organization.
- § Manage the carve-out and transition services agreement (TSA) separation, tracking exit milestones, owners, and off-ramp dates for ERP, AR/AP, treasury, and government accounting systems.
- Own government contract billing end to end, including the federal invoice submission process (WAWF/iRAPT or equivalent) and the surrounding documentation and approval cycle.
- Build visibility into unbilled receivables versus billed AR, the primary working capital risk area, and monitor DSO and invoice rejection/kickback rates, identifying root causes and driving cycle-time improvements across the billing process.
- § Assess, rebuild, or negotiate the indirect rate structure for the standalone entity (overhead, fringe, G&A), including provisional versus final billing rates.
- Partner with counsel and outside advisors on contract novation, new entity registration (SAM.gov / CAGE), incurred cost submission responsibility, and related federal compliance workstreams.
- Identify near-term margin expansion opportunities within existing government contracts and support new contract capture from a pricing and working capital perspective.
- Own oversight of the 13-week cash flow and liquidity model (built under a separate workstream), validating assumptions against actual unbilled AR and invoice cycle data.
- Own asset-based lending facility mechanics, covenant monitoring, minimum liquidity thresholds, and lender reporting obligations, and present the weekly or bi-weekly cash position and liquidity outlook to the private equity sponsor and board.
- Build or validate the Year 1 operating budget and annual plan for the newly formed entity, establishing the baseline against which actuals are measured.
- Prepare the monthly consolidated reporting package (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow summary, and key operating KPIs by contract) along with budget-to-actual variance analysis and commentary on drivers, and support board materials, sponsor requests, and lender reporting on a recurring and ad hoc basis.
- Onboard, lead, and develop the small finance and contracts team converting with the business.
- Serve as interim HR leader, standing up benefits, payroll conversion and in-house administration, policies, and employee files, and scoping and selecting an HRIS platform.
- Serve as interim IT leader, managing the transition off parent systems within the TSA window and negotiating and converting the standalone government accounting/ERP contract.
- Support the searches for permanent finance, HR, and IT leadership by defining success profiles informed by the operating reality of the first 90 to 120 days, and lead a structured handoff to each incoming leader.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics, Business Administration, or a related discipline required; CPA, MBA, or CDFM (Certified Defense Financial Manager) a plus.
- 10+ years of progressive finance leadership experience, including CFO, Finance Director, or equivalent responsibility in a middle-market environment.
- Government contracting finance experience required, specifically the working capital dynamics of a GovCon environment, including billed versus unbilled AR, DSO drivers, and invoice cycle and rejection risk.
- Direct DCAA exposure required, including incurred cost submissions, indirect rate structures (overhead, G&A, fringe), and provisional versus final billing rates.
- Hands-on, builder-oriented CFO experience. This is an operator mandate, not an oversight-only role; candidates must have personally stood up or run a finance function rather than directed one from above.
- Carve-out, spin-off, divestiture, or TSA transition experience strongly preferred.
- Familiarity with Deltek Costpoint or comparable government contracting ERP and accounting systems (Unanet, JAMIS) strongly preferred.
- Exposure to federal invoicing platforms such as WAWF/iRAPT or equivalent billing systems strongly preferred.
- Experience with asset-based lending facilities, covenant compliance, lender reporting, and 13-week cash flow oversight.
- Experience operating in a dual-hat or interim capacity across HR and IT, including HRIS selection, benefits and payroll standup, and systems transition, preferred.
- Experience in distributed, multi-site services businesses is a plus but not required, as is prior exposure to union labor cost structures and prevailing wage and fringe benefit requirements.
- Ability to operate independently with limited ramp-up in a newly formed entity where systems, data, staffing, and processes are still being established, and comfort with a highly decentralized, low-physical-presence operating model.
- Strong communication skills and executive presence, with the ability to present clearly to a private equity sponsor, board, lenders, and non-finance operating leadership.
- Location-agnostic; candidates may be based anywhere in the U.S., with flexibility to travel to corporate headquarters approximately one to two times per month.
Pay: $100.00 - $150.00 per hour
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Vision insurance
Work Location: Remote
