Vice President, Finance

Vice-President, Finance

Greater Hamilton Area

The Position

Disclaimer: this posting has been established for a confidential executive position. References to the organization and role are intentionally generic, and candidates are expected to protect the confidentiality of the opportunity and process. The hiring organization will be disclosed in advance of the first-round interviews.

Reporting to the President, the Vice President, Finance is the organization’s most senior finance leader. The position leads an accounting and finance team of four-to-six staff, with additional oversight of three staff members in information technology. This is a hands-on leadership position, requiring a balance between day-to-day execution and strategic leadership. Close collaboration with other departments and executive leaders is common.

The organization operates a complex, multi-unit manufacturing business with three principal revenue streams: equipment, aftermarket products, and service. The revenue of the business is in the range of $50M-$90M.

The Vice President, Finance will be based out of the Greater Hamilton Area and work in-office five days per week.

The successful candidate will provide disciplined financial leadership while helping stabilize, develop, and re-energize the finance, accounting, and IT teams. The incoming leader must begin with a listening approach, establish credibility, clarify priorities, and then create the conditions for stronger performance and accountability.

Key Priorities

• Strengthen financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, controls, and readiness for the organization’s intended annual audit cycle.
• Assess outstanding clean-up work, establish a practical recovery plan, and ensure that critical finance deliverables are completed accurately and on time.
• Develop the capability, confidence, and effectiveness of the finance team through visible, supportive, and accountable people leadership.
• Partner closely with operating leaders while maintaining a clear finance mandate and sound financial discipline.
• Improve the connection between finance processes and the enterprise resource planning system, resolving issues through hands-on problem-solving.
• Support continued achievement of clear performance mandates and business goals.

The Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is an accomplished finance leader who combines strong technical judgment with genuine people leadership. They are energized by complexity, comfortable across multiple business units and locations, and able to move between strategic advice and detailed execution. They bring enthusiasm, entrepreneurial spirit, operational awareness, and a practical bias toward action.

This is a flat organization with an open-door culture. Success requires humility, accessibility, and a willingness to roll up one’s sleeves. The strongest candidate will listen before acting, help colleagues, remain close to the work, and build trust through consistent follow-through.

Direct experience leading IT is not essential. More important is the ability to work effectively with IT, understand how systems support finance, and lead through influence. Experience participating in or leading an ERP implementation is highly valued. Leadership qualities, learning agility, and problem-solving ability are important qualities to be held by the successful candidate.

While the search committee recognizes that no one candidate is likely to meet all qualifications in equal measure, those listed below are desirable and will be used to compare candidates.

Desired Qualifications

• Progressive senior-level finance leadership experience in a complex, multi-unit organization, ideally within the manufacturing sector.
• Strong command of accounting, financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, controls, cash management, audit readiness, and business performance analysis.
• Demonstrated success leading, coaching, and shaping finance teams, including teams that require renewed direction, capability building, or cultural improvement.
• Experience with an ERP implementation, optimization, or significant finance-system transformation.
• Ability to connect ERP functionality with finance workflows, diagnose process or data issues, and work hands-on with internal and external resources to deliver solutions.
• Experience partnering with operations and commercial leaders while maintaining independent financial judgment.
• A recognized accounting designation and relevant post-secondary education are strongly preferred.

Salary

Salary: $150,000 to $170,000 plus a performance bonus tied to individual and company performance.