How to hire a chief finance officer

How to hire a chief finance officer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step chief finance officer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a chief finance officer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new chief finance officer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a chief finance officer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your chief finance officer job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a chief finance officer for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a chief finance officer to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a chief finance officer that fits the bill.

   Here's a comparison of chief finance officer salaries for various roles:

   Type of Chief Finance Officer	Description	Hourly rate
   Chief Finance Officer	Top executives devise strategies and policies to ensure that an organization meets its goals. They plan, direct, and coordinate operational activities of companies and organizations.	$38-123
   Accounting Director	An Accounting Director supervises the general accounting and financial reporting functions, as well as financial services within a company or organization. They also ensure that all transactions and financial policies for their organization meet federal regulations and standards.	$42-92
   Controller, Vice President	A Controller, Vice President is focused on controlling and directing financial planning and budget management. They supervise the daily operations of the finance department, such as financial reporting, accounts payable, and payroll.	$52-113

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Payroll
   • CPA
   • Oversight
   • Financial Reports
   • Human Resources
   • Internal Controls
   • Risk Management
   • Cash Management
   • Cash Flow
   • Financial Management
   • Treasury
   • GAAP
   • Financial Analysis
   • Financial Performance

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Lead management team in developing and executing a combination of pricing and cost savings strategies that improve EBITDA more than threefold.
   • Lead the consolidation of financial and operational systems for non-acute services including rehabilitation and psychiatry services.
   • Lead system conversion to Hyperion planning budgeting/forecasting software, responsible for training, developing and implementation.
   • Manage all firm banking relationships, treasury functions and retain signatory authority for all partnership and corporate accounts.
   • Lead implementation of new worldwide consolidation system, Hyperion, significantly reducing closing time and improving controls over the consolidation process.
   • Prepare annual general ledger reconciliations and consolidate financial reports for CPA tax preparation.

   More chief finance officer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your chief finance officer job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A chief finance officer salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a chief finance officer in Alaska may be lower than in California, and an entry-level chief finance officer usually earns less than a senior-level chief finance officer. Additionally, a chief finance officer with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average chief finance officer salary

   $143,947yearly

   $69.21 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level chief finance officer salary

   $80,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 29, 2025

   Average chief finance officer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	District of Columbia	$164,149	$79
   2	California	$161,215	$78
   3	New Jersey	$160,488	$77
   4	New York	$159,757	$77
   5	Nevada	$151,259	$73
   6	Massachusetts	$146,205	$70
   7	Illinois	$142,942	$69
   8	Virginia	$141,408	$68
   9	Texas	$140,684	$68
   10	Michigan	$140,065	$67
   11	Maryland	$138,766	$67
   12	Pennsylvania	$138,670	$67
   13	Washington	$138,620	$67
   14	Delaware	$130,598	$63
   15	Louisiana	$129,703	$62
   16	Arizona	$127,109	$61
   17	Colorado	$124,308	$60
   18	Georgia	$115,158	$55
   19	Florida	$114,399	$55
   20	North Carolina	$113,696	$55

   Average chief finance officer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Baker McKenzie	$210,633	$101.27
   2	Morgan Lewis	$202,470	$97.34
   3	Tully Rinckey PLLC	$198,115	$95.25
   4	Community Health Systems	$193,075	$92.82	128
   5	Scripps Health	$192,923	$92.75	1
   6	E A Hawse Health Center, Inc.	$192,014	$92.31
   7	Meta	$190,591	$91.63	21
   8	Marshall University	$188,836	$90.79	9
   9	White-Wilson Medical Center	$188,050	$90.41
   10	Archdiocese of Omaha	$185,319	$89.10	1
   11	Charles River Community Health	$181,710	$87.36
   12	Surgery Partners	$181,334	$87.18	17
   13	Opportunity International	$180,902	$86.97
   14	Ciena Healthcare	$180,481	$86.77
   15	UnitedHealth Group	$179,987	$86.53	104
   16	Blavity	$179,889	$86.49
   17	Bloomberg	$179,781	$86.43	25
   18	Google	$179,648	$86.37	63
   19	Providence Health & Services	$178,961	$86.04	23
   20	CHRISTUS Health	$178,899	$86.01	63

4. Writing a chief finance officer job description

   A good chief finance officer job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a chief finance officer job description:

   Chief finance officer job description example

   The Chief Financial Officer's (CFO) responsibilities include oversight and management of the revenue cycle, production of all operating and capital budgets, as well as tracking and monitoring the progress and actual performance against those budgets. Additionally, the Vice President is responsible for developing and implementing financial performance reports including development of metrics for financial performance and dashboards for all affiliate departments and health centers as well as for the Board of Directors to fulfill fiduciary responsibility. The CFO also serves as the primary coordinator and facilitator of all Board Finance Committee and Audit Committee activities.
   
   Provide direct supervision to the Revenue Cycle Manager as liaison to outsource billing vendor including setting of priorities and performance monitoring and evaluation, to improve and optimize collections from all third-party payers, including Medicaid, Medicaid waiver programs, and Medicaid Managed Care and commercial plans.
   
   Provide communication and training to health center staff on revenue cycle and financial control policies.
   
   Coordinate and develop the affiliate's annual and multi-year operating budgets. Provide periodic reviews, updates, forecasts, and projections, as necessary to executive management and Board of Directors.
   
   Develop Action Fund budget and monitor financials for ancillary to ensure compliance and to protect PPMW's tax status.
   
   Provide standard monthly financial and cost analyses of operations; using analyses, initiate discussions and plans with appropriate management to address and resolve significant revenue and cost variances.
   
   In accordance with current strategic and annual work plans, develop reports, for all areas of operations, analyzing key financial measures, including medical center financial performance, revenue and cost per visit (by center, by program, by payer, etc.), net payment received per visit, etc.; develop reports showing trends and performance against benchmarks and budgets.
   
   Working in conjunction with Patient Services, meet with Health Center Managers to review financial results; jointly identify areas requiring further analysis and recommend methodologies to improve performance based on industry "best practices".
   Other related duties as assigned. Requirements: Bachelor's degree in business or finance. Master's degree preferred. Five to seven years of progressively responsible budgeting, financial analysis, and reimbursement experience (Medicaid/Medicare rules and regulations) in a health care agency helpful but not required. Revenue cycle expertise. Nonprofit and staff supervisory experience required. Audit experience, including A-133. Experience with MIP (Abila) helpful. New IT systems implementation experience required.
   
   PI194258433

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right chief finance officer for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with chief finance officers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit chief finance officers who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your chief finance officer job on Zippia to find and recruit chief finance officer candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with chief finance officer candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new chief finance officer

   Once you've selected the best chief finance officer candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new chief finance officer first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a chief finance officer?