How to hire a finance officer

How to hire a finance officer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step 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 finance officer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new finance officer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a finance officer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the finance officer you need to hire. Certain finance officer roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect finance officer also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list presents finance officer salaries for various positions.

   Type of Finance Officer	Description	Hourly rate
   Finance Officer	Financial managers are responsible for the financial health of an organization. They produce financial reports, direct investment activities, and develop strategies and plans for the long-term financial goals of their organization.	$20-52
   Staff Accountant	Staff accountants are employees who are part of the company's accounting department. They are usually certified public accountants (CPAs)... Show more	$20-32
   Administrative & Finance Manager	An administrative and finance manager handles a company's expenditures, requests, invoices, and other financial documentation. Their primary duty is to oversee a finance team's daily work... Show more	$26-51

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Real Estate
   • Financial Data
   • Origination
   • Financial Procedures
   • Financial Management
   • Financial Analysis
   • CPA
   • PowerPoint
   • Financial Performance
   • General Ledger Accounts
   • Internal Controls
   • Financial Policies
   • Human Resources
   • Financial Transactions

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Lead financial aspects of unit responsible for development and management of diverse company portfolio.
   • Collaborate with insurance company representatives, case managers and physicians to obtain treatment authorization for potential kidney and kidney/pancreas transplant patients.
   • Provide medical records to the division as needed while ensuring compliance with HIPAA guidelines.
   • Review and sign CAPEX projects and perform payback calculations, ROI analysis, as well as impairment calculations.
   • Develop targeted business plans for new business opportunities including profit projections, capital requirements, and require ROI and IRR targets.
   • Review FAFSA information for verification requirements.

   More finance officer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your finance officer job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A finance officer can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, finance officers' average salary in colorado is 48% less than in delaware.
   • Seniority. Entry-level finance officers 62% less than senior-level finance officers.
   • Certifications. A finance officer with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a finance officer's salary.

   Average finance officer salary

   $68,822yearly

   $33.09 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level finance officer salary

   $42,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 21, 2026

   Average finance officer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Massachusetts	$79,228	$38
   2	Connecticut	$78,318	$38
   3	New York	$77,449	$37
   4	New Jersey	$76,814	$37
   5	District of Columbia	$75,920	$37
   6	Virginia	$75,523	$36
   7	Pennsylvania	$74,530	$36
   8	California	$71,148	$34
   9	North Carolina	$69,499	$33
   10	Washington	$66,571	$32
   11	Texas	$65,478	$31
   12	Oregon	$65,451	$31
   13	Illinois	$64,132	$31
   14	Indiana	$62,629	$30
   15	Ohio	$59,254	$28
   16	Puerto Rico	$55,272	$27
   17	Florida	$51,620	$25
   18	Alabama	$48,206	$23
   19	Nebraska	$47,957	$23
   20	Tennessee	$47,527	$23

   Average finance officer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Citi	$143,846	$69.16	70
   2	Novartis	$133,334	$64.10
   3	State Street	$122,434	$58.86	63
   4	BNP Paribas	$113,213	$54.43	1
   5	Morgan Stanley	$112,972	$54.31	122
   6	UBS	$110,365	$53.06	28
   7	BMO Capital Markets	$104,895	$50.43	46
   8	Spencer Stuart	$102,917	$49.48	6
   9	Sandy Spring Bank	$102,540	$49.30
   10	First Hawaiian Bank	$98,088	$47.16	1
   11	Bank of Hawaii	$98,080	$47.15	5
   12	Wells Fargo	$95,395	$45.86	31
   13	International Research & Exchanges	$94,514	$45.44
   14	Liberty Mutual Insurance	$93,139	$44.78	27
   15	World Learning	$90,402	$43.46
   16	Columbia Bank	$89,898	$43.22	44
   17	Stanford University	$87,218	$41.93	32
   18	Regions Bank	$86,850	$41.75	99
   19	Academy For Educational Development	$85,628	$41.17
   20	Software Engineering Services	$84,936	$40.83

4. Writing a finance officer job description

   A finance officer job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a finance officer job description:

   Finance officer job description example

   Heidrick & Struggles is a premier provider of executive search, leadership assessment and development, organization and team effectiveness, and culture shaping services globally. In our more than 60 year history, we have conducted some of the most high-profile C-suite and board-level searches in the world.
   
   Today, we are working with our clients across 29 countries to help them accelerate their performance and respond with agility to new opportunities and challenges in every industry. We continue to raise the bar in serving our clients as trusted leadership advisors, and we are also providing an expanded range of data-driven, tech-enabled tools and platforms across our executive search and consulting businesses.
   
   Managing top talent isn't just our business. It's our passion, and we are committed to investing in and developing the careers of our own people.
   
   We look for people with experience from a variety of industries and diverse educational backgrounds who are passionate about partnering with innovative and influential organizations and share our commitment to our purpose - to help our clients change the world, one leadership team at a time.
   
   If you're ready to start or grow your career with us, learn more about our available opportunities at our website.
   Job Description:
   
   Responsibilities:
   
   The Associate will partner with and assist the Consultant in all aspects of the search process including: business development initiatives; managing the execution and direction of research; search strategy development; position specification development; candidate development; candidate interviews, assessment and presentation; referencing; and client management. An integral part of an Associate's role is relationship management - networking and building strong relationships with senior executives (as potential candidates or clients) and assessing executives against the client's requirements.
   
   The Associate role is a highly visible role with excellent career track potential. Specific responsibilities include:
   Gathers information from Client/Consultant, industry research and sources to gain comprehensive understanding of the Client Company, industry and the position requirements.Assists consultant to develop position specification and a focused search strategy. Continually refines search strategy based on market or client feedback.Researches and identifies prospective candidates through targeted company research, industry sources, relevant prior searches and internal sources.Places calls to prospective candidates and sources to elicit interest in the opportunity, obtain referrals, and/or collect market feedback.Conducts phone interviews to qualify prospective candidates against position requirements and key competencies.Presents qualified candidates to the consultant.May assist consultant in conducting in-depth interviews to further assess qualifications and fit to position specifications.May assist consultant in writing candidate assessments for presentation to the Client.Maintains progress reports/status reports/market feedback reports for presentation to consultant and Client.Builds strong relationships and good rapport with candidates and sources and stays aware of talent in the marketplace.Maintains the accuracy, quality and integrity of all search information in the Heidrick & Struggles proprietary database.Keeps consultant up to date on relevant trends and challenges in the marketplace with regard to business development activities and general market intelligence.
   
   Qualifications:
   
   Qualifications & Experience
   The successful candidate will have 3-5 years' experience in a business environment. Research experience is a definite plus.An undergraduate degree is required. An M.B.A. or other relevant graduate degree a plus.Identify market trends and researching information effectively through various channels.Able to analyze business information and organize multiple points and large amounts of data into concise targeted information summaries.Ability to develop strong relationships to build an industry network.Personal and business maturity that leads to confident and rational business decisions.Demonstrate initiative and resourcefulness to develop well-planned strategies and achieve goals within tight timelines.Comfortable and competent using technology in a business setting.Can leverage the consultant in his/her search work and is comfortable and competent with client contact.Ability to manage a demanding search load, balance multiple tasks and switch gears while maintaining priorities.
   
   Personal Attributes and Competencies
   Excellent communication skills: articulate, persuasive and able to communicate difficult and complex matters in a straightforward, transparent manner.Strong organizational, analytical, detailed planning and project management skills.Possesses the ability to maintain professionalism and honesty while building credibility, trust, and respect with both internal and external clients and customers.Ability to grasp concepts quickly and think beyond traditional methods to exceed client's expectations.Curious by nature.A team orientation will be a valuable addition to a collegial, collaborative environment.Proactive and self-motivated. Action bias with a strong sense of urgency.Tenacious: does not give up until results are achieved.Strong intellectual capacity: a continuous learner, highly analytical, good conceptual thinking skills.Detail-oriented without losing track of the big picture.Personal maturity and good judgment.Strong work ethic.Adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards.
   
   Heidrick & Struggles is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring qualified protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, age, sex, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, marital status, veteran or military status, or citizenship status.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right finance officer for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

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

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting finance officers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   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 finance officer

   Once you've decided on a perfect finance officer candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

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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