CFO hires that have to survive the next five years, not just the next close.
Retained CFO search for founders, boards, and scale-ups. Finance leaders who can own fundraising, FP&A, audit, controllership, and investor relations without needing three backfills behind them.
The cfo market — the honest version.
A CFO is the second most consequential hire most growing companies make after the CEO. Done well, they unlock fundraising, compress close cycles, and give the board confidence to take longer-horizon bets. Done poorly, you lose six months of finance execution and a fundraise window. Our CFO searches run partner-led, confidential by default, with deep back-channel reference work and written competency assessments of every shortlisted candidate.
What we actually screen for.
Every cfo candidate goes through a structured technical screen conducted by an ex-engineer recruiter before you see their profile.
- Fundraise track record — rounds led, quality of investors, valuation outcomes, diligence quality
- FP&A and forecast rigor — models they authored, accuracy of past forecasts, board materials produced
- Audit and controllership depth — have they run a clean audit in the same industry, at the same scale
- Investor relations credibility — can they carry a board, credibly hold an earnings call if you IPO
- M&A experience — deals led, integrations owned, post-merger finance architecture
- Team-building — the finance org they shaped at their last company, named leaders they hired
How we run a cfo search.
Weeks 1–2
Intake + market mapping
CEO + board intake. Market mapping produces the top 60–120 CFO candidates calibrated against your stage, geography, and industry.
Weeks 3–6
Confidential outreach
Partner-led outreach, NDA-first disclosure. 15–25 meaningful conversations. Calibration check-in at week 4.
Weeks 6–8
Shortlist + assessments
4–6 candidates with written competency assessments, compensation benchmarks, risk notes, and back-channel references.
Weeks 8–14
Interviews + offer
Multi-round interviews with CEO / board / investors. Offer structuring including cash, equity, severance, and milestones.
Real salary bands across our three markets.
- Pakistan (multinationals / Gulf-facing)
USD $120K–$280K + equity
- Canada
CAD $280K–$520K + meaningful equity
- United States
USD $400K–$900K + meaningful equity (higher pre-IPO)
Titles we place under this role type.
- Chief Financial Officer
- CFO
- VP of Finance
- Finance Leader (pre-CFO)
- SVP Finance
CFO hiring — questions we hear.
Yes. A material share of our U.S. and Canadian CFO placements are for companies 12–24 months from IPO readiness. We calibrate against IPO prep (audit readiness, SOX exposure, investor-relations muscle, public-company board experience) rather than generic CFO fit.
Yes, if useful. We can place a fractional CFO for a 3–6 month bridge while we run the permanent search. This is often the right move for Series A–B companies that need finance sophistication now but can't justify a full-time CFO comp package yet.
180 days on retained executive placements. If the CFO doesn't work out within that window, we rerun the search at no additional retainer. Rarely happens because we calibrate carefully at intake.
Ready to run this search?
Submit a brief and a senior recruiter will reply within 24 business hours with a proposed timeline, calibrated fee structure, and sample profiles.
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