Director of Finance — South Bay (LA), California | Pacific Executive Search

Director of Finance

(Job ID: 1967)

South Bay (LA), California

Hybrid

Direct Hire

Manufacturing

$175,000 – $190,000 base

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Overview

We are seeking a strategic and results-driven Director of Finance to lead our financial planning and analysis (FP&A) efforts, playing a pivotal role in scaling our organization from Series A through commercialization and manufacturing scale-up. This position offers an exciting opportunity for professional growth and development, as you will collaborate closely with executive leadership and cross-functional teams to drive financial clarity and support strategic decision-making. Our culture values innovation, collaboration, and a commitment to sustainability, providing a dynamic work environment where your contributions will have a lasting impact.

Responsibilities

Lead all forward-looking financial planning and analysis, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and resource requirements.
Develop and maintain comprehensive financial models, including three-statement corporate models and long-range operating plans.
Conduct scenario and sensitivity analyses to inform major strategic decisions, such as capital raises and project deployments.
Collaborate with engineering leadership to translate complex technical programs into financial requirements and resource planning.
Own factory financial modeling to support manufacturing scale-up decisions, including cost analysis and capacity planning.
Develop project finance models and ROI analyses to support commercial initiatives and ensure alignment with corporate objectives.
Drive the annual budget development process, analyzing variances and connecting budgets to cash burn and runway projections.

Qualifications

Must-Have:
Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Engineering, or a related field.
10+ years of progressive experience in analytical finance roles, including FP&A, investment banking, or project finance.
Exceptional financial modeling skills, including three-statement models and cash flow analysis.
Experience in capital-intensive environments, particularly in manufacturing or energy sectors.
Strong proficiency in Excel and the ability to build complex financial models.
Excellent communication skills, with the ability to distill complex financial concepts into actionable insights.
Nice-to-Have:
MBA from a top-tier program or relevant professional certification (CPA, CFA).
Experience with ERP systems such as SAP or NetSuite.
Prior experience in fundraising processes and board-level financial presentations.
Technical background or experience in power generation or advanced manufacturing sectors.
Experience building and scaling FP&A functions in high-growth environments.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do Accounting Manager hires fail?
Because companies hire for close execution when the real need is issue ownership and team leadership. Many candidates can manage a checklist. Far fewer can stabilize the function under pressure, improve weak processes, coach staff, and hold the line during audit, turnover, or reporting stress.
What are strong Accounting Manager candidates evaluating during the interview process?
They are usually trying to understand whether they are walking into a stable environment, a cleanup situation, or an under-resourced function. Strong candidates do not just evaluate title and compensation. They assess whether success is realistically achievable and whether leadership understands what the accounting team actually needs.
Why is manufacturing accounting and finance talent difficult to hire well?
Because manufacturing environments expose weak operators quickly. The work touches inventory, costing, margins, controls, operations, and often plant-level realities. Employers are not just hiring accounting knowledge. They are hiring someone who can function inside an operational business where the numbers have to connect to what is happening on the floor.
Why does ERP experience matter so much in roles like this?
Because many accounting and finance roles are really process-and-systems roles disguised as job titles. A candidate may know the accounting, but if they cannot operate effectively inside the company's environment, ramp time becomes risk. Exact system match is not always mandatory, but comparable complexity often is.
How do strong candidates typically evaluate opportunities like this?
Strong candidates rarely evaluate a role based on title alone. They look at what the position actually owns, how the function is viewed internally, whether the environment is stable or in transition, and what success will realistically look like in the first 6 to 12 months. Many first discover a role through a posting, but the strongest career decisions usually come from understanding the context behind the opportunity, not just the job description. In accounting and finance hiring, that level of context is often what separates a lateral move from a meaningful one. Learn more about how strategic accounting and finance searches differ from transactional recruiting.
Is the CPA really required for roles like this?
Sometimes yes, and often functionally yes even when the posting says "preferred." At leadership levels especially, the CPA frequently acts as a credibility signal for hiring managers, auditors, lenders, investors, or boards. There are exceptions, but in many accounting searches it remains one of the clearest markers of technical foundation.

Director of Finance

Overview

Responsibilities

Qualifications

Apply Now

Frequently Asked Questions

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