Senior CFO | Northstar Financial Advisory

Not another consulting role. Not another reporting job.

This is a chance to operate as the senior financial and accounting leader across a portfolio of growing businesses, while serving as one of the senior leaders helping run Northstar’s next stage of growth. The right person will help lead the firm, manage and develop the client-facing finance teams, elevate service delivery, and actively drive Northstar’s next chapter.

About Northstar

Northstar Financial Advisory is a fast-growing fractional accounting, tax, and CFO advisory firm serving complex small to mid-sized businesses in highly regulated industries including healthcare, construction, cannabis, SaaS, ecommerce, and other growth-stage sectors.

With more than 70 highly trained accounting and finance professionals, we don’t just “do the books.” We build full finance functions that scale for clients that need sophisticated financial leadership.

Northstar is also a proud member of Crete Professionals Alliance, a network of approximately 50 leading accounting and finance firms spanning every industry and recognized by Accounting Today as the fastest-growing accounting platform in the United States.

What Makes This Role Different

This is not a traditional fractional CFO engagement where you show up once a month with a slide deck.

You will lead multiple fully integrated finance teams, including controllers, senior accountants, and bookkeepers, with real-time data flowing through modern systems. Unlike most fractional CFO roles, you will have a full team behind you, real-time data at your fingertips, and the infrastructure of a 70+ person professional services firm supporting every engagement.

You will also serve as one of Northstar’s most senior leaders, partnering directly with the CEO on firm strategy, team development, service delivery, and long-term growth. This is intended to be one of the senior-most operating finance leadership roles within Northstar, reporting directly to the CEO.

What You’ll Do

Client Leadership

• Serve as the senior CFO across multiple engagements, delivering real financial strategy, not just oversight

• Own FP&A, cash flow management, budgeting, forecasting, and variance analysis

• Present to boards, investors, lenders, and owners with executive presence and command of the numbers

• Guide capital strategy, M&A readiness, financing preparation, and real-time tax planning

• Build and maintain KPIs, dashboards, and management reports that drive clear decisions

• Help clients understand profitability, margins, growth opportunities, and operational risks

• Set the standard for client communication, strategic guidance, and financial leadership across the firm

Firm Leadership

• Serve as the CEO’s senior operating partner across client service and finance delivery

• Manage, coach, and develop CFOs, controllers, and senior finance professionals delivering client work

• Oversee client health, delivery quality, team accountability, and escalation management

• Ensure client-facing teams are aligned, responsive, professional, and operating at a high standard

• Partner with the CEO on firm strategy, hiring, team structure, scalability, and long-term planning

• Build repeatable processes, playbooks, reporting standards, and accountability structures

What We’re Looking For

• 8+ years in accounting or finance leadership, with progressive responsibility

• Proven track record as a CFO, VP Finance, Head of Finance, or equivalent

• Deep expertise in financial modeling, forecasting, budgeting, cash flow management, and strategic advisory

• Strong understanding of accounting operations, controllership, and how finance teams function day to day

• Ability to translate complex financial data into clear guidance for owners, executives, and investors

• Strong client-facing presence. You are the person in the room that leadership trusts

• Experience managing and developing finance teams, not just individual contributors

• Comfortable managing multiple clients, teams, and priorities simultaneously

• Comfortable with modern finance systems, dashboards, AI tools, and automation

• CPA preferred

• Big 4 experience is a plus

• Experience in regulated industries such as cannabis, healthcare, and construction is a plus

• High emotional intelligence, strong judgment, and the ability to lead with both confidence and humility

The Details

• Base salary of $250,000 plus significant performance-based bonuses

• Comprehensive benefits package

• Fully remote, operating in PST hours

• Senior leadership role within Northstar

• High-impact, client-facing and team-facing leadership position

• Exposure to multiple industries and growth-stage companies

• Opportunity to help shape the future of the firm and grow into a broader leadership role over time

Why This Role

This is a high-impact role with exposure to multiple industries and growth-stage companies, and a real opportunity to shape the future of the firm.

If you want to move beyond reporting and actually drive strategy across multiple businesses, alongside a team built for speed, depth, and execution, this is the role. You will be the financial leader these businesses rely on and a key leader inside Northstar itself.

Northstar’s culture is friendly, warm, collaborative, ambitious, and highly team-oriented. We are looking for someone who is technically strong, commercially sharp, and operationally excellent, but who also fits the people-first culture we have built.

Confident without ego. Driven without being difficult. Serious about helping our clients and our team succeed.

Benefits

• Health, dental, and vision insurance, with options for fully paid employee-only coverage for health & dental

• Company-paid life and long-term disability insurance

• Supplemental life insurance and short-term disability options

• Classic Safe Harbor 401(k) plan with employer contributions

• Professional development resources, including Becker and LinkedIn Learning

Crete Professionals Alliance is an equal opportunity employer, considering all applicants for employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status, physical disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by state or federal law. Crete Professionals Alliance (“Crete PA”) is not a licensed CPA firm. Its subsidiary entities, which are not licensed CPA firms, provide tax, advisory, and other non-attest services to clients. Crete PA Network Firms practice in an alternative practice structure in accordance with the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct and applicable law, regulations, and professional standards. Crete PA does not provide services to clients.

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