Role:

As a Fractional CFO at Backbone CFO, you are a peer-level executive leader. You step into complex, high-stakes environments and immediately earn trust with CEOs and leadership teams. Executive presence is essential to success in this role.

You will lead strategic financial conversations, challenge assumptions, bring clarity to ambiguity, and help entrepreneurs make better decisions faster. This role requires judgment, composure, and the ability to influence leaders — not just advise them.

This is not a reporting role. It is not a controller role. It is not bookkeeping with a better title. You are the financial leader in the room, and you operate accordingly.

This is a part-time, independent contractor (1099) engagement. It is well-suited for an experienced CFO who wants to do meaningful, high-impact work without a full-time commitment — or who is building toward a larger fractional practice.

Responsibilities:

• Serve as the primary financial leader and trusted executive partner for an assigned client or small number of clients in construction and construction-adjacent markets such as property restoration, HVAC, roofing, plumbing, and electrical
• Translate complex financial data into clear, actionable insights tied to specific business decisions
• Lead regular executive-level client meetings that align financial performance with the owner’s personal and business goals
• Design, interpret, and communicate forward-looking financial models including cash flow forecasts and scenario-based projections
• Proactively surface risks, tradeoffs, and opportunities — before clients ask
• Advise on capital planning, debt strategy, and M&A evaluation including working capital and acquisition financing
• Challenge unrealistic plans thoughtfully and hold leadership accountable to execution
• Ensure financial reporting and systems support decision-making, not just compliance

Requirements:

• 20+ years of experience in finance and/or operations, with 10+ years in a true CFO seat
• Prior Fractional CFO experience strongly preferred, but not required
• Demonstrated executive presence with CEOs, founders, and senior leadership teams
• Proven ability to influence decisions, challenge thinking, and coach leaders effectively
• Experience in construction, trades, services, or similar founder-led industries ($5M–$50M revenue)
• Has built, scaled, or fixed a business — not just analyzed one
• Comfortable working with imperfect data and evolving systems
• Thrives in entrepreneurial, fast-paced, and ambiguous environments
• Emotionally steady, accountable, solution-oriented, and resilient under pressure

Results

• Clients make faster, better-informed decisions with a clear financial point of view driving every conversation
• Financial narrative is owned end-to-end — P&L, cash flow, and strategy are aligned and clearly communicated to leadership
• Cash is protected relentlessly — runway is always known, and clients make cash-informed decisions, not just profit-based ones
• Plans convert into execution — key decisions have clear owners, timelines, and consistent follow-through
• Reporting, forecasting, and financial systems improve over time — leaving every client more scalable than you found them

Schedule:

Part-time, flexible engagement structured around client needs. Hours will vary based on client scope and meeting cadences. This role does not carry a fixed weekly hour requirement, but consistent availability and responsiveness are expected.

Travel is a standard part of this role and includes short on-site visits for new client onboarding and occasional one-off client travel as needs arise. Participation in company events may also arise and would be discussed on a case-by-case basis.

Location:

Remote, USA

Compensation:

Backbone CFO offers a competitive compensation structure for this independent contractor role. Compensation is variable and tied directly to the monthly billings generated by your assigned client portfolio. There is no fixed base salary for this engagement. Final compensation will be based on a number of factors including relevant prior experience, skills, client scope, and expertise.

Backbone CFO Core Values:

Our core values are the heart and soul of this company. The right person for this role will appreciate each of these values, personally subscribe to them, and understand why each is critical to having a great business.

Influential

Quickly and consistently earns trust. Recognized as an expert and authority figure by clients and peers. Able to see and articulate a compelling future state for the businesses they serve.

Pursues Excellence

Responsive, precise, and committed to continuous improvement through feedback and growth. Holds themselves to the same standard they hold their clients.

Authentic

Truthful, transparent, and aligned in words and actions. Communicates hard truths with clarity and care — never soft-pedaling risks to stay liked.

Humbly Confident

Self-aware, adaptable, grateful, and confident without ego or defensiveness. Challenges CEOs thoughtfully and earns the right to be heard through trust, not title.