CFO at VC-Backed Materials Manufacturing (A&D) - Founding Team ex NASA, SpaceX, Anduril

Ember Search has been retained on a Chief Financial Officer search for a venture-backed, permanent capital platform building the next generation of specialty chemicals and materials suppliers to aerospace and defense.The company is profitable, well-capitalized, and backed by top-tier VCs. It is structured as a permanent capital vehicle, growing inorganically by acquiring small, mission-critical specialty chemicals and materials businesses and operating each as an autonomous, independently branded unit. Unlike a private equity fund, the company is an operating company with no mandated holding period, holding and compounding businesses for the long term rather than running a 3-to-5-year fund cycle.The team is roughly half business and finance, half chemists and material scientists, with technical leadership drawn from SpaceX, Anduril, NASA, and Eastman, and a founding team that has lived inside a proven value creation playbook. The company is now entering an acquisition-heavy phase, with an active, robust pipeline behind them.Location: New York, NY "” On-site, 5 days per week. Relocation assistance available.The RoleThis is a true 0-to-1 CFO seat with full ownership of the finance function above operating-company close. You will partner directly with the CEO and COO to build the corporate accounting and FP&A engine from scratch and serve as the finance partner across an active acquisition pipeline.You will:Own corporate consolidation, eliminations, and month-end close, including opening balance sheets, purchase price allocation, and post-acquisition integration under ASC 805Build and lead the holding company FP&A function, including a 13-week forward cash flow forecast, lender reporting, and segment reporting as the platform scalesRun a process to select a long-term banking partner and build zero-balance treasury across the operating unitsOversee tax planning and compliance across the corporationPartner on M&A "” own quality of earnings, working capital, and the integration playbook across each new acquisitionBuild the corporate accounting and finance team underneath you as the platform scalesPut guardrails, controls, and reporting infrastructure in place now to support future public debt or an IPOThis is a hands-on, sleeves-rolled-up seat in year one. The right person will personally do the work in the early days, including AP, AR, journal entries, and corporate-level accounting, while building the team and infrastructure that lets them step up.Candidate ProfileMinimum 5+ years in a senior finance leadership role (VP of Finance or equivalent)Manufacturing experience required. Adhesives, coatings, specialty chemicals, or other industrial manufacturing all work. Aerospace and defense is a plus, not required.Track record at a multi-entity platform with active bolt-on M&A. PE-backed platform CFO or VP Finance is a common archetype.Spike on both technical accounting and FP&A. Deep understanding of consolidation accounting, cash-to-GAAP transitions, and capital markets or lender reporting is required.CPA strongly preferred, ideally with early career in audit followed by a transition into strategic finance, FP&A, or private creditPlayer-coach mindset. You will do AP, AR, and journal entries yourself in year one and build the team that lets you stopHigh humility, low ego, capital-disciplined, and comfortable in a small corporate footprintWhy This RoleThis is not a traditional venture-backed CFO seat. The platform is profitable today and built to compound, not to chase a binary exit. You will sit next to a CEO and COO who have personally executed billions of dollars of transactions in this exact market, with an advisory bench of senior aerospace and defense operators behind them.You will:Build the finance organization from the ground up rather than inherit oneReport directly to the CEO and partner with a former TransDigm executive on the COO sideManage one corporate controller today and build out an accounting team underneath you (accounting manager, senior accountant, financial analyst) as the platform scalesSit in the third seat of a small, capital-disciplined leadership teamBuild infrastructure now for a long-term liquidity path, with IPO as the most likely outcome and secondary tenders as interim liquidity along the wayEqual Opportunity Statement Ember Search and our client are equal opportunity employers. We are committed to building diverse and inclusive teams and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other protected status.

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