Chief Financial Officer
Hamilton, Ontario
The Role
Lancaster Group is a growing multi-trade construction company is seeking an experienced Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to provide strong financial leadership, strengthen financial controls and reporting, and support the continued growth of the organization.
Reporting directly to the President and ownership group, the CFO will be a key member of the senior leadership team, acting as a trusted financial partner to the President and the business.
This role requires more than strong technical financial expertise. We are seeking a confident, hands-on leader who can manage and develop a finance team, work effectively with ownership, managers and operational teams, and translate complex financial information into clear, practical business direction.
The ideal candidate will have strong experience in a multi-trade, unionized construction environment and understand the financial complexities associated with project-based work, multiple trades, collective agreements, labour costing, job costing, and project profitability.
The organization is currently transitioning from Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate (Timberline) to Maestro ERP. The CFO will play an important role in supporting the financial side of this transition and ensuring strong financial processes, controls, reporting and data integrity within the new system. The CFO will also follow through with a new structured bonus plan initiative and set budgets within the organization.
Key Responsibilities
Financial Leadership and Strategy
- Lead the company's overall financial strategy, planning and reporting
- Act as a trusted financial advisor to ownership and senior leadership
- Provide timely, accurate financial information and analysis to support business decisions
- Clearly communicate financial performance, risks, trends and opportunities
- Lead annual budgeting, forecasting and long-term financial planning
- Provide financial guidance to support strategic decisions and continued growth
- Develop and monitor financial KPIs, dashboards and management reporting
- Identify financial concerns proactively and bring forward practical recommendations and solutions
Financial Reporting and Controls
- Oversee monthly, quarterly and annual financial reporting
- Ensure the accuracy and integrity of financial statements and management reporting
- Establish and maintain strong financial controls, policies and procedures
- Oversee cash flow, working capital, banking and treasury functions
- Strengthen cost controls and financial accountability across the organization
- Manage relationships with external accountants, financial institutions, insurers and other financial partners
- Ensure compliance with applicable accounting, tax and regulatory requirements
Construction and Project Financial Management
- Oversee project financial reporting, job costing, WIP and profitability analysis
- Monitor project margins, costs, commitments and overall financial performance
- Oversee progress billing and other construction-related financial processes
- Work collaboratively with project managers and operational leaders to strengthen forecasting, cost control and financial accountability
- Ensure accurate and timely job costing and financial reporting across projects
- Analyze project performance and identify financial risks, cost overruns and margin opportunities
- Improve visibility into project performance and overall company profitability
Multi Trade and Union Financial Management
- Understand the financial complexities of operating across multiple construction trades
- Understand labour costing, labour burden, union-related costs and their impact on project profitability
- Support accurate costing and financial administration in an environment involving multiple collective agreements and labour structures
- Work effectively with finance, project management and operations to ensure labour costs are appropriately captured, allocated and reported
- Understand how varying trade and labour requirements affect estimating, forecasting, job costing and project financial performance
ERP and Process Improvement
- Provide financial leadership during the transition from Sage 300 to Maestro ERP
- Ensure appropriate financial controls, processes and reporting are established within the ERP
- Support data integrity and accurate financial reporting throughout the transition
- Identify opportunities to streamline financial workflows and improve reporting
- Work collaboratively with internal teams to support successful ERP adoption
- Establish scalable financial processes and systems that support continued company growth
Leadership and Team Development
- Provide strong, visible leadership to the finance and accounting team
- Lead, mentor, coach and develop team members
- Establish clear expectations and hold the finance team accountable for results
- Build a strong, capable and accountable finance function
- Communicate expectations, priorities and financial information clearly and effectively
- Build strong working relationships with ownership, senior leadership, project managers, operations and employees across the organization
- Address issues directly and constructively and drive matters through to resolution
- Foster a collaborative, professional and results-focused environment
- Lead by example and promote accountability, accuracy and continuous improvement
The Ideal Candidate
As the ideal candidate, you are an experienced and visionary leader with strategic thinking and strong interpersonal skills, and the ability to communicate effectively at all levels of an organization. This includes the ability to explain complex financial information clearly to both financial and non-financial stakeholders and a proven ability to lead, develop and hold teams accountable. Preferably, you bring significant senior financial leadership experience at the CFO, VP Finance or senior Controller level in a multi-trade construction environment, having worked within a unionized construction environment and through multiple collective agreements.
Qualifications and Required Experience:
We recognize that no one candidate is likely to meet all qualifications in equal measure. Those listed below are desirable and will be used to compare candidates.
- CPA designation is required
- Minimum 5 years of progressive financial leadership experience within construction or a closely related project-based industry
- Minimum 4 years of progressive financial leadership experience within multi-trade construction environments
- Minimum 3 years of unionized construction environment experience
- Minimum 3 years of experience in job costing, WIP, project margins, and construction accounting
- Construction operational skills and COR recertification are assets
- Strong knowledge of construction accounting, job costing, WIP, labour costing, project margins, progress billing, cash flow and forecasting
- Demonstrated ability to understand project financial performance and work effectively with project and operational teams
- Demonstrated experience with budgeting, forecasting, financial analysis and internal controls
- Experience with ERP implementation, conversion or significant system improvement
- Experience with Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate (Timberline) and/or Maestro ERP is an asset
- Confident and comfortable challenging assumptions, raising concerns and providing practical financial recommendations
- Comfortable working in a growing, hands-on and fast-paced construction environment
You are someone with:
- The ability to build and lead a high-performing team and engage with internal and external stakeholders to achieve goals and outcomes
- The ability to effectively explain decisions and bring clarity to complex issues to a variety of audiences, including boards
- A high capacity to balance multiple priorities while being responsive, including maintaining ROCE and all government grants and incentives
- A growth-oriented mindset, both organic and acquisition
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Strong analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills
Salary and Benefits
Salary: From CAD $200,000.00 annually
The successful candidate will receive extended health care, paid time off, access to engaging company events, and on-site parking.
Apply Now
If you are interested in this opportunity, contact Mark Gillis, Partner, at mgillis@kbrs.ca, or Ben Broadbent, Recruitment Specialist, at bbroadbent@kbrs.ca or submit your full application package online by clicking “Apply Now”.
