Chief Financial Officer - San Diego CA

External CFO Job Description

Chief Financial Officer | Event Network, LLC

Position Summary  The Chief Financial Officer is a senior member of the executive team and the principal financial advisor to the CEO and Board. The CFO is responsible for the company's financial strategy, capital allocation, budgeting and forecasting, debt and liquidity management, operating performance analysis, acquisitions and integration economics, financial controls, and the financial underwriting of new business initiatives.

The role requires much more than accurate reporting. The CFO must understand how the business makes money at the store, platform and enterprise levels; test management assumptions; identify risks early; and ensure that growth, acquisitions and capital investments translate into sustainable EBITDA, free cash flow, debt reduction and long-term enterprise value.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with the CEO and Board on financial strategy, capital structure, long-range planning and enterprise-value creation.
• Own the annual budget, rolling forecast and long-range financial planning processes, with clear accountability for revenue, margin, payroll, operating expense, EBITDA, cash flow and balance-sheet performance.
• Provide independent, decision-oriented analysis of significant operating and strategic initiatives, including downside cases and sensitivities.
• Lead capital allocation discipline across maintenance capital, contractual refreshes, remodels, new stores, technology, branded concepts, acquisitions and other growth investments.
• Establish and enforce ROI standards including payback, ROIC, IRR, cost of capital, working capital and post-investment performance reviews.
• Manage the company's bank relationships, syndicated debt facilities, liquidity, leverage, fixed-charge coverage, covenant compliance, revolver usage and debt-reduction strategy.
• Lead financial underwriting of acquisitions and track post-close integration, synergy capture and returns versus the original investment thesis.
• Evaluate new partnerships, leases, licenses, concessions and branded concepts, including revenue-sharing, percentage rent, royalties, minimum guarantees, capital requirements and break-even economics.
• Oversee accounting, financial reporting, audit, tax, treasury, controls, inventory accounting, lease accounting and financial systems through a strong finance organization.
• Continuously assess corporate and field cost structures, organizational efficiency, productivity and opportunities for sustainable margin improvement.
• Communicate financial performance and risk candidly and concisely to the CEO, Board, lenders, operating leaders and outside advisors.

Operating and Commercial Scope

• Understand and evaluate the economics of multi-location retail across Attraction, Destination and Hospitality environments.
• Analyze COGS, gross margin, inventory turns, store labor, partner distributions, rent and occupancy, store operating expenses and corporate overhead.
• Distinguish true organic growth and productivity improvement from acquisition growth, inflation, traffic changes, new-store additions or accounting presentation.
• Challenge proposed initiatives when expected returns are unsupported, while helping operating teams identify structures that can produce an acceptable return.

Candidate Experience

• Significant CFO or senior finance leadership experience in a business of comparable scale and complexity.
• Experience managing a leveraged balance sheet and institutional or syndicated bank relationships.
• Meaningful exposure to multi-location retail, hospitality, attractions, restaurants, consumer businesses or another unit-level operating model.
• Direct involvement in acquisitions, integration and synergy realization.
• Experience evaluating leases, partnership agreements, licensing arrangements and new-unit investments.
• Demonstrated leadership of FP&A, budgeting, forecasting, accounting, treasury and financial reporting.
• Strong working knowledge of GAAP, controls, tax implications and financial systems.
• Direct experience presenting to Boards and lenders.

Critical Capabilities and Leadership Traits

• Exceptional financial modeling and analytical capability, including P&L, cash flow, working capital, capital allocation, debt, covenant, acquisition and scenario analysis.
• Strong commercial judgment and the ability to connect operating activity to cash generation and returns on invested capital.
• Intellectual curiosity and healthy skepticism: the instinct to test whether an assumption or KPI actually makes economic sense.
• Independent judgment and the confidence to disagree constructively with senior executives, advisors or operating teams when appropriate.
• Clear, concise communication; the ability to explain the financial conclusion before presenting the supporting model.
• Calmness under pressure, pragmatism, decisiveness and the ability to operate effectively with incomplete information.
• A strong orientation toward cash flow, leverage, return on capital and enterprise value rather than revenue growth or accounting optics alone.

Salary Range: $350,000.00-$400,000.00 plus profit sharing

Core mandate: Support growth when the returns justify it, challenge it when they do not, and continually connect strategic decisions to cash generation, return on capital, balance-sheet strength and long-term shareholder value.