The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) position at Food Revolution Network (FRN) is a hands-on executive leadership position that drives and leads the finance team and guides the organization’s growth, investments, and financial health.
This is not a dial-pushing, strategy-only position. FRN is a small and growing organization with a startup environment and mindset. We need a CFO that will both strategize and think about the big picture as well as a hands-on CFO that can do some of the functional work that a small yet high-performing finance team is expected to deliver.
This role has broad responsibilities in three main areas:
- Accounting - Lead/Manage all aspects of FRN’s accounting including managing the Finance Team, providing accurate and timely financial reporting (statements, budgets, projections, analytics), maintaining financial systems, processes and controls, and overall functional integrity.
- Finance and Analytics - Evaluate, analyze, and make recommendations pertaining to FRN’s strategic plans and performance, active and anticipated investments, resource allocation (especially in response to fiscal scenarios), external/internal change, and risk management.
- Executive Leadership - Work directly with the CEO and the Leadership Team in the planning, execution, critical thinking, innovation, and problem-solving necessary for the organization to reach its goals and fulfill its mission.
Reports to: Chief Executive Officer
Requirements
Core Responsibilities and Expectations
Accounting
Lead the accounting/finance team and organization in the creation, development, and implementation of accurate and timely financial statements, management reporting and financial control systems, including:
- Lead, manage and guide the professional development of the accounting and finance team members
- Manage and oversee FRN’s accounting functions, including cash, AR, AP, inventory and the general ledger
- Produce financial statements and management reports
- Monthly fully reconciled, accrual accounting financial statements, including profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow statements
- Budgets and projections (monthly and annual), including variance reports and analysis
- Capital and cash flow projections and management, including multiple-outcome scenario planning
- Establish and maintain proper financial controls and checks and balances, including internal audits and protections against fraud/theft
- Establish and maintain financial compliance requirements, including tax filings, lender / investor requirements, and other government regulatory requirements
- Ensure proper management of fiscal relationships with partners, including contracts, royalty statements, payments, etc.
Finance and Analytics
Lead FRN in achieving its financial goals by providing the analysis, metrics, reports and relationships that facilitate effective business evaluation, decision making, and execution.
- Provide financial health analysis, including margin analysis, return on investment calculations, and business model optimization
- Develop and maintain key leading and lagging indicators that impact and inform the financial performance of the organization, including relevant benchmarking and best practices
- Develop and maintain other ad hoc financial reporting and management as needed, including risk assessments, financing requirements, business model analysis, cost/benefit analysis, and investment return estimates
- Project, plan and evaluate business investments into new products, services, and partnerships
- Negotiate and/or provide input and analysis for high risk/high impact financial deals
- Proactively raise issues with direct or indirect financial impact and possible solutions
- Work with Leadership Team members to refine their budgets for optimal efficiency and results
- Interface with business professionals including bankers, CPAs, attorneys, vendors, contractors, etc.
- Interface with partners, investors, and relevant stakeholders as needed, to manage high risk, high return issues and relationships
Executive Leadership
Serve as a member and leader on the Leadership Team, working cross-functionally with other organizational leaders in helping to strategize, visualize, and implement overall organizational direction.
- Collaborate with the CEO to provide critical input and information for achieving company goals across teams, functions, and properties
- Guide managers in the creation, refinement, and optimization of sub-team budgets
- Improve existing systems and establish new systems to drive effective decision-making and improve efficiency
- Articulate and effective communicator can explain financial concepts and information to all team members in a way that is well contextualized, understandable, and actionable
- Participate in leadership meetings and training
- Guide and direct the Leadership Team to sharpen strategy and steward implementation of that strategy so FRN can create sustainable and scalable growth, and recurring revenue, and improve and develop products and resources to advance FRN’s mission and success
- Collaborate with and guide the Leadership Team to maintain and improve a friendly, sustainable, diverse, collaborative, equitable, inclusive, and efficient team culture
- Interface with partners, investors, and relevant stakeholders as needed, to manage high risk, high return issues and relationships
What Success Looks Like
- Consistent and accurate financial statements that provide a comprehensive and quick to understand picture of the financial health and strong insight into the business
- Consistent, accurate, and actionable metrics and management reporting that support and drive effective decision making to achieve financial goals
- Company financial goals met or exceeded
- Company financial reputation strong, inspiring confidence among company leaders, partners, investors, and other stakeholders
Leadership Qualities and Competencies
- A solution-focused problem solver with an open mind and structured thinking ready to engage in a hands-on way
- Skilled in seeing both the “forest and the trees” - able to dive into details of numbers and spreadsheets, and also to see the larger context and know what they mean
- Experienced operating in cross-functional product teams where finance is fully embedded with other functions like engineering, data, and product development
- Highly proactive, raising issues early and offering multiple solution suggestions to problems or desired outcomes
- Self-aware, and emotionally intelligent, working to address issues from multiple points of view, including considering owners’ financial security (fiduciary behavior), as well as looking out for team morale and overall company values
- Collaborative and inclusive information gatherer and decision-maker, working closely with all company areas to develop complete and accurate financial reporting that serves each department and the company as a whole
- Habitually drive and meet deadlines, including pro-actively revising active projects and agreements for any changes before missed deadlines with reliable and consistent follow-through, forming express verbal and written agreements
Functional Skills
- GAAP accrual accounting
- Financial fluency, including preparing and interpreting financial statements and reports
- Budget and projection preparation
- Financial modeling, including ROI and breakeven analysis
- Financial metric creation and tracking
- Financial analyses, including margin analysis, benchmarking, risk analysis
- Communicating financial information to non-financial team members so that they can perform their roles and meet the financial needs of the company
- Problem-solving, including offering multiple options of solutions with costs/benefits
- Expert-level mastery of financial software, including but not limited to Quickbooks, Google Sheets/Excel
- Proficient with Google Sheets/Excel formulas and spreadsheet error troubleshooting
- Highly competent at onboarding new software/tools
- Strong team leadership skills
Work Experience and Education
- Verifiable and demonstrated competency in finance and accounting (usually including at least a college degree or certification training)
- Extensive direct financial leadership experience (min 3-5 years, prefer 10+ years) working with multiple growth-oriented small businesses (less than $25MM in revenue)
- Extensive experience implementing budgets and cash flow management
- Prior experience working within online marketing businesses is a strong plus
- Prior experience working in the natural health space is a plus
- Prior experience working with an owner-operator entrepreneur is a plus
- Prior experience developing and implementing custom financial and management reporting and dashboards (when they haven’t previously existed or were low quality)
Behavioral Competencies
All FRN team members are expected to adhere to our Global Behavioral Competencies.
Working Environment
- Reliable high-speed internet connection
- A quiet, functional, and stable work environment
- Comfortable working with a team via Slack
- Comfortable working with others via Zoom video conferencing
- Comfortable working within a project management system
- Expert-level proficiency with G Suite products, specifically Docs and Sheets.
Benefits
About Us
Our mission is healthy, ethical, and sustainable food for all.
Food Revolution Network is an online-based education and advocacy-driven organization committed to healthy, ethical, and sustainable food for all. Guided by John and Ocean Robbins, we have more than 750,000 members and collaborate with many of the top food revolutionary leaders of our times. Food Revolution Network aims to empower individuals, build community, and transform food systems to support healthy people and a healthy planet.
We believe that everyone, regardless of the color of their skin or how much money they have, deserves the knowledge and the means to healthfully feed themselves and their family. We’re committed to a world with a true opportunity for everyone to be healthy.
About You
You believe in the power of healthy, organic, fair trade, local, plant-strong food to change the world. You’re passionate about supporting the food revolution and movements for a more healthy, ethical, and sustainable world. You support our scientifically grounded, fact-driven, and welcoming approach, which promotes a whole foods, plant-based diet and is inclusive of a broad range of eaters.
You’re values-driven, highly motivated, self-aware, ethical, emotionally intelligent, multiculturally competent, compassionate, socially conscious, constantly learning, and respectful of yourself and others. You’re reliable, dedicated, undaunted, persistent, friendly, and forthright. You admit your mistakes, clean up your messes, and learn from everything.
Our Commitment to Equal Opportunity
Food Revolution Network is a committed equal opportunity employer. FRN recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, veteran status, and other protected status as required by applicable law. At FRN, we aim to be a place where a diverse mix of talented people bring their skills, life experience, passion, and creativity to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. We are committed to healthy, ethical, and sustainable food for ALL, and that requires a proactive dedication to advocating for equity, inclusion, and opportunity including for those communities that have been most negatively impacted by our toxic food culture. We are committed to equality and believe in diversity of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, national origin, and all the other characteristics that enable each person to bring unique talents, insights, and skills.
Work Location
FRN is a fully remote team, with team members in multiple North American time zones. This position may be performed from anywhere, but we strongly prefer North America-compatible time zones, with a required availability from 9 am - 3 pm Pacific Time Monday through Thursday.
Compensation
Full-time employees also receive paid time off, flexible time off for holidays, wellness time off, health, vision, and dental insurance, opportunities for bonuses, 401k eligibility, and other benefits. Compensation expectations will be discussed in the initial interview.