Chief Financial Officer

Job Description

Job Description

Next Play Jobs is proud to be partnering with a national property tax law and consulting firm that integrates legal, tax, and valuation expertise to help clients strategically minimize property tax liabilities. Its affiliated management division delivers comprehensive portfolio oversight, administrative tax services, and continuous monitoring for large institutional real estate owners across the United States. The organization serves a broad client base including REITs, financial institutions, pension funds, insurance companies, and owners of high-value commercial portfolios throughout the U.S. and Canada.

The CFO will play a pivotal leadership role, driving financial strategy, ensuring operational scalability, and collaborating with senior leadership to guide growth and profitability.

• Lead the firm’s long‑term financial strategy, including capital allocation, growth investments, profitability targets, and scenario planning
• Oversee annual budgeting and multi‑year financial forecasting for the whole enterprise (legal + operations sides)
• Partner with the Managing Partner / Executive Committee on strategic initiatives (e.g., acquisitions, geographic expansion, product / service innovation)
• Monitor key performance metrics (revenue per client, case ROI, recurring revenue, portfolio margins, utilization) and provide strategic insights to leadership

• Oversee all accounting operations (general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, financial close)
• Ensure timely and accurate financial reporting (monthly, quarterly, annual) for internal and external stakeholders
• Manage audit relationships, tax filings (corporate, state, local), regulatory compliance, and external financial reporting
• Ensure proper allocation of costs across business lines and maintain transparency between the litigation and tax operations segments

• Manage cash flow, forecasting, liquidity, and working capital to support variable revenue cycles
• Lead decisions around capital structure, funding, credit facilities, banking relationships
• Oversee collections, client advances / retainers, refund processing, and appeals recoverables
• Develop policies to mitigate cash volatility and ensure sustainable operational funding

• Drive pricing strategy, margin management, and profitability analysis by client portfolio, service line, region
• Partner with operations leadership to control costs, optimize resourcing (staff, technology, third parties)
• Evaluate ROI of new investments (e.g., technology, product development, geographic expansion)

• Ensure internal financial controls are robust, aggregated risk is monitored, and compliance with relevant laws / ethical standards
• Oversee risk management, professional liability, compliance audits, fraud prevention, contracting financial terms
• Lead financial diligence for potential M&A or partnerships
• Collaborate with legal counsel to ensure contractual, vendor, lease, and client terms align with financial goals

• Lead, mentor, and build out the finance & accounting organization
• Drive improvements in financial systems, automation, dashboards, data analytics, and reporting tools
• Collaborate cross‑functionally (legal, operations, IT, business development) to integrate systems and processes
• Maintain best practices in financial controls, process optimization, and scalable workflows

• CPA or equivalent professional accounting qualification strongly preferred
• Proven experience building and scaling an accounting department from the ground up, including developing team structure, hiring key personnel, implementing processes, and establishing effective leadership and delegation frameworks.
• Ideally 10+ years of progressive leadership in finance roles, including experience as a CFO, VP Finance, or equivalent, preferably in professional services, legal / consulting, or a family office
• Strong experience managing dual or mixed revenue models (project fee, recurring service, contingent success fees)
• Prior exposure to law firms / legal operations, tax / compliance, or professional service firms is highly desirable
• Strong acumen in financial planning & analysis, cash flow management, cost optimization, and strategic investments
• Experience managing audits, external reporting, treasury, risk & compliance
• Excellent leadership, communication, stakeholder management skills
• Strong analytical, systems / tech orientation, comfortable implementing or upgrading financial systems / dashboards
• Ability to operate in a dynamic, growth‑driven environment with evolving service lines and business models