Client CFO (DTC and CPG) : Restructuring & Turnarounds

About the role

We’re building a new kind of firm, one that brings together McKinsey-grade strategy, Big 4-grade rigor, and founder-grade hustle. Our mission: To empower founders to lead with clarity, scale with discipline, and create meaningful value for all stakeholders. We advise consumer and retail brands from startup to scale to M&A. Our team blends top-tier consulting strategy with hands-on execution to help founder-led brands grow with confidence, navigate complexity, and build enterprise value.

Responsibilities

• Serve as Client CFO (fractional) for a concentrated portfolio of 2-3 clients navigating restructuring, turnaround, or special situations
• Own cash management, 13-week cash flow forecasting, and liquidity runway with daily/weekly precision
• Act as a steady, strategic partner to founders, CEOs, boards, and investors when trust and clarity matter most
• Manage lender, creditor, landlord, vendor, and investor relationships with composure and credibility, including forbearance and workout discussions
• Build and maintain dynamic cash flow, scenario, and downside models to support real-time decision-making
• Lead cost restructuring, working capital optimization, and margin triage across the business
• Build KPI and early-warning dashboards so leadership sees problems before they become crises
• Partner with internal accounting to ensure reporting integrity holds up under scrutiny (lenders, boards, potential buyers)
• Advisory and Capital Markets Support: Advise clients on out-of-court restructuring, debt renegotiation, bridge financing, and capital triage
• Own creditor packs, lender presentations, and act as "deal-time CFO" for recapitalizations, wind-downs, or distressed M&A
• Support board material prep and investor communications during periods of heightened scrutiny
• Provide clear decision frameworks to help founders navigate runway, burn, and existential tradeoffs

Qualifications

• Strong experience in finance leadership roles, with direct experience in restructuring, turnarounds, or distressed situations (required)
• Past experience in a multi-client or portfolio CFO role (required)
• Deep understanding of consumer business models (DTC, retail, omnichannel, wholesale) (required)
• Hands-on experience building and living inside 13-week cash flow models, and managing through liquidity constraints (required)
• Direct experience negotiating with lenders, creditors, or landlords, and supporting workout or forbearance processes (required)
• Strong FP&A and modeling skills, including multi-year 3-statement modeling and downside scenario planning (required)
• Experience with accounting systems (QBO, NetSuite) (required)
• Ability to stay calm, synthesize complex and incomplete data, and communicate hard truths with confidence (required)
• Comfortable managing 2-3 concentrated client relationships simultaneously in a fast-moving, high-stakes environment (required)
• Thrives in a lean, high-performance, distributed team, and doesn't rattle easily (required)