Director of Finance & Business Operations

About the role

@Orchard LLC is seeking a Director of Finance & Business Operations to build and lead the financial and operating backbone of the growing organization. Reporting directly to the CEO, this senior, hands‑on leadership role has broad ownership across finance, accounting, financial planning and analysis, project economics, business operations, management reporting, financial controls, systems, data, and process improvement. The Director will both own and operate the current financial environment and help build the processes, systems, automation, and AI‑enabled capabilities that make the company more visible, accountable, efficient, and scalable.

Responsibilities

• Financial Performance & Decision Support
  • Own cash and liquidity visibility, including 13‑week cash forecasting.
  • Lead budgeting, rolling forecasts, scenario analysis, working capital, and profitability analysis.
  • Analyze labor economics, utilization, staffing capacity, indirect costs, and overhead.
  • Develop management reporting that enables leadership to understand performance, changes, risks, and areas requiring action.
• Accounting, Cost Architecture & Financial Control
  • Own the quality, integrity, and usefulness of accounting results and the underlying financial architecture.
  • Oversee close, cost structure, reconciliations, AP/AR controls, billing support, and payroll‑to‑accounting integrity.
  • Establish and continuously improve the chart of accounts, cost structure, close design, data organization, and financial controls.
  • Maintain government‑compliant accounting and financial‑control practices, systems, and supporting records.
  • Ensure labor and timekeeping information supports accurate costing, payroll, billing, forecasting, and project controls.
  • Own the internal accounting result while leveraging an outsourced accounting provider for defined financial‑accounting execution.
• Contract & Project Financial Performance
  • Translate awarded contract economics into operating financial baselines.
  • Maintain forward visibility into actuals, burn, ETC/EAC, revenue, margin, billing, funding and ceilings as applicable, forecasts, and exceptions.
  • Work closely with Program Managers so emerging economic issues become visible early enough to act.
• Business Operations, Management Information & Control
  • Continuously improve the information environment connecting project, program, customer, and company performance.
  • Establish processes and SOPs that produce reliable business data and configure and improve the systems through which it flows.
  • Support and train people responsible for inputs and create feedback and accountability loops.
  • Organize authoritative data into reliable management information.
  • Use integration, automation, and AI to reduce manual work, improve analysis, surface exceptions and insights, and increase what a lean organization can accomplish.
• People & Corporate Operations
  • Own the business infrastructure supporting reliable and efficient employee and corporate operations.
  • Oversee systems, workflows, controls, integrations, reporting, and specialist relationships supporting core employee lifecycle and corporate administrative processes.
  • Ensure these functions operate reliably and efficiently while leveraging specialist providers for work requiring dedicated expertise.

Requirements

• Advanced degree in finance, accounting, business administration or a related field (required).
• Technical finance certification (preferred).
• Hands‑on finance leadership experience spanning accounting and FP&A, including financial modeling, forecasting, close and accounting processes, and management reporting.
• At least 5 years of experience with government contracting economics.
• Experience operating in a small‑business government contracting environment.
• Hands‑on experience establishing, operating, or maintaining government‑compliant accounting and financial‑control environments.
• Experience with the economics of a labor‑driven professional‑services business, including utilization, labor cost, staffing capacity, indirect costs and overhead, and project profitability.
• Advanced financial modeling and Excel capability, with strong aptitude for data, financial systems, process improvement, and management information.
• Demonstrated ability to personally execute while effectively directing and leveraging specialist resources.
• Strong understanding of how contract structure, labor, hours, costs, revenue, margin, billing, and cash connect.
• Ability to work from source data through processes and systems to reliable management information, analysis, insight, and action.

Skills

• Advanced Excel and financial modeling.
• FP&A, budgeting, forecasting, cash management, scenario analysis, and profitability analysis.
• Government‑contracting finance, labor costing, timekeeping, project controls, and indirect cost structures.
• Accounting architecture, financial controls, reconciliations, billing support, and management reporting.
• Business systems, data flows, data quality, process design, SOP development, workflow improvement, and systems configuration.
• Integration, automation, and practical application of AI to improve analysis, quality, speed, and operating leverage.
• Cross‑functional leadership and business partnership with executive, program, and corporate leaders.
• Ability to manage and hold specialist providers accountable for quality, timeliness, and results.