Job Description

Prove You Can Be The CFO

The Role

At Diatom, we acquire and build respected aerospace and defense companies, delivering on our mission of Aviation SimplifiedTM. By unlocking hidden potential, aligning teams, and creating lasting customer value, we’re scaling a portfolio of high-performing businesses.

We are seeking a strategic, technically gifted CFO who thrives on building — systems, teams, processes, and results. This role blends the strategic leadership of a CFO with the hands-on execution of a VP of Finance and Accounting, reflecting the current stage of our company and the scale of what’s next.

If you’re ready to step out of the Fortune 500 shadows, this role offers a rare opportunity to scale a business as key member of a tight-knit, high-horsepower team with a rock solid foundation.

This is a hybrid role primarily based in the Dayton, OH area but can also be based in Cincinnati, OH.

Why This Role Matters Now

• We have a strong-performing business, a full M&A pipeline and a track record of excellence as engaged individuals, investors, operators and owners.
• We are committed to a disciplined M&A strategy.
• Our back-office infrastructure is lean and capable — intentionally.
• The opportunity is real, but so is the work.

We need a hands-on financial leader who can bridge the gap between big-company sophistication and small-company grit — someone who sees building foundational finance functions not as “beneath them,” but as the most direct path to optimize integrations and have long-term strategic impact.

The Opportunity

In this role, you’ll functionally act as both CFO and VP of Finance, evolving over time to build the team and structure that will eventually let you operate at full CFO altitude. This is a role for someone who is eager to:

• Architect and implement scalable financial systems, but also close the books in the early innings.
• Be a partner providing analytic insight to our visionary President., while exercising your finance and accounting expertise and independence as a problem-solving machine.
• Drive strategic priorities and projects, while managing day-to-day accounting, treasury, and compliance.
• Lead M&A diligence and integration, while ensuring day-one financial stability.
• Build, lead, and mentor a high-performance finance team, but initially serve as the
• expert.

You’ll report to and partner directly with the President, and collaborate closely with the ownership team on capital allocation, value creation, and long-term strategic growth.

What Success Looks Like

Financial Leadership & Strategic Partnership

• Serve as a key executive advisor on growth strategy, deal-making, capital deployment, and financial governance.
• Lead FP&A, cash flow management, budgeting, forecasting, and KPI development.
• Own M&A financial diligence, modeling, integration planning, and post-close
• performance stabilization.

Financial Operations & Controls

• Build a scalable, multi-entity accounting infrastructure, ensuring timely, accurate close and reporting.
• Oversee tax strategy, banking relationships, audit readiness, and compliance.
• Establish the systems, dashboards, and processes to support data-driven decision-
• making.

Hands-On Execution & Team Building

• Personally engage in transactional finance (GL, AP, AR, payroll oversight) as needed in the early stage.
• Partner directly with business unit leaders to optimize working capital, margins, and financial performance.
• Build the finance and accounting team in lockstep with company growth.

Who You Are

• An Architect & Builder – You're energized by the challenge of building robust financial systems and skilled teams
• A Tactical Leader – You can flex between the 30,000-foot view and the 3-foot problem standing between you and excellence.
• A Systems Integrator – You understand how to evaluate, structure, and integrate acquisitions while keeping business steady.
• A Trusted Business Partner – You collaborate, speak the language of the President and business operators, and you bring analytical clarity to strategic decisions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field (MBA and/or CPA).
• 7–15 years of progressive finance leadership experience, ideally a blend of big-
• company FP&A rigor and mid-market operating intensity.
• Direct experience with M&A transactions, diligence, and integrations.
• Proficiency in multi-entity financial operations, ideally in manufacturing,
• aerospace, or industrial services.
• Strong hands-on accounting and treasury capabilities.

Why Diatom?

Founded in 2018, Diatom has earned a reputation for quality, reliability, and people-first integration. Our leadership team is entrepreneurial, accessible, and committed to mentoring exceptional talent. We move with speed — but never at the expense of culture, relationships, or quality. With a robust pipeline of opportunities, we are on an exciting growth journey and want a partner who will help shape it.

What We Offer

• Competitive compensation, mindful of career stage and growth opportunity.
• Comprehensive benefits:

- Affordable medical, dental, and vision insurance.

- Company-funded HSA contributions.

- 401(k) with company match.

- Disability and life insurance.

- Partial remote flexibility.

- Travel as necessary for integrations and site visits.

Your Next Chapter Starts Here

If you’re ready to transition from big-company constraints to a high-impact leadership role where your fingerprints will be all over the company’s success, join us. Let’s do Aviation Simplified™; together.

Click here to apply:  

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