Chief Financial Officer

Scion Executive Search; Petaluma (CA); Hybrid; USD 220,000 - 225,000; Full time

Job summary

Point Blue Conservation Science seeks a strategic Chief Financial Officer to lead financial vision, planning, and operations, partnering with the CEO, Board, and leadership to advance mission impact.

The hybrid role requires onsite work at Point Blue’s headquarters in Petaluma, California two days per week, guiding risk management, budgeting, and revenue strategy for a global conservation science organization.

Qualifications

• Significant progressive financial leadership in nonprofit/mission-driven orgs.
• Deep nonprofit accounting knowledge incl. GAAP, FASB, restricted funding, audits.
• Experience in long-range planning, forecasting, and resilience-building.
• Ability to diversify funding strategies (government, philanthropy, earned).
• Experience upgrading financial systems, reporting, and controls.
• Strong communication to translate numbers for boards and leaders.
• Collaborative leadership style with integrity and sound judgment.

Responsibilities

• Lead long-range financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, and risk analysis.
• Oversee grants, contracts, and complex funding arrangements with compliance.
• Develop financial models supporting program growth and sustainability.
• Translate financial data into actionable insights for leadership and board.
• Build dashboards and metrics to improve decision-making and accountability.

Skills

Nonprofit accounting

GAAP/FASB knowledge

Financial leadership

Fundraising & grants

Financial systems

Communication & storytelling

Strategic planning

Team leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting/Finance/Business

Advanced degree or CPA preferred

Tools

Fund accounting software

Business intelligence tools

Job description

Scion Executive Search has been retained to conduct an immediate search for a strategic, collaborative, and mission-driven Chief Financial Officer on behalf of Point Blue Conservation Science, a nationally and internationally recognized conservation science organization advancing solutions to the interconnected challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss. This is an exceptional opportunity for an accomplished financial executive to serve as a strategic partner to organizational leadership and help shape Point Blue's long-term financial resilience, operational strength, and sustainable growth as it enters an ambitious new chapter of impact. This is a hybrid position, with an expectation of working onsite at Point Blue’s headquarters in Petaluma, California, two days per week.

For more than 60 years, Point Blue Conservation Science has advanced the conservation of birds, wildlife, and ecosystems through science, partnerships, and outreach. Founded in 1965, the organization has grown into a respected conservation leader with work spanning California and international landscapes.

Point Blue combines applied science, long-term data, innovative technology, restoration, community engagement, and strategic partnerships to turn knowledge into meaningful conservation action.

Today, Point Blue is advancing its Connected Conservation Strategic Plan, focused on five priorities: Globally Connected Conservation Science, Empowered Communities, Connecting Science to Action, Policy Engagement, and Organizational Strength. Together, these priorities strengthen scientific impact, inclusive partnerships, innovation, advocacy, and long-term organizational resilience.

Point Blue's mission is to conserve birds, other wildlife, and ecosystems through science, partnerships, and outreach, with a vision of thriving wildlife and human communities sustained by collaborative, climate-smart conservation.

POSITION OVERVIEW

Reporting to and serving as a key strategic partner to the CEO, the Chief Financial Officer will lead Point Blue's financial vision, strategy, and operations while partnering closely with the Board of Directors and senior leadership team. The CFO will align financial resources with mission and strategy, strengthen long-term sustainability, and help the organization navigate growth, change, and an increasingly complex funding environment.

As a central leader in advancing Point Blue's priority of Organizational Strength, the CFO will guide long-range financial planning, scenario analysis, resource allocation, revenue strategy, risk management, and the continued evolution of financial systems and infrastructure. They will translate complex financial information into clear, actionable insight that enables thoughtful decision-making across the organization.

The ideal candidate will combine significant financial leadership experience with analytical rigor, sound judgment, integrity, and strong relationship-building skills. The CFO collaborates across teams to present innovative financial strategies, clearly outlining the advantages, risks, and trade-offs of proposed initiatives. Above all, this leader will understand financial strategy as a critical enabler of mission impact and bring a thoughtful, entrepreneurial, and future-focused approach to Point Blue's next chapter.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Financial Leadership & Planning

• Serve as a strategic thought partner to the CEO, Board, and senior leadership, aligning financial strategy, resources, and decision-making with Point Blue's mission, strategic priorities, and long-term goals.
• Lead long-range financial planning, annual budgeting, forecasting, scenario modeling, and risk analysis, providing forward-looking insight into financial performance, cash flow, liquidity, reserves, and emerging opportunities and challenges.
• Develop sustainable financial models and business cases that support organizational resilience, thoughtful program growth, and diversification of Point Blue's funding base.
• Translate complex financial information into clear, actionable insights and financial narratives that enable leadership, the Board, and program teams to understand tradeoffs, risks, opportunities, and organizational performance.
• Establish meaningful financial metrics, dashboards, and reporting tools that strengthen decision-making, accountability, and organizational planning.
• Provide strategic financial oversight of Point Blue's complex portfolio of government, philanthropic, and other grants and contracts, including restricted funding, re-granting, subawards, subcontracts, and other complex funding arrangements.
• Ensure strong organizational compliance with Uniform Guidance, sponsor and donor requirements, GAAP and FASB standards, government regulations, and internal financial policies.
• Lead Point Blue's institutional cost strategy, including its indirect cost structure and NICRA process, partnering with program and grants leadership to ensure funding arrangements appropriately account for organizational costs, requirements, and risks.
• Oversee enterprise financial risk management, internal controls, audits, insurance, regulatory requirements, and the stewardship of organizational assets, reserves, investments, and endowments.
• Support the Board in fulfilling its financial governance and fiduciary responsibilities through clear reporting, analysis, transparency, and risk assessment.

Financial Operations, Systems & Infrastructure

• Provide executive oversight of accounting, financial reporting, restricted funds, payroll, tax and regulatory filings, and other core financial operations, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, integrity, and compliance.
• Strengthen and modernize financial systems, processes, controls, and technologies to improve efficiency, transparency, reporting, and organizational scalability.
• Develop a long-term financial systems and infrastructure roadmap, including the thoughtful implementation and use of financial management, reporting, and business intelligence tools.

Team & Organizational Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing finance and accounting team, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, strategic thinking, and continuous improvement.
• Build strong partnerships between finance and Point Blue's programmatic and functional leaders, increasing financial fluency and helping teams effectively manage the financial dimensions of their work.
• Partner with the CEO, HR, and organizational leadership on workforce planning, compensation, benefits, and other financial considerations that support organizational sustainability and talent retention.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Significant progressive financial leadership experience, including substantial experience within a complex nonprofit or similarly mission-driven organization; prior CFO or comparable enterprise-level leadership experience is strongly preferred.
• Deep knowledge of nonprofit accounting and financial management, including GAAP, FASB standards, restricted funding, government grants and contracts, audits, compliance, and internal controls.
• Demonstrated success leading long-range financial planning, forecasting, scenario analysis, and sustainable financial or business model development in complex or changing environments.
• Experience helping organizations navigate growth, transformation, funding volatility, or evolving revenue models, with an understanding of diversified funding strategies such as government funding, philanthropy, earned revenue, corporate partnerships, social enterprise, or impact-oriented financing.
• Experience strengthening financial systems, technologies, reporting tools, and organizational processes to improve efficiency, transparency, scalability, and decision-making.
• Strong technical proficiency with financial management and budgeting systems; experience with fund accounting software and business intelligence tools is highly valued.
• Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to translate complex financial information into clear, compelling insights for Boards, executives, program leaders, donors, and funders.
• A leadership style characterized by integrity, sound judgment, collaboration, intellectual curiosity, and the confidence to constructively challenge assumptions and make difficult decisions.
• A bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or a related discipline, or equivalent experience; an advanced degree and/or CPA designation is highly valued.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

This position offers a competitive salary range of $220,000–$225,000, commensurate with experience, along with a comprehensive benefits package. Point Blue provides employer-paid medical and dental coverage for employees and covers 75% of dependent premiums. Additional benefits include life insurance, short- and long-term disability coverage, flexible spending accounts, and a 401(k) retirement plan with discretionary employer matching contributions. Employees also accrue 18 vacation days and 12 sick days annually, in addition to eight paid holidays per calendar year.

Point Blue Conservation Science has retained the services of Scion Executive Search, a national executive search firm specializing in nonprofit recruitment, to assist in conducting this important search.