Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Job Title

Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Reports To

Chief Executive Officer, with regular reporting to the Board of Directors

Location

Pacific Northwest; Seattle-area headquarters,

Direct Reports

 Accounting/finance team; may expand over time as the function is built out under this     role

FLSA Status

Exempt, full-time

Company Overview

Medosweet Farms is a dairy-centric food distributor serving manufacturers, broadline redistributors, and retail and restaurant accounts across the Pacific Northwest. Family-owned for 50 years, Medosweet has built its reputation as the region's “distributor of choice” through a sustained commitment to customers, employees, and the communities it serves.

Position Summary

The CFO is a senior leadership position responsible for the financial strategy, health, and reporting integrity of Medosweet Farms. This person will partner closely with the CEO and the Board of Directors to protect the company's long-term financial sustainability, provide the analytical rigor that supports major decisions, and build out a finance function capable of supporting a growing, more complex business. This is a hands-on role in a mid-sized, family-owned company — the CFO should expect to move fluidly between strategic financial planning and direct involvement in the details.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee the company's financial strategy, reporting, budgeting, forecasting, and cash management, delivering timely and accurate financial information to the CEO and the Board of Directors.
• Prepare and deliver financial reporting to the Board of Directors on a regular basis and represent the company's financial statements and financial position directly at regular Board meetings.
• Serve as the primary financial partner on major decisions — customer terms, contract negotiations, capital spending, and other calls that require senior-leadership or family-ownership sign-off — bringing clear analysis without displacing the judgment-and-impact view that ultimately drives the decision.
• Build out and professionalize the accounting and finance function, including systems, controls, and reporting cadence, as the company scales.
• Provide early, direct warning on anything with meaningful potential to affect customer loyalty or the company's financial health — these are treated as trip-wire issues at Medosweet.
• Lead financial planning and modeling for major initiatives, and long-term succession planning for senior leadership.
• Manage banking, insurance, tax, audit, and other outside financial relationships and advisors.
• Mentor and develop the finance/accounting team, consistent with Medosweet's broader emphasis on growing leadership capability, not just closing out tasks.
• Pressure-test major recommendations against the company's stated direction and long-term sustainability, understanding that some decisions will appropriately slow down for family-ownership input.

What Success Looks Like

• Ownership, the CEO, and the Board have full confidence in the accuracy, timeliness, and clarity of financial reporting.
• Major financial decisions are well-informed early, with no late surprises on customer or financial-health impact.
• The finance function is scaling in step with the business, with stronger systems and controls than existed before the role was created.
• The CFO is viewed as a trusted, peer-level partner to Department Heads, the CEO, ownership, and the Board — someone who provides independent thought, not just numbers.

Qualifications

• 10 years of progressive financial leadership experience, ideally including CFO, VP Finance, or Controller roles; food distribution, dairy, or related perishable/consumer-goods industries strongly preferred.
• Experience operating within, or partnering closely with, a family-owned or closely-held company, including comfort with an ownership sign-off process on major decisions.
• Strong command of financial planning, budgeting, cash management, and reporting, paired with the ability to present a holistic business view rather than a purely metrics-first one.
• Demonstrated ability to build and lead a finance/accounting team, including systems and process improvement.
• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, or related field; CPA or MBA a plus, not required.
• A direct, plain-spoken communication style, comfortable operating at peer level with senior operators and family ownership.

Working Relationships

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer, with regular direct reporting to, and representation of the company's financial position at, meetings of the Board of Directors.

Partners closely with: Company department heads — purchasing, sales, logistics, operations, and the Oregon operations manager — plus HR and other company leadership.

Note on scope: Accounting currently provides the CEO and Senior Leadership with financial guidance; this role is intended to formalize and lead that function going forward.

Compensation & Benefits

Competitive base salary and bonus structure, commensurate with experience.
Benefits include medical and dental coverage; matching 401K program; vacation