Regional Chief Financial Officer — Aftermarket Franchise

The mandate

An institutionally backed automotive group earns substantial North American cash from parts, service, remanufacturing and warranty administration. Connected diagnostics, remote repair and software features are now changing which events produce revenue and which create years of support obligation. Regional forecasts still separate physical parts from digital activity and regularly miss working-capital and programme effects. The next CFO must make the franchise economically legible before capital is shifted.

The Regional CFO will govern an approximately US$13,000 million revenue and programme perimeter affecting 1,300 employees and partners. Scope includes planning, control, treasury, tax coordination, commercial finance, inventory economics, investment, audit and finance talent. Operations owns customer delivery; technology owns platform design. Finance must show the cash, risk and lifecycle value of their choices without becoming a retrospective reporting service.

Aftermarket accounting requires cohort discipline. A diagnostic subscription may improve workshop productivity yet carry cloud, cyber and update costs. A remanufactured component can release cash but needs return-core availability and quality provisions. Extended support can preserve loyalty while building an unfunded engineering tail. The CFO will establish contribution views connecting vehicle population, failure curve, channel, fulfilment, warranty, software service and end-of-life obligation.

Forecast credibility also depends on inventory truth. National stock targets obscure part criticality, supersession, repair kits and regional demand. Finance will work with supply and service to distinguish availability stock from speculative buys, validate obsolescence triggers and expose expedite cost caused by poor master data or planning. Cash improvement cannot impair vehicle-off-road service or rely on supplier payment practices that threaten continuity.

Why this seat is open

The incumbent will complete an agreed succession after the next planning cycle and supports a structured four-to-six-month handover. The transition is not linked to a control breach, restatement or conduct issue. Confidentiality protects employees, lenders and commercial partners while the firm evaluates candidates.

What you will own

• Build lifecycle P&Ls for parts, services, remanufacturing and software-enabled propositions.
• Restore forecast ownership among commercial, supply, technology and service leaders.
• Set inventory, credit and working-capital decisions using customer-criticality evidence.
• Govern investment with measurable adoption, support-cost and exit assumptions.
• Strengthen controls across rebates, claims, subscriptions, returns and channel incentives.
• Develop regional controllers and business finance leaders with clear succession.

The CFO will redesign performance dialogue around decisions. Forecast bridges must identify vehicle population, price, mix, failure rate, fill rate and subscription movement rather than a residual “market” explanation. Capital requests will state the customer cohort, benefit mechanism, continuing cost and condition for stopping. Finance will retain independent access to the board committee where management optimism or sponsor pressure threatens evidence.

Control modernisation will follow transaction risk. Digital entitlements need reconciliation to billing and vehicle identity; warranty credits require separation of supplier recovery from customer provision; remanufacturing must account for cores in transit and rejected returns. Internal audit and finance teams will sample end-to-end transactions, not merely confirm system approvals. Any material weakness will carry an operating remedy and independently tested closure.

Treasury scenarios will examine seasonality, inventory shocks and provider concentration before liquidity buffers are set. The CFO will also clarify tax and transfer-pricing consequences when digital service, physical fulfilment and customer contracting occur in different jurisdictions.

The first 12 months

The first 90 days will deliver a cash-and-obligation map, assess finance leadership and rebuild the forecast for the next two quarters. The CFO will review the 15 largest investments and the parts cohorts responsible for most availability and obsolescence exposure.

By month eight, lifecycle economics should govern selected connected and remanufactured offers, inventory segmentation should operate across two distribution flows, and investment reviews should have stopped or resized at least two weak cases. Monthly forecasts will reconcile operational drivers to ledger and cash.

At year-end, operating cash conversion should improve by 10 percentage points, forecast variance remain within 5% for three consecutive months, and aged excess inventory fall by at least 15% without worse critical-part fill. All material digital revenue streams must have reconciled entitlement, billing and support provisions; priority control findings should close with independent evidence.

What the board will measure

• Cash improvement that preserves customer-critical service.
• Credible lifecycle value for software and physical propositions.
• Investments stopped when adoption or economics fail.
• Controls reflecting modern aftermarket transactions.
• A finance team capable of challenging regional management.

The person

You are a Regional CFO, divisional CFO or finance vice-president with 22–28 years in automotive, industrial services, mobility or another installed-base business. Minimum prior accountability is US$7,550 million and 900 employees. You must demonstrate a forecast recovery, an inventory decision balancing service and cash, and a digital or service proposition whose continuing obligations you made visible.

This Detroit-based onsite role requires distribution-centre, dealer and board travel. The successful candidate combines technical accounting independence with commercial fluency and can disagree without delaying essential action.

Compensation and terms

Base pay is US$430,000–575,000 plus annual incentive and equity. Measures cover cash conversion, forecast confidence, investment return, control quality and finance succession. Terms will reflect current mix, and a notice period up to six months can be accommodated.

Confidentiality

The sponsor, franchise, platforms, inventory cohorts and financial evidence are confidential. Detail is released after qualification and an undertaking. Detroit and the rounded perimeter do not reveal the client.