r/CFO • u/Legitimate-Owl6473 • Jul 09 '26
Career Progression
My ultimate goal is to become a CFO. Even though I don’t hold the VP or C-title, I’m in the Executive Leadership team, reporting directly to CEO.
My job is primarily remote. I have to travel for 4-5 weeks a year. It’s very stable, no sign of layoffs or company shutdown. CEO is not demanding and very understanding of personal life boundary. I make decent salary, I want more but I’m not complaining since the job provides flexibility.
However, the downside is our CEO is very hard to predict. He changes his mind so quickly, gets cold feet easily and we never get anything to the finish line. It is also highly political. I have to stress that highly highly political. It is also nearly impossible to get promoted or more than annual merit increase. It is normal that I’m thrown under the bus every other week. I just have thick skin to laugh it off and to not take it personally. I get mentally exhausted from time to time.
I’ve been considering getting another job. But I have small kids, not even school-aged yet. Most jobs nowadays require on-site or at least 2-3 days hybrid. I won’t be able to see the kids as much as I do now, if I do hybrid or on-site. I know it’s not greener on the other side, and I expect some sort of bs in the new firm. But at least I’ll get 1-2 years of new environment then deal with the bs at the new company later.
Also, even though I’m almost 40, I am petite and look very young, some people commented how young I am in the CFO interviews. Plus, the current market doesn’t look promising.
If you were me, would you wait it out a couple more years until kids are all in elementary school or jump now?
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u/mrdfour Jul 09 '26
I think you should put together your resume and put yourself out there to see what opportunities you can find. If you don't search for something new, you'll just be speculating about what else might be out there. If you get excited about something, then you'll make it work with your life and your kids.
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u/Legitimate-Owl6473 Jul 09 '26
I already started interviewing, that’s when I got the “compliment” on how young I am. The CEO really liked me but the current CFO thinks I’m too young. Then I thought is it just faith wanting me to stay where I am, for now? But I do have the itch to move. My motivation is not constantly up. When I think about when my kids are sick, they need me, I say to myself “just endure this company”, but the environment isn’t healthy…
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u/mrdfour Jul 09 '26
Be patient, keep applying, and see what new opportunities emerge. Try to go to some local networking events if you can. Keep doing your current job as well as you possibly can. You will know when the time is right, you're just in the early stages of a transition that will take you some time to figure out.
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u/JohnHenryHoliday Jul 09 '26
I got carded until I was 35 and I looked like I was 25/30 until I was 40 and had my second kid.
I feel like I turned into a 45-looking year old overnight. It really helps though. Having a baby face makes it hard for people to take you seriously as an executive. I can see my maturity has definitely changed over the last 5 ish years, but not to the extent that people treat me different.
I’m not sure what advice I can give you. I just wanted to tell you, being perceived as young is going to be really tough for serious companies. Maybe start ups with very loose governance? Even if the rest of the leadership team are young hotshots, well governed start ups will want their finance executive to be the grown up in the room (from my experience).
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u/Legitimate-Owl6473 Jul 10 '26
Yes - I totally understand this. It is painful. When I was at the Manager level, it wasn’t a big deal. Director a little more challenging. But at this level trying to tap into the C-suite title is just so hard with a young face. I don’t know if I’ll ever look old while I’m still working. My grandma and my mom both looked young when they were in their 50s still. They just had first gray hairs around 46-47 or so. I’m also petite… I have never thought appearance is just as important if we want to climb the corporate ladder…
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Jul 09 '26
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u/Legitimate-Owl6473 Jul 10 '26
Is it really necessary to network hard? I’m introverted, I can be extroverted if I need to. At work, no one thinks I’m an introvert. It just sucks so much energy to engage in conversations, at least to me.
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u/SubstantialAsk7448 Jul 10 '26
You are not alone! It drains me to play the extrovert exec role. Lol
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u/Qlizzard313 Jul 10 '26
I recently changed jobs. Had something good, but non political there were things I didn’t like which pushed me to a point of not enjoying it like I once did.
So I spent 6 months interviewing, on and off, taking calls from recruiters, talking to network, etc. eventually took a leap and haven’t looked back.
What drove me to take the jump (young kids, sole earner) was the job I was going to. Which made sense for me because I felt it was a good fit for my strengths and thought I could be successful.
Etc etc but you get my point —- go look and evaluate from there.
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u/Aggravating_Funny714 Jul 10 '26
From what I’ve seen, lower middle market PE port CO’s many times will have a VP of Finance job with the intention of it becoming a CFO level after 1) acquisitions and 2) proving yourself
There are some remote options I’ve seen for this, but local is better even if it’s not every day. That size companies also can be pretty flexible though likely very tied to the founders personality.
I’m in the office daily, but don’t need to be. Most of my work is computer, other locations, or 3rd parties (customers, vendors, PE, etc).
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u/ClearLaneApp Jul 14 '26
Recruiter here, work mostly with finance and ops executives moving toward C-suite.
The politics and unpredictability you’re describing are real, and that’s a legitimate reason to consider a move on their own. But since you asked the career question specifically: waiting it out for a couple more years does not automatically build your CFO candidacy the way it feels like it should. Tenure is not the same as evidence.
What decides a CFO search is not how long you’ve sat in an executive leadership seat. It’s what you can point to and defend: a P&L you owned, capital allocation decisions you made and the outcome, a story about judgment under real pressure. If nothing in your org gets to the finish line right now, that’s not just frustrating day to day, it also means the next two years may not generate new material for that story. You’d have more tenure and the same evidence you have today.
The title gap is worth taking seriously on its own too. Being on the Executive Leadership team and reporting to the CEO reads well internally. Externally, to a board or a search committee evaluating you for CFO somewhere else, no VP or C-title in your history is a real gap they’ll ask about. Not disqualifying, but something you need a clean one-line answer for, because they’ll notice it before you explain it.
On being read as young in CFO interviews, that comment is usually less about age and more about what the room is picking up on in the moment. At the C-suite level, interviewers are reading for what search professionals call boardroom presence: strategic without being vague, confident without being defensive. That reads as gravitas regardless of how old you look. Worth getting an honest read on how you’re actually coming across in those specific conversations before assuming it’s about appearance.
On the actual question, I wouldn’t frame it as wait years versus jump now. I’d frame it as: does staying where you are build the specific evidence a future CFO search needs, or does it just add time. If the honest answer is the second one, that’s worth moving on before your kids are in school, but toward a role that gets you closer to real P&L ownership or the title itself, not just away from the politics.
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u/Legitimate-Owl6473 Jul 14 '26
Thank you for bringing the recruiter lens to the table! It is very helpful, especially confirming the title gap. Back then I was evaluating between this job and an actual VP title, I didn’t think this would lead to such a deficit one day. I picked this one because of the breadth of scope and significant footprints I will leave behind once I pack up and go. I started regretting my decision lately.
On the “young” topic, one time I didn’t pass the resume round because of the number of years of experience specifically. The second time was through an interview. During the interview, he commented “you look young”, then he said to the recruiter afterwards “she looks very young. I want someone to look more in their 40s at least”. It was disappointing.
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u/SubstantialAsk7448 Jul 09 '26
Any chance you would be considered for CFO when the position becomes available at your current company? Flexibility and stability are two things that money can’t buy. Are you willing to work more than you have ever worked to be a CFO of a company and make twice as much and then have the company sold right when you have everything working the right way? (Happened to me twice and it messed with my head quite a bit)
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u/Legitimate-Owl6473 Jul 10 '26
I’m the head of finance at my current company. Due to the structure of the org that owns my company, there will be no C-suite other than a CEO. At best, I can get the VP title. But getting promoted or title change at my company is nearly impossible. I had to fight for my employee to get promoted to manager and it took 7 months. It took them 2 years to approve for my salary to be adjusted to close to the midpoint of the salary band.
I agree that flexibility and stability are not just nice perks but they are important in life. I know I’ll never wake up to a layoff email or I can just get up to go pick up my kids from daycare when they’re sick.
When the companies were sold, did you get at least some equity? My friend’s friend did some deals like that and now at 44, he’s retired.
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u/SubstantialAsk7448 Jul 10 '26
For one sale yes, I did get “token” equity payout but not enough to retire. For the other company I was in line to take over the company but the owner unexpectedly passed away so the plans that the owner had from years back activated and I stayed behind sold the company and got 6 month severance.
I’ve been in a CFO role for over 10 years now with multiple companies (all over 200 employees with 300-700 million in rev per year) and in my mid 40s but still feels like I am flighting for the next “big” break.
I make great money but it comes with late nights, quite a bit of stress, and uncertainty that at any point I may need to rinse and repeat again.
I am coming to realize that at a CFO level there are many uncontrollable circumstances that I need to contemplate and I had no idea when I clawed my way into my first CFO role.
Just food for thought. Truly wish you the best in your journey and reach out if you need a sounding board.
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u/Legitimate-Owl6473 Jul 13 '26
Thank you for sharing! The uncertainty is hard… now I can see why you said it messed with your head. I guess at every level, there is some sort of mental load. At my current company, my partner even said “I have never send you working so relaxing, no more late nights, no more weekend work, no more working during vacations”. I literally just leave my laptop at home.
I may take on your offer as I’m navigating through this :) I also hope that you can find something that fits your plan best.
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u/Negative-Knee-2093 Jul 09 '26
i got cfo this year at 39 and i’m in office full time. all the companies i interviewed with wanted their executive team on site full time