Civil construction chief financial officer job description
A civil construction chief financial officer keeps cash moving when public owners pay on their own schedule and hold money back. They set the hourly cost of every machine in the fleet, keep the surety and bank informed, and make sure subs and suppliers get paid inside the deadlines public contracts set.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, heavy and civil construction · BLS, May 2025
Serve as the strategic financial leader for our civil and infrastructure projects, providing oversight on budgeting, forecasting, and cost control to drive profitability and sustainable growth. Play a pivotal role in steering the company’s financial strategy for public and private infrastructure jobs while maintaining compliance and minimizing risk.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Lead the development and execution of financial strategies and policies for infrastructure projects.
Oversee and manage budgets, forecasts, and cost controls to ensure project profitability.
Monitor financial performance and implement corrective measures to address variances.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to optimize project execution and mitigate financial risk.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review and analyze daily financial reports, ensuring accurate tracking of project expenditures and revenues.
Update financial forecasts and budgets based on project progress and market changes.
Monitor cash flow and coordinate with project managers to adjust spending as needed.
Prepare and present financial reports and cost control recommendations to senior management.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Maintain a budget variance of less than 5%.
Achieve a forecast accuracy rate of at least 98%.
Improve gross margin by a minimum of 10% year-over-year.
Sustain a net profit margin greater than 12%.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field from an accredited institution.
A minimum of 10 years of progressive financial management experience, preferably in infrastructure or a related industry.
Proficient in advanced financial software and ERP systems coupled with strong analytical skills.
Excellent leadership, communication, decision-making, and strategic planning abilities.
CPA, MBA, or other relevant certifications are highly desirable.
6. Preferred Experience
Proven experience managing budgets and forecasts in the civil & infrastructure contracting environment.
Demonstrated track record in cost control and risk management for multi-million dollar projects.
Familiarity with public/private infrastructure financial regulations and compliance standards.
Experience with financial reporting and strategic planning within the construction or related sector.
7. Physical Requirements
Occasional travel required for site visits and project evaluations.
Ability to lift up to 15 pounds when necessary; primarily an office-based role.
Extended periods of sitting and prolonged computer use in an office environment.
Exposure to typical office conditions with occasional visits to active project sites.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Typical work hours are Monday to Friday, 8 AM – 5 PM.
Primarily based in an office setting with occasional travel to project locations.
Flexible work arrangements may apply with potential on-call duties during critical project periods.
Collaborative team environment that may require extended hours during month-end and year-end closings.
9. Compensation and Benefits
$150,000 - $200,000 USD salary with potential performance-based bonuses.
Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance plans.
401(k) retirement plan with company match.
Generous paid time off, parental leave, and additional fringe benefits.
10. Company Culture and Overview
Our company is driven by a culture of excellence and innovation, fostering an environment where ambitious professionals have the opportunity to grow, collaborate, and make a significant impact. We value integrity, transparency, and continuous improvement, ensuring that each team member can thrive, contribute to state-of-the-art projects, and drive the industry forward. Join us in creating infrastructure solutions that are not only financially robust but also transformative for the community.
11. How to Apply
If you meet the above criteria and want to be part of a growth-oriented company focused on customer satisfaction, please send your resume to [INSERT EMAIL HERE] or apply online at [INSERT WEBSITE LINK HERE].
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
Public owners pay on their own calendar, often keep part of each payment, and set deadlines for paying everyone below you. Meanwhile the fleet costs money every hour, whether it digs or sits.
Every machine needs its own cost rate
When a federal construction contract, change order or claim is priced on cost, the FAR uses the contractor's actual ownership and operating costs if its books show them for each machine or group of like machines. If they don't, the agency may name a schedule of set rates instead. So the CFO keeps depreciation, insurance, repairs, fuel and hours by machine, and extra work gets priced on your real costs. Source: FAR 31.105: Construction contract cost principles, including equipment (Acquisition.gov).
The surety has to be on Treasury's list
A corporate surety on a federal bond must appear in Treasury's Circular 570. The bond amount should stay within the surety's underwriting limit listed there, unless the extra is coinsured or reinsured. Treasury updates the list during the year. Before a large federal bid, the CFO checks the surety's listing and limit, so the bond isn't rejected after the company wins. Source: FAR 28.202: Acceptability of corporate sureties (Acquisition.gov).
Retainage rules depend on who pays
On federal construction, the FAR lets the contracting officer keep part of a progress payment only when progress isn't satisfactory, and never more than a tenth of the approved amount. It also says retainage should not replace good contract management. Cities, counties and states set their own rules. The CFO keeps a retainage ledger by owner and asks for release at each acceptance. Source: FAR 32.103: Progress payments under construction contracts (Acquisition.gov).
Public jobs set your payment deadlines too
Under the FAR clause, a federal agency's payment on a proper progress payment request is due 14 days after its billing office gets it. The contractor then has 7 days from getting paid to pay its subs for satisfactory work. On U.S. DOT-assisted jobs, the agency must require primes to pay subs within 30 days of being paid and to return their retainage within 30 days after their work is satisfactorily done. The CFO plans payables around those dates. Source: FAR 52.232-27: Prompt payment for construction contracts (Acquisition.gov).
Cash follows measured quantities
Unit-price public jobs pay for the quantities the owner's engineer measures and agrees to, not the totals on the bid form. A sewer job that hits rock or runs short on pipe changes revenue month to month. The CFO forecasts cash from what crews actually put in place, not the original schedule of values.
How much civil construction chief financial officers make
The closest BLS group for civil construction chief financial officers is chief executives. Chief executives who work for heavy and civil engineering contractors earned a median of $224,170 a year ($107.77 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s above the $213,990 median for chief executives in all industries. About 1,260 of the 204,350 chief executives in that survey work for heavy and civil construction.
Salary with a possible performance bonus, as the template says. BLS counts CFOs with chief executives, so the template's range sits under the median on this chart. Paying the bonus on cash collected and clean, on-time year-end statements fits the job better than paying it on revenue.
Heavy and civil construction
$224,170$224,170 median Middle half $144,210–$306,440 10th–90th $101,660–$435,740
All industries
$213,990$213,990 median Middle half $129,540–$356,200 10th–90th $75,700–$507,730
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Heavy and civil construction
$101,660
$144,210
$224,170
$306,440
$435,740
All industries
$75,700
$129,540
$213,990
$356,200
$507,730
BLS doesn’t publish pay for civil contractors on their own. These figures cover heavy and civil engineering construction, which include them. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
The pay line in the template above is an example from our Role Blueprint. Set yours from these figures and what local companies pay.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Has been CFO or controller at a heavy civil, utility or road contractor
Builds machine cost rates from depreciation, repairs, fuel and hours
Has worked directly with a surety and a bank on bonds and credit lines
Tracks retainage, pay estimates and sub payments by owner and job
Explains a cash forecast to the CEO and project managers in plain words
Teach these on the job
Each owner's pay estimate cycle and forms
Your job cost and equipment accounting setup
Your union fringe or open-shop benefit plans
Your state DOT's prequalification filings
Your cost codes and bid items
Expect construction accounting software that handles equipment costing, such as Viewpoint Vista or Sage 300 CRE, fed by field timecards and machine telematics, with Excel for cash forecasts. Have finalists build, line by line, the hourly rate for one machine you own.
Civil construction chief financial officer interview questions
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Catching profit fade
A highway job showed a healthy margin at bid, but its cost-to-complete estimate climbs every month. What do you do?
A strong answer: Rebuilds cost to complete with the project manager line by line, checks quantities, unpriced changes and productivity, books the loss when it's known, and tells leadership and the surety.
Behavioral · Spotting cost overruns
Tell me about a time you saw costs running over on a project before the project manager did. What happened?
A strong answer: The report or signal they saw, how they raised it, and the action that followed.
Probably, once you bid state DOT work. Florida's DOT, for one, wants audited statements from a licensed CPA with each qualification application, and takes reviewed statements only from contractors who bid jobs estimated under 2 million dollars. Rules differ from state to state, so read your own DOT's. Ask your surety what level of statement it wants before you ask for higher limits, and plan the year-end close so the statements are ready for bid season.
How much does a civil construction chief financial officer make?
Chief executives who work for heavy and civil engineering contractors earned a median of $224,170 a year ($107.77 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $144,210 and $306,440 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
Should a civil contractor buy or rent heavy equipment?
Use your own numbers. Rent for short peaks, odd jobs and machines you need a few weeks a year. Buy what runs most of the season, if your cost per hour beats the rental rate once repairs, insurance and idle time are counted. Review the split every year, since a machine that sat half the season is costing more than it looks.
Who chases retainage at the end of a job?
The project manager gets the punch list done and the closeout papers in, such as as-builts, test results and final quantities. The CFO's team tracks each owner's release steps and follows up until the money arrives, then pays subs their share on time. Retainage left for months often means a missing closeout document, not an owner who refuses to pay.
How should a civil CFO finance the fleet?
Match each loan or lease to how long the machine will earn its keep, not to the lowest payment. Keep one schedule of every machine's loan, payoff date and resale value, and share it with the bank and surety each year. Stagger big purchases so one weak season doesn't leave several large payments due at once while machines sit.
