The Company Roadrunner Venture Studios is the nation's leading platform for founding breakthrough ventures in frontier technology. Our mission is to turn deep technology into breakthrough companies for the benefit of the American people. Together with engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs, we build products, create the initial business model, recruit exceptional teams, align companies with their first customers, and provide initial funding. We are focused on energy, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, quantum computing, aerospace, advanced materials, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing. Roadrunner Venture Studios is launching a new photonics platform to consolidate the nation's most promising photonics technologies into a single scaled enterprise. Serving the U.S. Government, defense prime contractors, and commercial customers, the company sits at the convergence of several of the nation's most important technology priorities, including secure sensing and communications, AI infrastructure, and quantum computing. Backed by institutional investors and an experienced leadership team, the company is building the financial, operational, and governance infrastructure necessary to become the market leader in domestic photonics manufacturing while preparing for a planned public listing. The Opportunity This is a rare opportunity for an accomplished public-company finance executive to build, rather than inherit, a platform of national significance. The Chief Financial Officer will be a true architect of the enterprise: designing the capital strategy that funds an acquisition pipeline, constructing the financial and compliance infrastructure of a defense-trusted manufacturer, and preparing the company for the public markets from day one. The CFO will operate as the CEO's closest thought partner and as a principal voice with the Board, investors, lenders, and government customers. The mandate spans capital formation, M&A execution and integration, government contract finance, and public-company readiness with direct line of sight to a public listing. The Role Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the CFO will lead all aspects of finance and will carry four interlocking mandates: 1. Strategic & Board Partnership * Serve as strategic partner to the CEO and Board on corporate strategy, capital allocation, acquisition prioritization, and long-term value creation. * Own the financial roadmap that connects today's acquisition pipeline to a planned public market event. * Institute public-company discipline and culture around Board reporting, forecasting credibility, and enterprise performance management. 2. Capital Formation & Capital Markets * Lead equity and debt financing across the capital structure, including institutional and strategic equity, commercial and structured credit, project finance, and government funding vehicles (e.g., DoD industrial-base programs, Title III, grants, and cooperative agreements). * Build and manage relationships with institutional investors, lenders, research analysts, auditors, and advisors while positioning the company for the public markets. * Drive IPO readiness, including audit quality, SOX-caliber internal controls, SEC-ready reporting, equity story development, and investor relations capability. 3. Acquisition & Buy-and-Build Execution * Partner with the CEO to source, evaluate, structure, and close acquisitions; lead valuation, financial due diligence, financing, and negotiation of transaction terms. * Build the repeatable integration playbook across finance, accounting, treasury, ERP, reporting, and KPIs that converts a portfolio of acquired businesses into one company. * Standardize financial processes while protecting the technical talent, customer relationships, and program execution of acquired businesses; identify, quantify, and deliver synergies. 4. Financial & Government-Contract Infrastructure * Lead strategic planning, budgeting, forecasting, accounting, treasury, cash management, financial reporting, tax, and compliance for a multi-site advanced manufacturing enterprise. * Build the government contract finance backbone, including FAR/DFARS compliance, CAS-compliant cost accounting, DCAA/DCMA audit readiness, indirect rate structures, and pricing across cost-type, fixed-price, and OTA vehicles. * Scale financial systems, controls, and a high-performing finance team ahead of growth, acquisitions, and manufacturing expansion. Measures of Success — First 12 to 18 Months * Capital in place. A financing strategy designed and executed that fully funds the near-term acquisition pipeline and operating plan on favorable terms. * Transactions closed and integrated. Two or more acquisitions diligenced, closed, and operating on a common financial platform, with synergy targets quantified and tracked. * One company, one set of numbers. Consolidated monthly close, unified ERP/reporting roadmap, and Board-grade KPIs across all operating units. * Government-trusted infrastructure. DCAA-audit-ready cost accounting and compliant indirect rate structures supporting competitive bids on DoD programs. * Public-company readiness on track. Audit, controls, governance, and reporting maturing on a defined path to IPO with credibility established among institutional investors and the Board. * The team built. A scalable finance organization with strong leaders in controllership, FP&A, government contract finance, and M&A integration. The Candidate We are seeking a sitting or recent CFO (or equivalently seasoned public-company senior finance officer) who combines capital markets sophistication with the operating grit of deeply technical, manufacturing-intensive businesses serving the Department of Defense. Strongly Preferred Experience * Public-company experience. Officer-level experience as CFO or as a direct report to the CFO of a publicly traded company, with ownership of SEC reporting, SOX compliance, earnings processes, and investor relations. * Capital markets execution. A track record of raising institutional capital and executing capital markets transactions such as an IPO or de-SPAC, follow-on equity offerings, private placements, and/or syndicated or structured debt. * Hard-tech operating experience. Senior finance leadership in a deeply technical, engineering-driven business in photonics, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, aerospace systems, or comparable hard-tech industries, with fluency in manufacturing economics, yield, capacity investment, and long product development cycles. * Defense and government contracting. Experience in a defense contractor or a business with a substantial DoD or U.S. Government customer base, including working knowledge of FAR/DFARS, CAS cost accounting, DCAA/DCMA audits, indirect rates, and government contract types. * M&A leadership. Hands-on leadership of acquisitions from valuation and diligence through structuring, financing, closing, and post-acquisition integration, ideally within a roll-up, platform, or buy-and-build strategy. * Public company transition. Experience taking a company public or serving as CFO during the first years operating as a public company. * Federal R&D programs. Exposure to DARPA, AFRL, DOE, NASA, or similar federal R&D contracting environments, including experience supporting SBIR/STTR-to-program-of-record transitions. * Systems integration. Experience integrating multiple acquired businesses onto a common ERP platform and financial control environment. * National security regulatory expertise. Familiarity with regulatory frameworks affecting defense and national security businesses, including CFIUS, ITAR/EAR, and FOCI mitigation. * Security clearance eligibility. U.S. citizenship with the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government security clearance. Leadership Competencies & Personal Attributes * Builder's mindset. Energized by creating infrastructure, teams, and playbooks rather than maintaining them. * Commercial judgment with financial discipline. Knows when to move at deal speed and when to slow down for compliance and audit integrity. * Executive presence. Credibility in the boardroom and on the shop floor, with the ability to communicate with equal fluency to institutional investors, government customers, and engineers. * Low ego, high ownership. Thrives as a true partner to a founder/CEO in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment. * Uncompromising integrity. Befitting a steward of investor capital and a trusted partner to the U.S. Government. Education & Credentials * Education. Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related field; MBA and/or CPA strongly preferred. * Experience. 15+ years of progressive financial leadership, including executive-level responsibility. \n \n