Director of Finance and Operations (Alexandria)

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE & OPERATIONS

Location: Alexandria, VA | Full-Time, In-Person

Reports To: Chief Executive Officer

Compensation: $98,000 Base Salary + Benefits + Profit Share

Profit Share: Historically averaging $20,000–$50,000+ annually, with uncapped potential

BUILD THE ENGINE BEHIND EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCES.

RGI events is a strategic event production firm that has spent more than 18 years creating complex, high-impact experiences for Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, policy institutions, and leading brands.

Our work goes far beyond producing great events. We create experiences that help our clients raise money, launch products, train teams, drive sales, convene leaders, engage communities, and advance some of their most important organizational objectives.

And we're growing.

In addition to our nationally recognized event production business, RGI has expanded into hospitality through the ownership and operation of high-end dining and special event venues, with additional hospitality projects currently in development.

With that growth comes greater complexity—and an opportunity to build the financial and operational infrastructure for what comes next.

We are seeking a Director of Finance & Operations to do exactly that.

This is not a traditional finance role.

We're looking for a builder: someone who can bring financial rigor to the organization while also improving how the business operates.

Someone who creates order from complexity.

Someone who sees an inefficient process and immediately starts thinking about how to fix it.

Someone equally comfortable analyzing project profitability, designing an approval workflow, improving a company-wide process, holding a team accountable, and sitting beside the CEO to solve an operational problem.

For the right person, this role is designed to grow alongside the company and evolve into one of RGI's most senior operational leadership positions.

THE ROLE

Reporting directly to the CEO, the Director of Finance & Operations will serve as a senior leader responsible for the financial discipline, operational effectiveness, systems, controls, and infrastructure of the organization.

You will own day-to-day financial operations while helping build a smarter, more scalable company.

Success will be measured not simply by whether the books are accurate, but by whether leadership has visibility, projects are profitable, resources are deployed intelligently, processes work, standards are followed, and the organization executes consistently and efficiently.

WHAT YOU'LL OWN

Financial Operations & Stewardship

• Oversee accounts payable and accounts receivable
• Own bookkeeping and financial recordkeeping
• Manage banking, cash flow monitoring, and payment execution
• Lead monthly financial reporting and reconciliation
• Develop and monitor company and departmental budgets
• Track project-level budgets, committed costs, actual spend, variances, and profitability
• Establish and enforce purchasing, expense approval, and credit card controls
• Manage vendor payments and financial documentation
• Partner with our external CPA on tax, accounting, and compliance matters
• Provide leadership with timely, accurate financial visibility and actionable analysis

Operational Excellence & Process Improvement

• Analyze workflows and identify bottlenecks, waste, risk, and inefficiency
• Design, document, implement, and continuously improve SOPs
• Build systems that create accountability without unnecessary bureaucracy
• Improve project financial management and reconciliation processes
• Identify opportunities for automation and smarter use of technology
• Develop operational dashboards, KPIs, and reporting systems
• Ensure processes are not simply created—but adopted, followed, measured, and improved
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives across the organization

Business Operations

• Lead resource and capacity planning
• Oversee purchasing and procurement systems
• Strengthen vendor onboarding, management, and accountability
• Support operational policy development
• Identify and mitigate operational and financial risk
• Strengthen internal controls and compliance
• Improve organizational documentation and institutional knowledge
• Help prepare the company's systems and infrastructure for continued growth
• Support operational excellence across both our event production and hospitality businesses

Leadership & Accountability

• Supervise finance and applicable administrative functions
• Partner with leadership on resource allocation and organizational needs
• Establish clear accountability structures and performance measures
• Help develop scalable onboarding and training systems
• Ensure cross-functional initiatives move from decision to execution
• Bring structure, follow-through, and accountability to company priorities
• Foster a culture in which financial responsibility and operational excellence are everyone's responsibility

Strategic Execution

• Serve as a trusted operational partner to the CEO and senior leadership
• Translate strategic priorities into executable plans
• Independently solve operational problems that do not require CEO intervention
• Coordinate complex initiatives across departments and business divisions
• Identify obstacles to execution and drive them to resolution
• Bring recommendations—not simply problems—to leadership
• Help determine how the company can operate smarter, faster, and more profitably as it grows

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

During your first year, you will have:

• Given leadership reliable, timely visibility into company and project financial performance
• Established disciplined purchasing and expense controls without unnecessarily slowing the business
• Improved project-level financial tracking and helped protect profitability before problems occur
• Built scalable systems that reduce administrative burden and eliminate recurring operational friction
• Created meaningful KPIs and leadership reporting
• Strengthened accountability around company processes and financial decisions
• Identified measurable efficiencies across the organization
• Become a trusted advisor to the CEO and a go-to leader for complex operational issues
• Built infrastructure capable of supporting the company's next stage of growth

WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR

We care less about a particular industry pedigree than we do about how you think and what you have built.

You may be a strong fit if you are:

• A systems builder who naturally creates order from complexity
• Financially sophisticated and operationally minded
• Analytical without becoming paralyzed by analysis
• Comfortable making sound decisions with incomplete information
• Highly organized with exceptional follow-through
• Able to move fluidly between financial detail and big-picture business thinking
• Comfortable holding people accountable to established standards
• Confident working directly with entrepreneurial senior leadership
• Curious and constantly looking for better ways to operate
• Willing to challenge assumptions and recommend a better path
• Energized by growth, change, and building infrastructure
• Someone who takes genuine ownership of problems and drives them through resolution

EXPERIENCE WE VALUE

Strong candidates will typically bring:

• Approximately 8–15 years of progressive experience in finance, operations, business management, hospitality management, professional services, or organizational leadership
• Meaningful hands-on experience with financial operations, budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting
• Experience managing budgets and analyzing financial performance
• Demonstrated success building or improving business processes and operating systems
• Experience leading people and working across multiple functional areas
• Strong business judgment and problem-solving ability
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills

Experience in a project-based, hospitality, events, professional services, agency, or other operationally complex business is particularly relevant.

A CPA is not required. We value demonstrated leadership, financial fluency, sound judgment, operational excellence, and a track record of building high-performing organizations more than any particular certification.

WHY THIS ROLE IS DIFFERENT

Many finance roles focus primarily on reporting what has already happened.

This role helps determine what happens next.

You'll work directly with an entrepreneurial CEO and senior leadership team, influence decisions across multiple areas of the organization, and help build the systems supporting nationally recognized events, high-end hospitality experiences, and a growing portfolio of business ventures.

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