Director, Operational Finance

ROLE OVERVIEW Pivot Energy is seeking a Director of Operational Finance to serve as the strategic bridge between corporate FP&A and operations teams. In this role, you will own the flow of operational data, cost insights, and project financial metrics from development, EPC, construction, and asset management functions into corporate financial planning and reporting. You will establish and maintain financial discipline across project portfolios, drive alignment on cost controls and project economics, and translate complex operational realities into actionable financial insights that support executive decision-making and strategic growth. This is a hands-on strategic position requiring deep operational partnership skills and the ability to influence and align diverse groups without direct authority across multiple functional groups. PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES • Serve as the primary strategic liaison and trusted advisor between FP&A and development, EPC, asset management, and construction teams; establish relationships that enable open dialogue on financial performance, operational trade-offs, and cost drivers. • Own responsibility for operational financial planning and data integrity: gather, validate, and interpret cost and performance data across project portfolios; synthesize field intelligence into portfolio-level variance analysis, forecasting inputs, and trend reporting for FP&A and executive leadership. • Establish and maintain financial governance frameworks for development and EPC execution; define cost control standards, change management protocols, project-level financial metrics, accounting methodologies, and financial decision-making criteria that operations teams follow. • Lead cross-functional problem-solving on cost escalation, schedule delays, budget pressures, and risk; identify and escalate material variances and emerging risks to CFO and executive leadership with recommended mitigation strategies and impact assessments. • Partner with asset management on operational financial metrics, run-rate economics, and performance against operating budgets; ensure alignment between development phase cost estimates and post-COD actuals to improve forecasting accuracy. • Maintain data reconciliation discipline across project management systems (Procore, etc.), ERP platforms (NetSuite, Sage), and accounting systems; establish audit protocols that resolve discrepancies before data enters formal reporting and forecasts. • Drive standardization and automation of cost accounting methodologies, templates, and calculations across projects and asset classes to enable consistent portfolio analysis, comparability, and reduced manual effort. • Identify and implement process improvements and system enhancements that reduce reporting cycle time, improve data quality, minimize manual work on field teams, and scale financial discipline across growth. • Build and maintain BI dashboards and reporting tools that give operations and FP&A leadership real-time visibility into project performance, financial health, cost drivers, and key performance indicators. • Deliver executive-level analysis and decision support on capital projects, operational efficiency, portfolio optimization, and valuation; prepare financial narratives and materials for board and investor communications. REQUIRED COMPETENCIES • Operational Finance Expertise: 5+ years in FP&A, project controls, or operational finance supporting development, construction, or EPC functions with demonstrated impact on cost management and financial discipline. • Industry Experience: Proven background in renewable energy, infrastructure, construction, or capital-intensive project delivery; preferably distributed generation solar or similar asset class. • Deep Project Finance Knowledge: Expert-level expertise in project accounting, cost controls, change order management, cost-to-complete methodologies, and portfolio economics in complex, multi-project environments. • Systems & Tools Proficiency: Hands-on expertise with project management systems (Procore, Touchplan), ERP platforms (NetSuite, Sage), and BI/analytics tools (Power BI preferred); ability to configure and troubleshoot data flows. • Financial Modeling: Advanced Excel skills with ability to build, maintain, and enhance financial models; strong data analysis and transformation capabilities to support insights and forecasting. • Cross-functional Leadership: Exceptional ability to influence and align diverse groups without direct authority; strong stakeholder management and communication skills tailored to operations, finance, and executive audiences. • Operational Acumen: Deep understanding of field operations, construction constraints, trade-offs, and drivers that impact project economics and execution risk. • Data Governance Mindset: Detail-oriented with a reconciliation-first approach; treats data quality, accuracy, and audit trails as core responsibilities and establishes discipline across teams. • Strategic Problem-Solving: Ability to translate operational complexity and ambiguity into clear financial narratives; bridges finance and operations language to drive alignment. • Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Engineering, or equivalent experience; CPA a plus. PREFERRED COMPETENCIES • ERP & Planning Systems: Hands-on experience implementing or managing planning, forecasting, and ERP systems; familiarity with data architecture and model governance best practices. • Process Automation: Experience designing or implementing workflow automation and AI-enabled tools to reduce manual work, accelerate analysis, and strengthen data integrity. • Solar IPP Operations: In-depth familiarity with solar independent power producer operations, distributed generation business models, or similar renewable asset management. • Project Finance Models: Experience with solar project financial models, including structured debt, tax equity arrangements, and power purchase agreement (PPA) economics. Recruitment Agency Notice: We appreciate your interest in partnering with us; however, we are not seeking recruitment agency support for this role. ABOUT PIVOT Pivot Energy is a national renewable energy provider that develops, finances, builds, owns, and manages solar and energy storage projects that help decarbonize our nation’s electricity, increase equitable access to clean energy for local communities, and provide real cost-savings to American businesses and families.   We are fiercely dedicated to accelerating the rapid transition taking place in the energy industry to a more decentralized and cleaner approach to power generation. We are committed to positively contributing to the local communities and people we serve with more than clean energy. We believe global warming poses an existential threat to our planet and that we have a responsibility to help mitigate the threat. Our portfolio includes projects that reduce energy burden for income-limited families, create workforce pathways for under-represented groups within the solar industry, and include robust community investment opportunities.   As a Certified B Corporation and one of Denver’s “Best Places to Work”, we believe that company success is driven by a healthy environment, thriving society, and workplace where all individuals are respected. We evaluate every internal decision on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors to determine if our actions will result in a net positive impact on the community, our employees, customers, shareholders, and the environment. Learn more in our annual ESG Report.   At Pivot, our core values guide our work internally and externally: ·       Impact – We hold ourselves accountable to having a measurable impact on our people, communities, and the planet ·       Balance – Put family first; work hard/have fun ·       Determination – Find ways to be successful no matter how difficult the challenge ·       Professionalism – Impress everyone we touch, be a team player ·       Honesty – Be truthful and transparent, externally and internally ·       Kindness – Create an environment where kindness, empathy, and vulnerability are embraced   DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION and JUSTICE STATEMENT   At Pivot, we are proactively developing and maintaining an inclusive culture, rooted in mutual respect, that supports a workforce of different generations, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, ability statuses, religions, and cultures to work collaboratively together for greater impact. We seek to build a team that invests in relationship building, celebrates each other’s successes, and makes space for the unique contributions and working styles people bring into Pivot.  Pivot invests in company-wide trainings, assessments, and programs to advance internal inclusion and equity practices, such as employee allyship building, cross-cultural communications, and equitable hiring and management protocols to increasingly recognize bias and ensure mutual respect and belonging.   EEO STATEMENT Pivot Energy is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to increasing the diversity of its workforce. We actively work to cultivate an inclusive culture that welcomes, empowers, and enables equitable career growth for employees regardless of background.