Director of Finance

Hillwood•Dallas, TX

5d•Onsite

About The Position

Petrus Aviation is seeking a dynamic and experienced Director of Finance to oversee the finance, valuation, cash flow monitoring, reporting, and controls environment for an aircraft leasing investment fund in Dallas, TX. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, this individual will serve as the operational finance lead between the deal team, operating partners, accounting providers, valuation analyst, management, and investors. A primary responsibility of this position will be to establish and maintain a strong financial control environment across the platform, including oversight of cash flow monitoring, operating partner reporting, accounting and tax information, valuation inputs, and investor-facing reporting. This individual will be responsible for ensuring the accuracy, completeness, and integrity of the information used to support financial reporting, investment valuations, and management decision-making. The role will also oversee the valuation process and preparation of the discounted cash flow models used to value the fund's aircraft investments. The ideal leader will also implement and maintain strong controls, procedures, governance practices, and documentation standards to support reliable valuations, informed decision-making, and investor confidence.

Requirements

Demonstrated ability to build, review, redesign, and govern discounted cash flow models from scratch, not merely update existing templates.
Strong valuation, fund operations, controls, reporting, and model governance capabilities, with the technical depth to identify when a model is working mathematically but is still poorly designed from a control, documentation, data integrity, or scalability standpoint.
Ability to challenge assumptions from deal teams and operating partners in a constructive, evidence-based manner.
Strong analytical acumen, sound business judgment, and the ability to translate complex valuation and cash flow information into clear management insights.
Detail-oriented with a strong commitment to accuracy, documentation, process discipline, and data integrity.
Ability to operate as a second line of defense behind the deal team by independently validating information feeding the valuation process and ensuring quarterly marks are supported by a disciplined, repeatable, and well-controlled process.
Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance or related business discipline.
10-15 years of progressive experience in private equity, infrastructure, aviation leasing, asset-backed investing, fund operations, valuation, transaction advisory, FP&A, controllership, or complex financial modeling, including experience redesigning valuation infrastructure, managing analysts, supporting investor-facing valuation processes, and developing management reporting and performance dashboards.

Nice To Haves

CPA strongly preferred
CFA or valuation credential desirable

Responsibilities

Manage the Valuation Analyst and oversee the quarterly valuation process from data collection through model review, management review, and final valuation support.
Establish clear deadlines, review expectations, documentation standards, and approval procedures.
Evaluate current DCF models for structure, formula integrity, assumption consistency, scalability, auditability, version control, and ability to support fair value conclusions.
Determine whether models should be refined, standardized, rebuilt, or supplemented with more robust templates, dashboards, input schedules, or controls.
Independently review analyst-prepared models and challenge lease assumptions, maintenance assumptions, residual values, discount rates, timing of cash flows, debt assumptions, end-of-life assumptions, and other valuation drivers.
Perform sensitivity analyses and explain valuation changes to management.
Review whether existing models are well-structured, formula-driven, transparent, consistent, and capable of supporting reliable aircraft-level valuation marks.
Prepare written model assessments identifying strengths, risks, gaps, and recommended improvements.
Determine whether the models should remain as-is, be standardized, or be rebuilt into a more controlled framework with consistent input tabs, assumption libraries, output summaries, dashboards, and audit trails.
Develop recommended model design and implementation roadmaps as needed.
Tie lease terms, bank activity, partner reporting, maintenance activity, reserves, debt service, expenses, and residual assumptions back to support.
Maintain input control checklists, partner data trackers, and exception logs.
Review formulas, links, timing mechanics, discounting logic, scenario functionality, forecast periods, terminal values, and sensitivity outputs.
Maintain independent review sign-offs and documented review notes.
Establish version control, model change logs, review evidence, and approval requirements for changes to assumptions, formulas, and structure.
Maintain a formal model governance protocol.
Assess whether the framework can support additional aircraft, partners, leases, debt structures, reporting requirements, KPIs, and investor questions without excessive manual work or control risk.
Develop scalable templates, standardized reporting packages, dashboard frameworks, and repeatable quarterly workflows.
Develop standardized partner reporting packages, timelines, certifications, and follow-up procedures.
Coordinate with operating partners to obtain accurate information about leases, maintenance activity, reserves, collections, expenses, financing activity, and other cash flows that feed cash forecasts, accounting records, and valuation models.
Coordinate with accounting providers, operating partners, and internal stakeholders to support the timely flow of GAAP, tax, cash activity, and other financial information used in reporting, forecasting, controls, and valuation processes.
Prepare and maintain aircraft-level and fund-level cash forecasts, including lease receipts, maintenance events, debt service, capital needs, operating expenses, management fees, distributions, and other expected sources and uses of cash.
Prepare operating expense budgets, monitor monthly results against budget and forecast expectations, investigate and document meaningful variances, and coordinate with operating partners and internal stakeholders to understand timing differences, recurring trends, and potential cash flow or valuation implications.
Monitor bank accounts and cash activity for expected and unexpected transactions.
Reconcile actual activity to expected activity, investigate variances, document conclusions, and maintain an exception log.
Implement controls over management expenses, operating expenses, reimbursements, professional fees, maintenance costs, and other fund or aircraft-level expenses, ensuring expenses are properly supported, approved, classified, allocated, and recorded in the appropriate period.
Design and maintain valuation policies, model governance standards, cash monitoring procedures, partner reporting controls, change-control procedures, review checklists, and documentation standards to ensure processes are repeatable, scalable, and audit-ready.
Coordinate audit support, maintain valuation documentation, respond to diligence requests, and ensure that key assumptions, model changes, partner data, and management conclusions are supported and retained.
Support the deal team with financial analysis, cash flow review, valuation sensitivity analysis, downside case analysis, return analysis, and post-close transition of new investments into the monitoring, reporting, and valuation framework.
Develop and maintain management dashboards, aircraft-level performance reporting, portfolio KPIs, cash flow summaries, valuation bridges, exception reporting, and trend analysis for management and investment oversight.
Develop and maintain forward-looking forecasting and scenario analysis tools that support investment decision-making, identify emerging risks and opportunities, and enhance the integrity of the assumptions used in valuation and portfolio oversight.
Prepare or support board presentations, valuation committee materials, investor reporting, management updates, and other reporting packages that explain fund performance, valuation changes, cash activity, risks, and key operating metrics.