Controller / Director of Finance (Hospital or Medical Group) Recruiters
Healthcare Headhunters recruits healthcare professionals for employers. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
This is what we do all day: recruit healthcare professionals.
Hire a finance leader who can connect your monthly results to the decisions made across hospital departments or medical group sites.
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
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What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
- Director of Finance
- Senior Director of Finance
- Director of Financial Planning and Analysis
- Director of Hospital Finance
- Regional Director of Finance
- Director of Finance and Accounting
- Division Finance Director
What does an open seat cost you every week?
An open role costs you more than the recruiting fee. Someone covers the work, waits for care, or stops a service. We ask what is falling behind and who is carrying it. Use your own figures to compare the cost of waiting with the cost of hiring.
The seat is costing you every week.
Overtime, diverted patients, a stretched team and a schedule held together by favors.
The posting brought the wrong people.
Applicants arrive, but the person who has done this exact work is employed and not looking.
You are the one chasing.
Screening calls, no-shows and follow-ups land on the desk of someone with a facility to run.
What does this hire really come down to?
A Controller or Director of Finance must do more than close the books. This leader explains why a service line missed plan, tests the numbers behind the variance, and gives executives a usable choice before the next reporting cycle. The first decision is scope.
Some organizations need a hands-on controller who owns the general ledger, close calendar, audit support, and internal controls. Others need a finance director who leads planning, capital review, and operating discussions with service-line and physician leaders. A combined role may need both strengths.
Generic corporate finance experience can be valuable, but healthcare finance has distinct questions. The candidate should connect payer mix, denied claims, staffing expense, supply spending, and overhead allocation to operating performance. Ask for a clear explanation, not a polished dashboard tour.
What do we check before you see anyone?
Ask which hospital-specific Enterprise Resource Planning systems they used and what reports they built themselves. Confirm whether they can trace a reported variance back to source transactions, account mapping, or a department’s coding practice without outside help for routine reporting.
- Review multi-entity audit work. Ask how they organized support across hospital entities, physician practices, or separate locations; resolved conflicting schedules; and tracked open audit requests. Your team completes its own credentialing and assessment, while we screen work history and discuss this experience in detail.
- Test reimbursement analysis. Ask the candidate to describe how they reviewed government and commercial payer results, separated volume from rate effects, and escalated a finding to revenue-cycle leadership. General accounting alone may not show this knowledge.
- Ask how they present the monthly operating report to a clinical leader. A strong answer explains the report in plain language, identifies the decision needed, and distinguishes a timing issue from a recurring cost problem.
- Discuss capital equipment review. Ask what data they would want before recommending equipment financing, lease terms, or a delayed purchase. Listen for useful tradeoffs among service demand, maintenance costs, depreciation, cash flow, and debt obligations.
- Probe budget accountability. Ask how they handle a department leader who disputes a supply or labor variance. The candidate should seek the underlying data, state what can change, and document who owns the follow-up.
Where do we find them, and why would they move?
We recruit from professionals working in private regional hospital systems, academic medical centers, and large multi-specialty physician practices. They may hold titles such as Director of Finance, Senior Director of Finance, Director of Financial Planning and Analysis, Director of Hospital Finance, Regional Director of Finance, Director of Finance and Accounting, or Division Finance Director.
Some people consider a move when their current structure limits local decision-making, narrows their exposure to service-line planning, or separates them from executive leadership. Others want broader responsibility for accounting, forecasting, capital planning, or physician-practice finance. We ask what would make a change worthwhile before presenting them.
Which mistakes stall the search?
A common mistake is hiring a banking or insurance finance leader without testing payer reimbursement, service-line reporting, and clinical cost drivers. Another is treating software familiarity as proof of judgment, then discovering the candidate can run reports but cannot explain the variance.
Skipping a conversation with physician or department leaders, then learning late that the candidate avoids difficult budget discussions.
How would we run the search for this opening?
Tell us who owns the close, audit coordination, budget process, capital review, and reporting to clinical leaders. We ask candidates for specific examples of reviewing payer results, investigating a missed budget, preparing audit support, and explaining financial results to non-finance leaders.
Set the finance mandate
Clarify whether this person manages a team, supports multiple entities, or reports to a CFO, CEO, or regional leader.
Screen for operating judgment
We also review credentials, work history, location plans, and reasons for considering a change.
Run focused interviews
Use a recent, de-identified operating question from your organization. Ask what data they would review first, whom they would involve, and what decision they would put in front of leadership. We coordinate communication through interviews and offer discussions.
Where this search connects
Revenue Cycle, Reimbursement & HIM
SpecialtyHospitals & Health Systems
SettingPhysician Groups & Specialty Practices
SettingAmbulatory Surgery Centers & Surgical Hospitals
SettingHome Health & Hospice
SettingVP of Revenue Cycle
Related roleDirector of Revenue Cycle
Related roleDirector of Patient Financial Services (PFS / CBO)
Related roleDirector of Patient Access
Related roleAsk us for a current range
No direct SOC occupation matches this role.
No reasonable single SOC match for this brief. Ask us for a current range.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, 2025-05, released 2026-05-15. View source. See the full guide.
Open roles
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Should we require prior hospital experience?
For a hospital role, prior hospital or medical group finance experience usually reduces the learning curve around reimbursement and service-line reporting. If you consider adjacent candidates, test their ability to explain healthcare revenue and department cost drivers with real examples.
How do you distinguish a Controller from a Director of Finance?
A Controller commonly owns accounting operations, close discipline, controls, and audit support. A Director of Finance often spends more time on forecasting, operating performance, capital decisions, and executive reporting. Many hospital and medical group roles combine both.
Can you recruit for a multi-site medical group?
Yes: we can screen for experience across physician practices, entity-level reporting, consolidated budgets, and local leadership relationships. Tell us whether site leaders retain budget authority or whether decisions sit with a central finance team.
Are there upfront costs for a permanent search?
No upfront fee applies to our permanent contingency placement service. You pay only if you hire a person we present. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
Can you help if we need interim coverage before making a permanent hire?
We arrange locum tenens, travel and contract coverage on request. Terms, licensing, where applicable, credentialing, and malpractice arrangements are confirmed before anyone starts. Per diem refers to placement into your own pool, not individual shift coverage.
What should you send us about this role?
Send us the role, where the person will work and what needs to change with this hire. We will ask about the work, not just the title. Share any license or schedule limits that could rule someone out before we begin the search.
If you need a Controller or Director of Finance who can turn financial reporting into practical operating decisions, Healthcare Headhunters can begin the conversation with your hiring team.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
Which other positions in this family should you consider?
Credentialing & Provider Enrollment Manager · Risk Adjustment (HCC) Coding Manager
What do you get at each step of the search?
Our process for every search: calibrate the seat with you, map the market, research the real people, reach out to each one personally, qualify them in live conversation, then hand you a short list with a written brief on each person and support through the offer.
Search Calibration
You get an agreed brief: the work, reporting line, credentials, schedule, and offer you can make.
Market Mapping
You get a search aimed at relevant backgrounds, including people working now who have not applied.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We check appropriate ways to reach the people identified for your search. You do not have to chase them yourself.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We explain your actual job and follow up with people who may consider a conversation.
Live Candidate Qualification
You see people we have spoken with about the work, interest, and practical fit, not an unread resume pile.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You get a written brief and support through interviews and offer discussions. You make the hiring decision.
How long will it take to see a short list?
That depends on the job, schedule, available people, and what your employer can offer. We discuss those constraints before outreach and update you as candidates respond. We do not promise a fixed shortlist date. We check the job brief before arranging interviews. Tell us which parts of the role you can change.
What if a candidate receives a counteroffer?
We ask why the person wants to move and discuss competing decisions before an offer. A counteroffer can still change their choice. Keep the duties and offer clear rather than assuming more money settles every concern. Tell us early if parts of your offer cannot change, so the candidate hears it from us first.
What are the replacement terms?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement. Ask us to walk through those terms before you sign, so you know how a replacement would work for your opening and who would start it.
What do we not do in a standard permanent search?
We do not bill standard contingency search by the hour or simply repost your job. Temporary coverage is a separate arrangement. Any retainer or different engagement must be agreed, not assumed. Tell us early if you need coverage while the permanent search runs.