VP of Finance in Chicago, Illinois at Local Eclectic

Local Eclectic is a Chicago-based fine jewelry company operating five proprietary brands (Family Gold, For You With Love, Harvest Moon, Carried Jewels, Period Piece) with wholesale partnerships including Nordstrom, Anthropologie, Free People, and Rocksbox. The company is expanding beyond e-commerce and wholesale with the launch of a flagship retail store and café at 212 E. Ontario in downtown Chicago — bringing the business to three distinct revenue channels: online/DTC, in-person retail, and food & beverage.

We're looking for an experienced finance leader to own the company's full financial operations — from day-to-day cash management to strategic profitability work to banking relationships. This person will build the systems, reporting, and discipline needed to run three distinct business lines (e-commerce, retail, café) with the rigor of a much larger organization, while staying close enough to the details to catch problems before they become crises.

This is a hands-on operating role, not a purely strategic one. You'll be in the weeds on vendor invoices and payroll one day while also negotiating and managing banking partnerships.

P&L and Profitability

• Own the company's consolidated P&L and build separate, trackable P&Ls for each business line (online, retail, café)
• Oversee gross margin and net profit performance across all brands and channels; identify and drive initiatives to improve profitability
• Build and manage departmental budgets in partnership with department heads
• Develop and manage open-to-buy budgets in coordination with merchandising/design

Cash Flow & Treasury

• Own company-wide cash flow management and forecasting
• Design and implement a system for tracking and managing cash flow across three separate business lines (e-commerce, retail, café)
• Identify areas of inefficient or unnecessary cash spend and recommend corrective action
• Manage bill pay, vendor invoices, and the accounts payable process
• Lead vendor negotiations and manage vendor agreements/terms

Banking & Financing

• Serve as the primary point of contact for all banking relationships
• Lead negotiations on loans, lines of credit, and other financing facilities
• Manage existing debt/financing obligations and reporting requirements
• Evaluate financing options and their impact on cash flow

Payroll & Operations

• Oversee payroll processing and compliance across all entities and locations
• Manage company-wide expense tracking and approval processes

Financial Reporting & Forecasting

• Own the monthly close process and deliver KPI dashboards and reporting
• Build financial models and forecasts across all three business lines (online, retail, café)

Compliance & Risk

• Manage partnerships with external agencies who oversee multi-state sales tax compliance and filings across e-commerce, wholesale, and physical retail
• Own insurance and risk management, including general liability, property, and business interruption coverage — particularly with the addition of a physical location
• Coordinate with outside CPA/tax counsel on entity structure, quarterly estimates, and year-end tax planning

Systems & Infrastructure

• Evaluate and manage the company's accounting and reporting systems (e.g., QuickBooks/NetSuite), including POS integration across retail and café and Shopify financial data

Café-Specific Financial Operations

• Manage food cost/COGS tracking and perishable inventory accounting, distinct from jewelry inventory processes
• Oversee health department and related compliance costs specific to the café operation

• Minimum 7-10 years of progressive finance leadership experience, with demonstrated ownership of all responsibilities listed above at a comparably sized or larger company
• Proven experience managing cash flow, budgets, and P&L for a multi-channel or multi-entity business (e.g., DTC + retail, or multi-brand)
• Direct experience negotiating with banking partners and securing/managing loans or lines of credit
• Experience managing vendor relationships and negotiating vendor agreements at scale
• Strong command of gross margin and profitability analysis in a product-based business (retail, CPG, or similar)
• Experience overseeing payroll for a company of similar size

• Experience in jewelry, fashion, beauty, or another high-SKU/inventory-intensive consumer brand
• Experience managing finances across e-commerce, physical retail, and hospitality/F&B simultaneously
• Experience with alternative financing structures (MCAs, asset-based lending) in addition to traditional bank debt
• Exposure to growth equity, private equity, or M&A processes — either raising capital or supporting a transaction
• CPA or MBA
• Experience scaling a company profitability