Question: I need an adjective for the term "financially motivated." The word I'm looking for isn't exactly greedy or rapacious. Although it can have connotations like that, the word needs to directly mean something more similar to "he does his job well if there's money (or perhaps just incentive) on the line."

Thanks in anticipation.

Answer: 
You might describe such a person or their worldview as **transactional**. 

In other words, this person makes an effort in a certain context because compensation is offered. Either broadly or in a certain situation, they might interpret their own and others' actions and expectations through the lens of a balance sheet—effort for its own sake is neither extended nor expected.

The term is not especially complimentary but is far less pejorative than the alternatives "greedy," "desperate," ""avaricious," "rapacious," "materialistic," or "mercenary" (!). It includes anyone who expects to receive a paycheck from their employer, for example. One could frame the behavior in a positive way by saying that the person is businesslike or practical in expecting a suitably compensated, mutually fulfilling professional relationship.
*Financially motivated* typically refers to cash-strapped sellers and suggests you can get what ever they are selling at a bargain. In this sense, *desperate* is about right. But you seem to be looking for something like a person who's *all business*. 

I suggest the idiom *sees dollar signs* - he does his job well when he sees dollar signs.

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> The White House Sees Only Dollar Signs in the Arctic 
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[The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/18/opinion/the-white-house-sees-only-dollar-signs-in-the-arctic.html)

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> Twista Sees Dollar Signs on 'Stackin Paper': Premierete 
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<https://www.zerchoo.com/music/twista-sees-dollar-signs-on-stackin-paperpremiere/> 

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> Law firm sees dollar signs in drone technology 
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<https://finance-commerce.com/2014/08/law-firm-sees-dollar-signs-in-drone-technology/>