The city’s long search for a new collector/treasurer will hit a key deadline on Friday, when applications are due for the job. At least five years’ experience and a bachelor’s degree in finance, business, or a related field is required. A master’s degree and designation as a certified public accountant are preferred. The salary will be based on a experience. The job has been vacant since longtime treasurer Frank Vacca retired in January 2010, several months after another employee, Gia Marie DeSantis, pleaded guilty to stealing $518,000 in tax money from the office. The City Council petitioned the state Legislature to create a new position of chief financial officer, which would include the treasurer/collector duties. That new job was offered in May to one candidate who turned it down. The council has since decided to separate the CFO duties from collector/treasurer. A new petition, to split the CFO position from treasurer/collector, is pending on Beacon Hill.