Controller

Location: San Leandro, CA
Reports To: CEO
Position Type: Full-Time | Senior Leadership Role

Position Summary

The Controller is a senior, hands-on accounting leader responsible for the day-to-day financial operations of the company while ensuring accurate job cost reporting, timely financial closes, and strong cash flow management. In a ~$40M revenue business, with three separate business units (Construction, Service, Cabinetry), the Controller is deeply involved in transaction-level accounting, supervises a small accounting team, and serves as the primary financial partner to operations and ownership.

This role blends execution with oversight and requires strong construction accounting expertise, attention to detail, and the ability to work closely with project management.

Core Responsibilities

Day-to-Day Accounting & Close

• Actively participate in monthly close activities, including journal entries, reconciliations, and financial statement preparation
• Prepare WIP schedules using percentage-of-completion accounting
• Maintain the general ledger and ensure accuracy of all financial transactions
• Reconcile bank accounts, credit cards, and key balance sheet accounts

Job Costing & Project Financials

• Oversee job setup, cost codes, budgets, and cost allocations
• Review divisional job costs regularly and investigate cost variances
• Partner with project managers to ensure timely and accurate cost reporting
• Oversee AR tracking of change orders, contract values, retainage, and billing status
• Ensure alignment between job cost, billing, and WIP schedules

Billing, AR & AP Oversight

• Oversee and actively support progress billing, including monthly and WO billing and lien waiver compliance
• Monitor accounts receivable aging and participate in collection efforts
• Review accounts payable, vendor compliance, and subcontractor payments
• Ensure proper handling of retainage, joint checks, and conditional/unconditional lien waivers

Cash Flow & Financial Controls

• Prepare and manage short- and mid-term cash flow forecasts
• Monitor cash position daily and manage payment timing
• Support banking relationships, bonding requests, and lender reporting
• Maintain and enforce internal controls and approval processes

Tax, Compliance & Reporting

• Oversee payroll processing and payroll tax compliance
• Coordinate sales/use tax filings and construction-related tax compliance
• Support year-end financial reporting, tax preparation, and audits
• Ensure compliance with GAAP and contractual reporting requirements

HR Compliance & Reporting (temporarily)

• Manage new hiring processes, including entering to employees into payrolls system
• Managing benefits deductions, accruals, payments
• Manage misc HR tasks as needed

Team Leadership & Systems

• Supervise and mentor accounting staff (AP, AR, payroll)
• Establish clear workflows, deadlines, and accountability
• Serve as system administrator or power user for accounting and job cost software
• Identify and implement process improvements to improve accuracy and efficiency

Key Success Factors

• Ability to operate at both the transaction and leadership level
• Strong understanding of construction operations and project lifecycles
• Proactive communication with project managers and leadership
• High level of accuracy, accountability, and follow-through

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or Finance
• 7+ years of progressive accounting experience, with at least 3–5 years in construction
• Strong hands-on experience with job cost accounting and WIP reporting
• Experience in a small to mid-sized contractor environment
• Construction accounting software experience (e.g., Sage, Autodesk, Financials, similar)
• CPA preferred but not required