Accounting Manager, Work-in-Progress (WIP) and Job-Costing Accounting (Manufacturing or Constru[...]

Pave Talent; Vista (CA); On-site; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus structure tied to performance

Mentorship from CFO

Job summary

Pave Talent is seeking a hands-on accountant with expertise in WIP and accrual accounting for a founder-led manufacturing company in Vista, California. This unique role offers real ownership and a path to leadership positions such as CFO or VP of Operations.

The ideal candidate will have proven success managing accounting processes independently and shows a strong track record in manufacturing environments. With hands-on experience, you will build the company's first inventory system while managing day-to-day accounting tasks.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with WIP and accrual accounting from manufacturing or construction.
• Proven success managing accounting processes at a small company.
• Experience with month-end close processes.

Responsibilities

• Manage day-to-day AR, AP, billing, collections, and reconciliations.
• Build and integrate a reliable inventory system tied to accounting.
• Perform monthly project profitability reporting and assist with multi-state sales tax.

Skills

WIP accounting

Accrual accounting

Problem-solving

Process improvement

Professional communication

Tools

QuickBooks Online

AI tools

Job description

A hands‑on accounting seat with real ownership at a small, founder‑led company. Work‑in‑progress (WIP) and raw‑materials accrual accounting is the make‑or‑break skill, and the biggest project on the table is building the system that finally makes it possible.

Pave Talent is hiring on behalf of our client, a profitable, debt‑free custom manufacturer that has grown at a steady double‑digit rate for over a decade. They run lean (Lean, Six Sigma, and Kaizen) and build custom products for large, sophisticated national brands. Those customers have big, rigorous in‑house accounting departments, so you will be comfortable interfacing at that level.

Ideal Candidate

• Accountants who have genuinely owned a WIP schedule and can speak to it on the fly, not just list it on a resume.
• People who do their best work at a small company, owning the books end to end rather than sitting in one lane of a large accounting team.
• Builders who want to stand up systems and processes that do not exist yet, and who dig into how the business actually runs so they can catch errors.
• Adaptable problem‑solvers who do not treat accounting as just accounting, because understanding the business is what makes you effective here.

If you want a finance function where every system is already built, a large team underneath you, or a purely strategic seat away from the day‑to‑day work, this is not your role.

This is built as a growth seat. The company plans to pair you with a CFO mentor, and there is a real path to controller, CFO, or VP of Operations for someone with the drive. The hiring manager has watched this arc before: a motivated accountant, given real mentorship, who grew into a VP of Operations running finance. If you are a strong WIP accountant who has topped out in one lane of a big team, this is the seat where you own the whole thing.

You will report into operations leadership and partner with the outside CPA firm on higher‑level reporting to start, alongside one accounting associate who handles invoicing and categorization. With a small number of large accounts, the scope is manageable for one strong owner. Your flagship project: stand up the company's first inventory system tied to accounting so raw materials and WIP are tracked on a true accrual basis. Today the books run on QuickBooks Online, raw materials are trued up once a year, and nothing feeds inventory into accounting yet.

Responsibilities

• Day‑to‑day accounts receivable (AR), accounts payable (AP), billing, collections, and reconciliations.
• Work‑in‑progress (WIP) and raw‑materials accrual accounting: per‑project tracking, cost‑to‑cost, and over‑and‑under‑billing.
• Building or integrating an inventory system tied to accounting (with an outside consultant if it helps) so WIP is finally done right.
• Monthly reporting that shows how profitable each project really is, whether new hires and process changes are paying off, and flags trouble while a project is still in flight.
• Multi‑state sales tax: partner with the sales tax provider and catch the software's mistakes (wrong county rates, shipping treatment) across many states and counties.
• Month‑end close: handled by the CPA firm today, yours to grow into owning, ideally sooner rather than later.

Qualifications

• Hands‑on experience with raw materials and work‑in‑progress (WIP) accrual accounting, ideally from manufacturing or construction. This is the single most important requirement.
• A track record of success at a small company, or across multiple clients, owning the work yourself rather than handling one slice of a large team.
• Personally owned a full month‑end close, start to finish, the kind where you owned it rather than the team owning it together.
• Comfortable owning and improving processes (people management optional), adaptable and, in the hiring manager's words, not set in their ways, because understanding the business is what lets you catch errors.
• Strong, professional communication for customer‑facing accounting with sophisticated clients.
• Experience standing up inventory or WIP systems and accounting automation, and comfort with AI tools.
• Drive toward controller, CFO, or VP of Operations.

Bonus: $10,000 annual target, half tied to company goals and half to your own.