Controller

Bristlecone Companies; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity participation

Annual bonus

Job summary

Bristlecone Companies is seeking a Controller to own accounting operations, financial reporting, and compliance for a growing portfolio of acquired businesses. You will report to the CEO and guide the function from its current state to a mature, automated platform.

The ideal candidate is a CPA with 5+ years of accounting experience, including hands-on ownership of multi-entity close and consolidation. Chicago-based role with occasional travel, offering base salary, annual bonus, and equity

Qualifications

• Active CPA with 5+ years of accounting experience, including multi-entity close and consolidation.
• Experience in recurring-revenue holding company or PE-backed environments is a plus.
• Strong technical accounting judgment and ability to articulate the numbers.

Responsibilities

• Own the monthly close and consolidation across HQ and operating companies.
• Set chart of accounts, close calendar, and reporting standards.
• Drive automation to shorten close cycles and improve real-time visibility.
• Manage investor and lender reporting with clear explanations of changes.
• Support budgeting and rolling forecasts across entities.
• Onboard acquired businesses to ERP and reporting processes.
• Oversee cash, AP, and treasury operations.
• Manage cap table, equity plans, and long-term obligations.
• Oversee tax compliance and audit readiness with outside advisors.
• Oversee payroll, benefits, and insurance administration.

Skills

CPA

Multi-entity close

Financial reporting

Advanced Excel

NetSuite

Education

CPA certification

Tools

NetSuite

Ramp

Job description

Who We Are

Bristlecone Companies is a permanent capital holding company that acquires and builds mission-critical businesses with one defining characteristic: customers who don’t leave. We are company builders at heart, committed to deepening customer relationships, creating environments where talented people thrive, and amplifying the legacies of founders who have entrusted us with their life’s work.

While our mandate is broad, our approach is focused: we develop deep domain expertise and partner with management teams to build enduring market leaders through both organic and inorganic growth. We seek essential businesses with predictable cash flow, exceptional retention, and leading positions in specialized markets. Our investment discipline is grounded in deep fundamental research, and our ownership philosophy is defined by decentralization, continuous improvement, and an indefinite time horizon.

Rooted in an ethos of stewardship, we find meaning in the work itself, in the pride of ownership, and in the quiet rigor of doing things the right way. Our team is lean by design: autonomy is given early, standards are high, and the reward for great work is more responsibility. If you are driven, deeply curious, and energized by the opportunity to build alongside people who share your standards and ambition, you will thrive here.

What You’ll Do

Bristlecone is hiring a Controller to own the accounting operations, financial reporting, and compliance that turn our growing portfolio of acquired businesses into a coherent whole. Our buy-and-hold strategy shapes how we build: it rewards investment in process, systems, and people that compound over years. You will inherit a function in motion and set the trajectory for its next layer of operational maturity. Reporting directly to the CEO, you will:

• Own the monthly close and consolidation across HQ and our operating companies, and set the chart of accounts, close calendar, and reporting standards across the portfolio.
• Use automation and AI to systematically eliminate manual work, shorten the close, and give leadership real-time visibility into performance.
• Manage financial reporting for our investors and lenders, and explain not just what the numbers say but what changed and why.
• Support our annual budgeting process and maintain rolling forecasts across HQ and our operating companies, with the opportunity to lead both as we scale.
• Onboard newly acquired businesses to our systems and reporting rhythm - opening balance sheets, chart of accounts mapping, and ERP migration, and make the process repeatable.
• Manage cash, AP, and treasury across entities.
• Administer our cap table and equity plans, and maintain an accurate, forward-looking view of our major obligations (debt, earn outs, and incentive plan payments).
• Own tax compliance and audit readiness with our outside advisors, and help shape our tax planning as we grow.
• Own payroll, benefits, and insurance administration.

Success looks like numbers we can rely on without question, a function that absorbs each new acquisition without adding headcount linearly, and processes that get more automated and less manual every quarter. Over time, you will have the opportunity to grow into a broader finance leadership role, including FP&A and M&A diligence, as Bristlecone scales.

Who You Are

While we care far more about who you are than where you've been, the role requires an active CPA and 5+ years of accounting experience, beginning in public accounting and including hands-on ownership of a multi-entity close and consolidation. Experience in recurring-revenue businesses, or at a holding company, serial acquirer, or PE-backed company, is a plus. More importantly, you are:

• An owner of the numbers — you’ve run a close end-to-end, you’re comfortable in the details, and you treat integrity as the floor, not the goal
• Advanced in Excel and NetSuite (Ramp experience a plus), with demonstrated use of automation and AI tools (Claude Cowork, Codex, or similar) to make accounting work faster and more accurate, and an eye on emerging tooling
• Equipped with strong technical accounting judgment alongside commercial sense: you understand the grey, not just the rule, and can articulate the "so what" behind the numbers
• A clear, crisp, and thoughtful communicator who establishes trust quickly with executives through precision, candor, and reliability
• Hands-on and resourceful, equally comfortable reconciling an account, negotiating a renewal, or managing outside advisors, and energized by a lean team where you own the outcome
• Insatiably curious, actively reflective, and always looking for a better way to do the work
• A builder at heart — motivated by shaping a finance function that gets stronger with every business we add

This role is based in Chicago, with occasional travel to our operating companies. Compensation includes a competitive base salary, annual bonus, and equity participation structured for long-term compounding.