Controller

Liberty Personnel Services, Inc.; Santa Cruz (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

Life insurance

401K

Education stipend

Equipment reimbursement

Paid vacation

Job summary

Liberty Personnel Services, Inc. seeks a senior Controller to own the full accounting stack for a lean, high‑impact clean energy construction company in Santa Cruz, CA.

You will lead month‑end close, WIP and job costing, and oversee payroll, with direct partnership to the COO/CFO and field operations. You’ll redesign processes and systems to deliver decision‑ready financials, manage dual reporting for lenders, and drive compliance across multi‑entity structures, with a focus on margin, cost

Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressive accounting experience, including at least 2 years in a controller or senior accounting leadership role.
• Construction industry accounting background, including job costing, WIP reporting, and ASC 606 revenue recognition.
• Strong knowledge of GAAP and construction accounting principles.
• Hands-on experience with a construction ERP (Jonas Premier, Sage 300 CRE, Foundation, Viewpoint, or equivalent).
• Proficiency in Excel, including reconciliation and reporting model development.
• Demonstrated track record of evaluating, improving, and when necessary replacing accounting systems and processes.
• Familiarity with California prevailing wage and certified payroll requirements.
• Experience overseeing payroll processing in a multi-jurisdiction or prevailing wage environment.
• Experience managing or overseeing external service providers with real accountability for deliverable quality and scope.

Responsibilities

• Own the full month-end close cycle, including journal entries, accruals, and balance sheet reconciliations.
• Produce monthly financial statements, management reports, and KPI dashboards on a defined close calendar.
• Maintain dual reporting: earned revenue basis for internal use and billed basis for lenders and bonding.
• Prepare WIP, backlog, over/under billing, job cost, and progress billing analyses, and flag anomalies to leadership.
• Own ASC 606 earned revenue calculations, including the Earned Revenue Workbook using Jonas Job Summary Reports.
• Manage job cost accounting for all active projects, ensuring cost coding, change orders, and timecards are accurate.
• Identify and escalate job cost variances, margin erosion, and project performance issues in real time.
• Oversee AP, AR, subcontractor payments, lien waiver compliance, and related-entity accounting.
• Oversee payroll processing (including prevailing wage and certified payroll), reviewing batches, and serving as point of accountability for accuracy.
• Manage fringe benefit accounting tied to IBEW signatory obligations and reconciling against ERP burden rates.
• Design, document, and enforce accounting policies, internal controls, and records retention standards.
• Evaluate and improve—or replace—financial systems, tools, and workflows in partnership with the COO/CFO.
• Oversee external vendors across finance-adjacent services and hold them accountable for scope, quality, and compliance.
• Lead and develop 1–2 accounting staff, building capacity through documentation, cross-training, and clear ownership.

Skills

Construction accounting

WIP reporting

ASC 606 revenue recognition

Financial close

Financial reporting

ERP systems

Excel

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Jonas Premier

Sage 300 CRE

Foundation

Viewpoint

Job description

Controller - Own the Numbers Behind the Clean Energy Buildout

Santa Cruz, CA

Take control of the books that power the energy transition

You’re a construction-savvy Controller who doesn’t just close the books—you read what they’re telling you and change the way the business runs.

In this role, you’ll own full-scope accounting for a growing clean-energy design/build organization, from month-end close and WIP to payroll oversight, job cost integrity, and financial reporting that actually drives decisions.

You’ll partner directly with the COO/CFO, project management, HR, and field operations to make sure every project’s story—cost, margin, risk, and return— is clear and accurate.

And you won’t just operate the system; you’ll redesign it when it’s not good enough.

If you’ve lived in the construction accounting world and want real ownership in a lean, high-impact team, we want to talk to you.

What You'll Work On

You’ll sit at the intersection of accounting operations, project profitability, and systems design for a construction-focused clean energy company:

• Full-cycle financial close and dual-basis reporting
• Construction WIP, job costing, and ASC 606 earned revenue
• Prevailing wage, certified payroll, and union-related burden
• Grant and incentive revenue for clean energy projects
• Multi-entity accounting and intercompany activity
• Internal controls, policy, and compliance
• Financial systems, ERP configuration, and process architecture
• Vendor and external partner oversight across finance-adjacent functions

You’ll be deep in construction ERP and toolsets like Jonas Premier, Excel, and related reporting models—translating complex project activity into clean, decision-ready financials.

Your mandate: build an accounting engine that keeps up with the pace of the projects.

What You'll Be Doing

• Owning the full month-end close cycle, including journal entries, accruals, and balance sheet reconciliations
• Producing monthly financial statements, management reports, and KPI dashboards on a defined close calendar
• Maintaining dual reporting: earned revenue basis for internal use and billed basis for lenders and bonding
• Preparing WIP, backlog, over/under billing, job cost, and progress billing analyses, and flagging anomalies to leadership
• Owning ASC 606 earned revenue calculations, including the Earned Revenue Workbook using Jonas Job Summary Reports
• Managing job cost accounting for all active projects, ensuring cost coding, change orders, and timecards are accurate
• Identifying and escalating job cost variances, margin erosion, and project performance issues in real time
• Overseeing AP, AR, subcontractor payments, lien waiver compliance, and related-entity accounting
• Overseeing payroll processing (including prevailing wage and certified payroll), reviewing batches, and serving as point of accountability for accuracy
• Managing fringe benefit accounting tied to IBEW signatory obligations and reconciling against ERP burden rates
• Designing, documenting, and enforcing accounting policies, internal controls, and records retention standards
• Evaluating and improving—or replacing—financial systems, tools, and workflows in partnership with the COO/CFO
• Overseeing external vendors across finance-adjacent services and holding them accountable for scope, quality, and compliance
• Leading and developing 1–2 accounting staff, building capacity through documentation, cross-training, and clear ownership

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years of progressive accounting experience, including at least 2 years in a controller or senior accounting leadership role
• Construction industry accounting background, including job costing, WIP reporting, and percent-complete/ASC 606 revenue recognition
• Strong knowledge of GAAP and construction accounting principles
• Hands-on experience with a construction ERP (Jonas Premier, Sage 300 CRE, Foundation, Viewpoint, or equivalent)
• Proficiency in Excel, including reconciliation and reporting model development
• Demonstrated track record of evaluating, improving, and when necessary replacing accounting systems and processes
• Familiarity with California prevailing wage and certified payroll requirements
• Experience overseeing payroll processing in a multi-jurisdiction or prevailing wage environment
• Experience managing or overseeing external service providers with real accountability for deliverable quality and scope

The Experience That Will Really Get Our Attention

You’ve been the go‑to Controller or senior accounting leader inside a construction, solar, electrical, or EPC contractor, where WIP, over/under billing, ASC 606, and job cost aren’t buzzwords—they’re your daily language. You’ve had to build or fix accounting infrastructure while keeping close deadlines and supporting lenders, bonding agents, and field teams.

Union/IBEW exposure, multi‑entity structures, intercompany eliminations, and grant or incentive revenue are all familiar territory for you. You can coach a PM through a margin issue, push back on a flawed process, and partner with leadership on when to tweak a workflow vs. rip‑and‑replace a system.

High-signal experience (converted to list)

• Jonas Premier or similar construction ERP
• ASC 606 percent‑complete revenue recognition
• WIP and backlog reporting
• California prevailing wage and certified payroll
• IBEW or union payroll/benefits
• multi‑entity accounting
• bonding and lender reporting
• renewable energy, solar, electrical, or EPC construction environments

Why This Opportunity?

This is not a back‑office “keep the lights on” Controller role. You are the operational finance engine for a company building high‑complexity clean‑energy infrastructure.

You’ll work directly with the COO/CFO, have a Finance Manager as a direct report, and own the quality and usefulness of the numbers that drive project, operations, and growth decisions.

You’ll have a clear mandate to redesign processes, re‑architect systems, and build scalable accounting infrastructure—not just maintain what’s there.

And you’ll do it in a culture that values bold curiosity, direct ownership, and growth, with access to medical, dental, vision, life, EAP, 401K, paid continued education time, a professional development stipend, cell and laptop reimbursements, and a progressive vacation structure.

Must have at least 5 years of progressive accounting experience, including 2+ years in a controller or senior accounting leadership role

Must have construction industry accounting experience, including job costing, WIP, and ASC 606 percent‑complete revenue recognition

Must be familiar with California prevailing wage and certified payroll requirements

Interested?

If you’re ready to own the full accounting stack for a construction‑focused clean energy player—and you know how to turn project chaos into clean, actionable financials—let’s talk.

Controller, Construction Controller, Corporate Controller, Accounting Manager, Senior Accountant, Construction accounting, job cost accounting, WIP reporting, percent‑complete revenue recognition, ASC 606, GAAP, construction ERP, Jonas Premier, Sage 300 CRE, Foundation, Viewpoint, Excel reporting, financial close, month‑end close, backlog analysis, over/under billing, certified payroll, California prevailing wage, IBEW, union payroll, fringe benefit accounting, multi‑entity accounting, intercompany transactions, renewable energy, solar EPC, electrical contracting, clean energy, project profitability, internal controls, financial systems, ERP configuration, vendor management, bonding reporting, lender reporting