Controller

Confidential (PE-Backed Portfolio Company; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 190,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Confidential (PE-Backed Portfolio Company) seeks an experienced Controller to lead the design and build of a standalone accounting function following a TSA. You will partner with the CFO, sellers, and consultants to create target-state processes, systems, and AI-enabled workflows across multi-entity, multi-currency finance.

This hands-on role covers monthly closes, consolidation, cash and liquidity management, tax and statutory compliance, internal controls, and external audits.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive accounting experience, including leadership roles.
• Experience with multi-entity, multi-currency close under US GAAP.
• Hands-on NetSuite experience; AI or automation in accounting is a plus.
• PE-backed portfolio company experience preferred.
• Background in professional services or advisory is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Design target-state accounting model and TSA exit plan.
• Own monthly, quarterly, and annual close across entities.
• Manage cash, treasury, liquidity, and FX strategy.
• Oversee tax, statutory compliance across jurisdictions.
• Build and develop the accounting team.
• Deliver standalone audited financials and implement internal controls.

Skills

Attention to detail

Strong communicator

Leadership

Ambiguity tolerance

Tools

NetSuite

Job description

This is a hands‑on, build‑oriented Controller opportunity at a PE‑backed global professional services organization (~150 employees across 20+ countries) following a carve‑out to a standalone business. The organization serves law firms, corporate legal departments, insurers, and government clients on high‑stakes disputes, litigation, investigations, and regulatory matters.

The organization is backed by a Beringer Capital with over US$1B in assets under management and more than 20 years of success partnering closely with leadership teams to scale and build technology‑enabled services businesses through disciplined execution, operational improvement, and scalable growth. The sponsor brings a hands‑on, operationally minded approach by providing perspective, resources, capital, and challenges where helpful while empowering leadership to run the business.

There is no accounting function to inherit, and that is the opportunity. Under a transition services agreement, the former parent continues to provide accounting, payroll, and reporting while the standalone function is designed and built — a protected runway to design the target state deliberately rather than stabilize a broken one under live pressure. You will be a principal partner to the CFO, working with the sellers and third‑party consultants to build the new accounting function.

We are looking for someone who wants to build an AI‑optimized accounting and finance function: automation and AI‑assisted workflows designed into the close, reconciliations, billing, document handling, and compliance from the outset, rather than retrofitted later.

The Controller is the CFO’s operating partner and the senior accounting leader for the platform — accountable for the integrity of the numbers, a multi‑entity global close, cash and liquidity across a multi‑currency footprint, and tax and statutory compliance in every jurisdiction holding a legal entity. There is significant support from PE, seller and 3rd party consultants to assist with the transition and implementation of a new financial operating platform. The role will begin in a transitional environment, requiring comfort operating with incomplete data, evolving processes, and dependencies on TSA arrangements.

Key Responsibilities

1) Target‑State Design, TSA Exit & NetSuite Implementation

• Define the target‑state accounting operating model — process design, system architecture.
• Leverage automation and AI into the accounting workflows.
• Drive NetSuite implementation: chart of accounts design, subsidiary and multi‑book configuration, multi‑currency setup, data migration, opening balance validation, and post‑go‑live stabilization.
• Work with seller on transactional processing, accounting, reporting extracts and close processes during the TSA period.
• Migrate accounting and treasury processes off the parent’s systems onto standalone infrastructure, with zero disruption to client service or billing.

2) Accounting Operations, Global Close & Team

• Own the monthly, quarterly, and annual close across all legal and reporting entities,
• Own consolidation, intercompany accounting, transfer pricing and elimination, FX translation.
• Establish and maintain the chart of accounts, accounting policies, close calendar, and documentation.
• Own the general ledger, subledgers, and balance sheet reconciliation discipline with documented preparation, review, and sign‑off.
• Build, manage, and develop a team.

3) Cash & Treasury Management

• Own day‑to‑day cash management across all bank accounts including utilizing a FinTech banking platform.
• Manage cash positions across the various in‑country bank accounts, along with liquidity and FX strategy.
• Own the short‑term (13‑week) cash forecast, liquidity monitoring, and identification and settlement of FX exposures.
• Own the working capital cycle end to end — billing, collections, accounts payable, and disbursement — with explicit first‑year targets to reduce DSO and clear aged receivables.

4) Tax, Statutory & Legal Entity Compliance

• Own the global tax and statutory compliance calendar across ~10‑12 jurisdictions with legal entities spanning North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, covering corporate income tax, VAT/GST and other indirect taxes, payroll tax, transfer pricing documentation, and local filings.
• Own local statutory accounts and statutory audits, including conversions and reconciliations between US GAAP and local GAAP or IFRS.
• Support legal entity governance, board filings, and director reporting obligations alongside the CFO and external counsel.

5) Controls, Audit & Reporting

• Deliver the company’s first standalone audited financial statements, owning the auditor relationship and the PBC process, and taking unaudited carve‑out trial balances to a clean opinion.
• Design and implement internal controls, delegation of authority, and accounting policies appropriate to a PE‑owned global business.
• Produce the monthly reporting package for the CFO, management, board, sponsor, and lenders, and support covenant and lender reporting.

6) Professional Services Revenue & Project Accounting

• Own revenue recognition under ASC 606 across fixed‑fee, time‑and‑material, outcome‑based retainer, expert‑witness, and hosted/eDiscovery engagement models.
• Own WIP, unbilled revenue, and billing operations — the discipline that converts delivered work into issued invoices on schedule.
• Improve visibility into project‑level economics where systems and data are not yet fully mature.

Personal Attributes for Success

• Hands‑on and detail‑driven — credible in the detail of a reconciliation and in front of the board on the same day.
• Comfortable building processes, systems, and teams from a lean starting point rather than inheriting them.
• Design instinct — wants to build the function this business actually needs rather than replicate what the parent did, with the pragmatism to know when a good process now beats a perfect one later.
• Genuinely interested in how AI changes accounting work — and disciplined about where it belongs, where it does not, and what controls it requires.
• Organised and deadline‑disciplined across many small obligations in many jurisdictions, where a missed local filing is a real cost.
• Operates well with ambiguity, incomplete data, and pace in a transitional environment.
• Clear communicator with non‑financial stakeholders, in‑country providers, and auditors across time zones.
• High integrity, strong judgment, and ownership mentality.

Experience and Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive accounting experience, including 3+ years as a Controller, Assistant Controller, or equivalent senior accounting leader.
• Demonstrated ownership of a multi‑entity, multi‑currency close and consolidation under US GAAP.
• Substantive international finance and accounting experience — opening and administering foreign bank accounts, cross‑border funding and FX, local statutory filings and statutory audits, VAT and indirect tax, and managing in‑country service providers.
• Hands‑on NetSuite experience; implementation or major re‑implementation experience strongly preferred.
• Experience owning cash management and short‑term liquidity forecasting.
• Experience managing external auditors and delivering a completed audit.
• Experience implementing AI or intelligent automation in accounting workflows — close and reconciliation automation, document extraction, transaction categorization, anomaly detection, or agentic tooling — preferred.
• Carve‑out, TSA exit, or post‑acquisition finance build‑out experience preferred.
• PE‑backed portfolio company experience preferred.
• Background in professional services, advisory, or other people‑based businesses strongly preferred; direct experience in forensic services, eDiscovery, ALSP, legal technology, or expert‑witness practices is a plus.

Additional information

This role is expected to commence upon the successful completion of the transaction and formation of the standalone company.

The expected base salary range for this role is US$190,000 to US$220,000 per year. U.S.-based employees may be eligible for an annual bonus and participation in the company’s benefits, including healthcare, dental, vision, and 401(k).

We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment and are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

We will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals in the recruitment process in accordance with applicable laws. If you require an accommodation, please inform us during the application process.

Employment will be at‑will and contingent upon verification of identity and authorization to work in the United States in accordance with applicable law.

This job description is not intended to be a comprehensive list of the duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of the position. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time at the company’s discretion.