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Hands-On Controller: Build and Lead the Financial Function of a Rapidly Growing Company

Location: Morristown, New Jersey
Employment Type: Full-Time, On-Site
Compensation: $100,000–$120,000 annually, based on experience, plus company performance-based bonus
Reports To: Ownership and Executive Leadership

Alpine Tree Service is seeking an experienced, highly motivated Hands-On Controller to build the financial infrastructure required to support a rapidly growing business. This is not a traditional corporate Controller position overseeing an established accounting department. Alpine is an entrepreneurial, operationally complex field-service company. As the business continues to grow, we need a financial leader who can bring greater structure, accuracy, visibility, and accountability to the organization.

This position is for a builder. It is not a fit for someone who requires an established accounting team, fully developed systems, narrowly defined responsibilities, or support staff to handle transactional accounting.

What You Will Own

The Controller will take ownership of Alpine’s accounting and financial operations, including:

• The complete monthly and year-end financial close process
• General ledger accuracy and integrity
• Accounts payable and vendor management
• Customer invoicing, accounts receivable, and collections
• Bank and credit-card reconciliations
• Payroll review, labor allocation, and coordination
• Cash management and cash-flow forecasting
• Financial statement preparation and management reporting
• Annual budgeting and rolling financial forecasts
• Balance-sheet reconciliations
• Expense coding and transaction review
• Journal entries and accounting adjustments
• Job-costing and departmental profitability reporting
• Internal controls and financial policies
• Coordination with outside accountants, tax professionals, banks, insurance providers, and financial partners
• Financial preparation for tax filings, audits, financing requests, and future growth initiatives
  

During the first year, no accounting responsibility will be considered beneath this position.

The successful candidate must be equally comfortable reconciling an account, resolving a billing issue, reviewing payroll, building a financial model, challenging an expense, presenting results to ownership, and designing the systems that will eventually allow transactional responsibilities to be delegated.

What You Will Be Expected to Build

In addition to managing Alpine’s existing accounting responsibilities, the Controller will be responsible for developing a scalable financial operating system.

This includes building and improving:

• A disciplined and timely monthly closing process
• Accurate monthly financial statements
• Clear management reporting for ownership and leadership
• Cash-flow forecasting and working-capital management
• Annual budgets and rolling forecasts
• Departmental, service-line, crew, and job-level profitability reporting
• Job-costing and labor-cost analysis
• Accounts receivable and collections procedures
• Accounts payable and purchasing controls
• Payroll review and labor-allocation procedures
• Fleet, equipment, fuel, repair, and capital-expenditure reporting
• A chart of accounts that accurately reflects how the business operates
• Documented accounting policies and procedures
• Financial dashboards and key performance indicators
• Internal controls that protect company assets and improve accountability
• Accounting technology, automation, and reporting systems
• A staffing plan for the future finance and accounting department
  

We are not looking for someone who will wait for ownership to identify every problem or assign every task.

We need someone who can examine the business, identify financial weaknesses and opportunities, determine what needs to be done, and take ownership of getting it done.

Key Responsibilities

Hands-On Accounting

• Manage the full accounting cycle
• Process and review accounts payable
• Oversee customer billing and accounts receivable
• Lead collections efforts and monitor aging reports
• Complete bank and credit-card reconciliations
• Maintain the general ledger
• Prepare and post journal entries
• Complete balance-sheet reconciliations
• Review payroll and labor allocations
• Review expense coding and transaction accuracy
• Prepare monthly financial statements
• Maintain organized and accurate accounting records
• Clean up historical accounting issues where necessary

Financial Reporting and Analysis

• Prepare timely monthly financial reporting packages
• Analyze revenue, gross profit, labor, overhead, EBITDA, and operating margins
• Identify financial trends, risks, inefficiencies, and opportunities
• Develop cash-flow projections and monitor liquidity
• Create annual budgets and rolling forecasts
• Prepare budget-to-actual variance analyses
• Improve job-level and departmental profitability reporting
• Provide leadership with clear, actionable financial information
• Translate financial results into practical business recommendations

Systems, Processes, and Controls

• Evaluate Alpine’s current accounting systems and processes
• Identify gaps, weaknesses, duplication, and unnecessary manual work
• Create documented, repeatable accounting procedures
• Strengthen approval processes and internal controls
• Improve financial accountability throughout the organization
• Develop reliable reporting deadlines and close schedules
• Evaluate accounting software, integrations, and automation opportunities
• Build processes that can scale as the company grows
• Establish a structure that allows routine accounting responsibilities to eventually be delegated

Business Partnership

• Serve as a financial partner to ownership and executive leadership
• Support pricing, purchasing, hiring, fleet, equipment, and capital-expenditure decisions
• Challenge assumptions when the financial data does not support them
• Identify issues before they become larger financial problems
• Help leadership understand the financial impact of operational decisions
• Support banking, insurance, financing, and acquisition-related initiatives
• Manage relationships with outside accounting, tax, and financial professionals
• Present financial information clearly to leaders without accounting backgrounds

Team Development

• Help determine when additional bookkeeping or accounting support is required
• Develop future accounting roles and responsibilities
• Assist with recruiting and selecting finance team members
• Train, manage, and hold future accounting staff accountable
• Gradually transition from performing all transactional work to leading a scalable finance department

What the First Year Will Look Like:

The first year will require significant hands-on execution.

The Controller will be expected to:

• Learn how Alpine operates from the field through the office
• Gain control of the complete accounting cycle
• Improve the accuracy and organization of the company’s financial records
• Establish a consistent monthly close
• Improve financial reporting and cash-flow visibility
• Strengthen billing, collections, and accounts receivable management
• Build reliable job-costing and profitability reporting
• Document essential accounting procedures
• Identify and correct weak financial controls
• Recommend appropriate systems, automation, and staffing
• Create the foundation for a scalable finance department

This is not a role where the first several months will be spent observing and making recommendations. The person hired must be prepared to assess, prioritize, and execute.

How the Position Will Grow

As Alpine stabilizes its financial operations and continues to grow, the company plans to hire additional bookkeeping and accounting support.

The Controller will then transition toward greater responsibility for:

• Financial planning and analysis
• Strategic forecasting
• Margin improvement
• Departmental performance management
• Capital allocation
• Banking and financing relationships
• Risk management
• Acquisition support
• Financial team leadership
• Long-term financial strategy

The opportunity is to build the function first and lead the function as it grows.

Who Will Be Successful in This Position

The right candidate is:

• Highly motivated, action-oriented, and committed to building a long-term career
• Comfortable working independently in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment
• Capable of handling detailed accounting responsibilities while providing higher-level financial analysis
• Resourceful, organized, and able to build structure where processes or systems are incomplete
• Curious and persistent when numbers do not make sense, with the confidence to challenge assumptions and raise concerns
• A direct communicator who balances urgency with financial discipline and holds others accountable
• Solutions-focused, accurate, and willing to do whatever is necessary to move the business forward
  

This Position Is Not a Fit For Someone Who

• Only wants to review work rather than perform hands-on accounting and bookkeeping
• Requires a large team, established systems, or narrowly defined responsibilities
• Waits for direction instead of taking ownership and solving problems
• Avoids accountability, difficult conversations, or challenging decisions
• Is uncomfortable with change, ambiguity, or the pace of a growing business
• Considers transactional accounting beneath a Controller-level role
• Is looking for a short-term position rather than a long-term career opportunity
  

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field
• Minimum of five years of progressive accounting or financial-management experience
• Strong hands-on accounting and bookkeeping capabilities
• Strong knowledge of general ledger accounting, financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, cash-flow management, and internal controls
• Experience managing the monthly and year-end close process
• Experience preparing financial statements and management reporting
• Experience working in a growing small or mid-sized business
  
• Strong Microsoft Excel skills
• Experience working with accounting software and financial-reporting systems
• Ability to manage competing priorities and meet firm deadlines
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills
• High degree of professional judgment, discretion, and integrity

Preferred Qualifications

• Previous experience as a Controller, Assistant Controller, Accounting Manager, or senior accounting professional
• Experience building or professionalizing an accounting function
• Experience cleaning up accounting records or correcting weak financial processes
• Experience implementing accounting systems, software, or automation
• Experience with job costing and labor-cost analysis
• Experience in construction, tree care, landscaping, home services, field services, or another operationally complex business
• Experience analyzing fleet, equipment, fuel, repair, and capital expenditures
• CPA or CMA designation

Application Requirements

In order to be considered for the position you must submit your résumé and a brief written response addressing the following:

1. Describe the most significant accounting or financial process you have built or improved.
2. How did you identify the problem?
3. What actions did you personally take?
4. What was the measurable result?
5. Describe a position in which you were responsible for both detailed accounting work and higher-level financial leadership.