Controller (Consumer Goods) - job 1 of 3

Santa Monica, California, United States

Propeller helps great entrepreneurs build great companies. Since 2010 we have worked with a number of successful consumer brands -- Casper, Away, Hims, Care/Of, Sunday, Tea Collection, Fellow Products, Krave Jerky, Right Rice, Waterloo, and more -- helping the founders and investors build and grow their businesses. 

As our clients scale their businesses from early-stage ventures to larger growth-stage companies, our partnership with them also grows and evolves. We help navigate the complexities of building a rapidly expanding business by providing accounting, systems and process know-how and sharing financial insights gleaned from working with over 600 Venture- and PE-backed companies.

We are building our Growth Stage Team and hiring experienced Controllers familiar with the numbers, processes and demands of Consumer Products companies. The Growth Stage Team is responsible for defining and building our accounting offerings for our larger, more complex clients. 

Our Controllers work closely with our broader Accounting and FP&A teams, as well as our CFOs and others at Propeller. They manage client relationships and interact across client departments; oversee accounting work, teams and the preparation of monthly financials and reporting; develop and implement accounting policies and controls; help navigate enterprise-level system migrations; and engage with third party advisors, like auditors and tax advisors. The role offers growth and exposure to a number of entrepreneurs and companies and a variety of different brands and products. 

The ideal candidate is a builder: a self-starter who is flexible, collaborative and innovative; has a high level of integrity; is action and goal-oriented; and is comfortable in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment. This person possesses a solid operational and technical accounting background, strong communication skills, and a proven ability to juggle priorities and work proactively to drive results. It’s a plus to have worked in a client-services, multi-client or multi-entity environment.

What You’ll Be Responsible For

Client Services

• Defining and building our accounting offerings for growth-stage companies -- companies with larger teams and increased complexity who generally have raised Series B to Series D funding
• Building relationships with the Founders, CEOs and Department Heads within your portfolio of clients
• Developing an understanding of clients’ business models and accounting needs
• Managing client relationships throughout their lifecycle with Propeller
• Engaging with Auditors, CPAs and other outside partners on behalf of clients

Accounting & Reporting

• Delivering monthly consolidated financial statements and insights to Founders, Executives and Department Heads
• Ensuring compliance with GAAP and auditor recommendations, leading to audit-ready financials and processes
• Overseeing accounting teams responsible for ongoing bookkeeping
• Leading the month-end close process for a small portfolio of clients, working with a team of Accounting Managers and Accountants, as well as the clients’ own finance and department-level staff, to complete the close early in the month
• Ensuring proper, ongoing entries throughout the month and the maintenance of month-end accrual schedules and entries that lead to efficient month end closes
• Reviewing financials and providing analysis on monthly variances and trends
• Owning general accounting and payroll processes, including streamlining workflows, reviewing reconciliations, and ensuring accuracy of deliverables
• Leading the audit preparation process and engaging with auditors to ensure compliance, upgrade processes and address deficiencies
• Tracking and preparing schedules for tax filings, engaging directly with CPAs
• Participating in due diligence and other projects, as needed
• Partnering with Propeller and clients’ finance staff to prepare management reporting, Board/compliance reporting, and GAAP level reporting for third parties
• Aligning historical accounting and reclassifications to provide accurate management (trend) reporting

Systems & Processes

• Designing, documenting and implementing streamlined yet scalable accounting policies and procedures that incorporate strong controls
• Developing and documenting complex accounting processes with clients, in particular complex revenue, COGs and inventory reconciliation processes
• Partnering with clients to navigate and support enterprise-level systems implementations, migrations and integrations, partnering with 3rd party consultants and vendors as necessary
• Training teams on best practices and new processes as needed
• Assessing and implementing new accounting standards

Management & Collaboration

• Working with others within the Growth Stage Team and across Propeller to build and launch Propeller’s services and best practices for growth stage companies
• Mentoring and developing a team of Accounting Managers and Accountants by reviewing work and providing opportunities for training and new experiences
• Working closely with Propeller and clients’ finance teams to ensure accounting procedures and reporting needs are aligned with forecasting and ad-hoc reports
• Collaborating with client teams to meet demands for department-level reporting

What We’re Looking For

• 12+ years of operational accounting experience
• An undergraduate degree in Accounting or Finance
• CPA certification and strong knowledge of US GAAP; exposure to IFRS a plus
• Experience overseeing full-cycle accounting for growth stage or middle market companies, in particular larger venture or private equity backed companies (Series B to Series D) 
• Extensive experience in accounting with consumer products companies (e.g. food & beverage companies, healthy/beauty brands, direct-to-consumer brands)
• Experience delivering financial results and insights to CEOs, CFOs, and others
• Experience working across departments to create processes and deliver financial information, including class or departmental sales/expense info
• Experience overseeing a team that delivers ongoing and month-end close work
• Experience preparing financial statements and drafting footnote disclosures
• Experience with multi-entity accounting and consolidations; experience with multinational accounting and mergers/acquisitions a plus
• Experience with complex revenue reconciliations and a variety of revenue models and consolidations a plus
• Experience with complex inventory management processes and inventory management systems
• Experience calculating and booking stock-based compensation entries
• Experience with progressively more complex General Ledger software (QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage, SAP) 
• Experience with related software and tools (Bill.com, Shopify, WooCommerce, Stripe, Amazon, Carta, etc.)
• Strong working knowledge of payroll and HR/Payroll/HRIS systems
• Familiarity with tax and compliance deadlines and requirements
• Knowledge of sales tax compliance and related software tools (Avalara, TaxJar)
• Familiarity with appropriate financial metrics for consumer products companies (Sales Velocity, Trade Spend %, Gross Margin, etc.)
• Strong working knowledge of Excel
• Big-4 or Public Accounting experience preferred

At Propeller Industries, we encourage our employees and our clients to bring their true selves to the organization. We believe that a diverse team enables us to cultivate and improve upon our culture of inclusion and collaboration. As an equal opportunity employer, we welcome the contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs. So however you identify and whatever your background, we encourage you to apply for this role if you share our passion for helping great entrepreneurs build great companies. We look forward to meeting you!

Benefits Offered: Generous Vacation & Sick Pay, Medical (Employer pays 100% for Employee coverage), Dental, Vision, Disability & Life Insurance, 3% Employer contribution to your 401K, Annual Education and Commuter Benefits.

About Propeller Industries:

Propeller Industries provides outsourced finance and accounting services for an elite portfolio of early-stage growth companies. We offer a broad scope of services ranging from CFO-level strategic planning to day-to-day transaction processing through our team of CFOs and accountants. The firm has offices in San Francisco, Santa Monica, New York, Austin, Boulder and Sun Valley, ID and currently serves 300+ clients across a range of industries including ecommerce, technology, food & beverage, manufacturing, business services and healthcare.