Controller

Job Title: Controller

Location: Milwaukee, WI

Type: Direct Hire

Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8am - 5pm

Pay Range: $175k - $200k + bonus

Benefits: Yes. Medical, Dental, Vision, PTO, 401(k), Paid holidays

Summary

Connect Search is hiring a Controller in Milwaukee. This position offers a hybrid work from home schedule of 1 day per week.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end transactional accounting: accounts payable and disbursements; accounts receivable, billing, and collections; payroll accounting; cash and treasury operations; fixed assets; inventory and cost-accounting transactions; and intercompany transactional processing.
• Deliver clean sub-ledgers on schedule so the FP&A team can complete the monthly close and reporting without rework.
• Own account reconciliations across cash, AR, AP, inventory, accruals, and intercompany — resolving variances promptly and maintaining a documented, complete reconciliation cycle.
• Optimize working capital through disciplined management of payables, receivables and DSO, and cash application.
• Design, document, and operate a scalable control framework over transactional processes that is audit-ready today and can withstand increasing scrutiny (including SOX-style controls) as the company grows.
• Serve as a primary audit contact for transactional and balance-sheet areas, supporting a timely, clean external audit.
• Lead the accounting integration of acquired entities: onboarding AP/AR/payroll/GL processes, mapping charts of accounts and systems, standardizing transactional policies, and establishing intercompany and consolidation mechanics.
• Support financial due diligence and own the transactional-accounting workstream for Day 1 readiness and post-close integration.
• Build a repeatable accounting-integration playbook that scales across multiple acquisitions and, where needed, multiple ERPs.
• Own and continuously improve transactional processes in the Pentagon 2000SQL ERP; drive automation of high-volume, manual workflows (e.g., payment disbursement, billing/AR, reconciliations).
• Partner with IT and the data/AI initiatives to reduce manual effort, improve data integrity, and support scalable, multi-entity reporting.
• Operate across multiple ERP systems as needed during acquisition-integration periods.
• Lead, develop, and scale the transactional accounting team (Accounting Manager and AP, AR/credit, payroll, and staff-accounting personnel); build depth, cross-training, and succession for key roles.
• Convert institutional knowledge into documented SOPs that reduce single points of failure and accelerate onboarding.
• Foster a positive, accountable, high-integrity culture across the accounting operation.
• Partner closely with the Director of Finance / FP&A so transactional outputs feed the close, reporting, and forecasting cleanly and on time.
• Support the CFO on controls, cash, working capital, and integration, contributing to lender and sponsor reporting as it relates to transactional and balance-sheet data.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
• 10+ years of progressive accounting experience, including time as a Controller (or equivalent) leading transactional accounting operations (AP, AR, payroll, GL) at a growing company.
• Demonstrated ownership of a scalable internal control environment and coordination of external audits.
• Strong ERP and systems orientation, with a track record of process improvement and automation.
• Proven people-leadership experience managing an accounting team across functions and, ideally, multiple locations.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate accounting matters for finance and non-finance stakeholders.