Financial Controller

Job Description

About the Role

The Financial Controller is AOS’s senior internal finance leader and a member of the Executive Staff. Reporting directly to the President / CEO, the Controller is responsible for the integrity of the Company’s accounting, financial controls, cash management, cost accounting, financial planning, forecasting, and management reporting. This position has a broader mandate than a conventional controller role: it must translate accurate financial data into forward-looking insight that supports executive decisions, profitable growth, capital planning, and effective project execution. The Controller will establish a disciplined finance function suited to a project-driven precision manufacturing business. The position will work closely with Project Managers to improve project budgets, cost-to-complete forecasts, earned-value visibility, and corrective action; partner with Operations and Engineering on labor, material, overhead, inventory, and capacity economics; supervise the Company’s bookkeeper and financial analyst; and serve as AOS’s principal interface with external audit, tax, and accounting support firms.

Responsibilities

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• Key Responsibilities
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• Financial Leadership and Executive Decision Support
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• Serve as the principal financial advisor to the President / CEO and Executive Staff, bringing an independent, fact-based financial perspective to strategy, operating plans, major commitments, pricing, hiring, capital expenditures, and risk decisions.
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• Develop concise executive reporting that links bookings, backlog, revenue, gross margin, operating expense, working capital, cash, capacity, and project performance.
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• Translate financial results into actionable recommendations, clearly identifying assumptions, sensitivities, risks, and decision points.
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• Support annual business planning and the development of scalable financial processes, policies, systems, and management routines as AOS grows.
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• Accounting, Close, and GAAP Compliance
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• Own the integrity of the general ledger, chart of accounts, accounting policies, and monthly, quarterly, and annual close processes.
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• Ensure timely, accurate, and GAAP-compliant accounting, including appropriate revenue recognition, expense matching, accruals, reserves, capitalization, depreciation, inventory valuation, work in process, and account reconciliations.
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• Prepare and review financial statements, management schedules, balance-sheet reconciliations, variance analyses, and supporting documentation.
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• Establish an efficient close calendar with defined responsibilities, review controls, materiality thresholds, and deadlines.
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• Maintain complete, audit-ready records and enforce consistent accounting practices throughout the organization.
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• Cost Accounting and Manufacturing Economics
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• Lead detailed job and project cost accounting for custom optical components, telescope assemblies, research and development efforts, and manufacturing programs.
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• Maintain reliable methods for capturing and allocating direct labor, material, outside processing, burden, overhead, scrap, rework, and other production costs.
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• Develop, validate, and periodically update labor rates, overhead pools, allocation bases, standard costs, and other cost-model assumptions.
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• Analyze actual-to-estimate cost performance, gross margin by project and product group, manufacturing variances, utilization, inventory movement, and cost of poor quality.
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• Partner with Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, Sales, and Program Management to improve estimating feedback loops and convert actual performance into better future pricing and execution plans.
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• Ensure appropriate accounting treatment and visibility for research and development, nonrecurring engineering, tooling, customer-funded assets, capital equipment, and internally developed process capability.
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• Project Financial Management and Earned Value
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• Partner with Project Managers to establish financially sound project baselines, budgets, work breakdown structures, cost accounts, milestones, and time-phased performance plans.
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• Develop practical earned-value and project-control methods appropriate to AOS’s size, contractual obligations, and program complexity, without imposing unnecessary administrative burden.
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• Produce and review budget-versus-actual, earned-value, estimate-to-complete, estimate-at-completion, schedule/cost variance, margin-at-completion, and cash-profile reporting.
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• Facilitate recurring project financial reviews; challenge unsupported assumptions; identify emerging cost, schedule, billing, and margin risks; and help owners define corrective actions.
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• Reconcile operational project data with the accounting system so management reporting and the books remain aligned.
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• Support customer financial reporting, contract audits, change-order analysis, claims support, and contract closeout when required.
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• Cash Flow, Treasury, and Working Capital
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• Own short- and medium-term cash forecasting, including a routinely updated 13-week cash forecast and scenario-based longer-range liquidity outlook.
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• Actively manage receivables, payables, billing schedules, customer deposits, milestone collections, vendor commitments, payroll funding, debt obligations, and capital expenditures.
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• Identify cash constraints early and recommend actions involving collections, purchasing timing, project billing, financing, spending, or investment priorities.
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• Maintain appropriate banking controls, payment authorization practices, cash safeguards, and executive visibility into liquidity.
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• Improve working-capital performance through disciplined management of billing, collections, inventory, work in process, vendor terms, and project cash profiles.
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• Planning, Simulation, and Forecasting
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• Lead the annual budget and rolling forecast processes, integrating revenue, backlog, project schedules, labor capacity, hiring, procurement, capital spending, and cash requirements.
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• Build and maintain driver-based financial models for revenue, margin, headcount, utilization, overhead absorption, capacity, capital investment, working capital, and liquidity.
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• Develop base, upside, downside, and stress-test scenarios to evaluate growth plans, project delays, cost overruns, customer concentration, changes in backlog, investment decisions, and financing needs.
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• Compare forecasts with actual results, explain variances, assess forecast accuracy, and continuously improve model assumptions.
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• Support make-versus-buy decisions, pricing and margin analysis, capital-equipment justification, contract risk evaluation, and other cross-functional business cases.
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• Internal Controls, Compliance, and Risk Management
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• Design, document, implement, and monitor internal controls appropriate for a growing privately held manufacturer, including segregation of duties, approval authorities, purchasing, expenses, payroll, inventory, journal entries, payments, and system access.
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• Establish and enforce finance policies and standard work while maintaining an appropriate balance between control, efficiency, and organizational scale.
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Qualifications

Essential Requirements — Must Have

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• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, or a closely related field.
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• At least 8 years of progressively responsible accounting and finance experience, including meaningful responsibility for close, financial reporting, controls, planning, and management decision support.
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• Demonstrated command of U.S. GAAP and the ability to research, document, explain, and enforce appropriate accounting treatment.
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• Substantial cost-accounting experience in a manufacturing, engineering, project-based, or similarly complex operating environment.
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• Proven ability to build budgets, cash forecasts, rolling forecasts, scenario models, and executive-level financial analyses.
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• Experience developing project-level budgets and forecasts, analyzing cost-to-complete and margin-at-completion, and partnering effectively with project or program managers.
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• Experience leading a disciplined month-end and year-end close and preparing audit-ready schedules and reconciliations.
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• Demonstrated ability to supervise accounting staff and coordinate effectively with outside audit, tax, and accounting professionals.
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• Strong systems capability, including advanced spreadsheet modeling and effective use of accounting, ERP/MRP, project-accounting, and reporting systems.
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• High professional integrity, sound judgment, attention to detail, and the confidence to challenge assumptions or escalate concerns constructively.
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• Ability to communicate financial information clearly to executives, engineers, operations leaders, project managers, and other non-financial stakeholders.
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Preferred Qualifications — Strong Advantages

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• CPA, CMA, MBA, or master’s degree in accounting, finance, or business administration.
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• Prior experience as a Controller, Assistant Controller, Director of Finance, or comparable senior finance leader in a small or midsize company.
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• Experience in aerospace, defense, space systems, precision optics, advanced manufacturing, government contracting, or low-volume/high-complexity production.
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• Working knowledge of earned-value management, work breakdown structures, estimate-at-completion methods, percentage-of-completion or over-time revenue recognition, and project-accounting controls.
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• Experience with inventory, work in process, overhead absorption, standard costing, timekeeping, purchasing, and engineering/manufacturing change environments.
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• Experience scaling finance processes and systems during rapid organizational and revenue growth.
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• Familiarity with banking relationships, credit facilities, capital planning, insurance, and contractual financial risk.
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