Accountant, Consultant

Consultant Accountant

The Corporate Financial Accounting and Reporting team is responsible for the recording and reporting of financial information for Blue Shield of California. This role reports to the Principal Accountant and supports the broader Controllership organization.

We are seeking a dynamic and innovative Consultant Accountant to support automation and continuous improvement initiatives across the Accounting organization. This role offers the opportunity to help modernize accounting operations by combining strong accounting knowledge with process optimization, systems thinking, and technology enablement.

As a Consultant Accountant, you will support the design, implementation, and maintenance of automated solutions that improve accuracy, efficiency, and scalability across financial operations. You will help enhance close, reconciliation, and reporting processes through automation and continuous improvement, partnering closely with Technology and cross-functional teams to modernize workflows, reduce manual effort, strengthen internal controls, and improve the timeliness and quality of financial reporting. In this role, you will serve as a subject-matter resource on end-to-end accounting operations and support audits related to automated processes.

Responsibilities

In this role, you will:

• Automation support: Leverage technology to help automate accounting processes and implement tools that enhance quality, efficiency, and control effectiveness. Serve as an accounting subject-matter resource on automation initiatives, helping ensure solutions comply with US GAAP, internal controls, and audit requirements.
• Process design & governance: Support the design and documentation of operational processes and automated workflows that meet regulatory, policy, and audit standards. Help embed appropriate control points and evidence within workflows. Collaborate with IT, FP&A, and Operations to streamline processes, reduce manual journal entries, and improve data integration across financial systems.
• Technology partnership: Work closely with Technology teams to develop system solutions that eliminate manual steps, integrate data sources, and enable analytics. Provide business requirements and support user acceptance testing (UAT) for automation releases.
• KPIs & performance management: Support the development of key performance metrics for automated processes, prepare monitoring dashboards, analyze results, and help implement action plans to improve performance.
• Risk management: Identify and communicate risks related to systems, processes, and resource constraints, and support mitigation activities and escalation as needed. Continuously analyze close and reporting processes to identify opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce cycle time.
• Audit support: Support Internal and External Auditors on matters related to automated processes. Compile documentation and assist in responding to audit inquiries.
• Change enablement: Support standards, training, and adoption efforts that help teams use new tools and processes effectively while maintaining compliance with internal controls.
• Continuous improvement: Identify automation opportunities aligned with leadership's objectives. Research emerging technologies and industry best practices and recommend process enhancements where appropriate.
• Documentation: Develop and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs) and related documentation for automated processes.

Qualifications

Your Knowledge and Experience

• Requires a Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics, or a related field; CPA or progress toward CPA preferred.
• Requires a minimum 7 years of prior relevant experience in consulting, accounting or controllership experience supporting complex close, reconciliation, and reporting processes.
• Strong knowledge of close, reconciliation, and financial reporting operations, US GAAP, internal controls, and audit support requirements.
• Demonstrated experience with process automation, continuous improvement, and accounting systems optimization in an accounting or finance environment; consulting experience with system implementations is highly desirable.
• Experience developing matching rules in high-volume reconciliation platforms such as Cadency or BlackLine, including rule design, testing, exception management, and process optimization.
• Experience supporting ERP implementations, system enhancements, or post-go-live optimization to expand automation, scalability, and control effectiveness.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and identify practical improvement opportunities.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to partner effectively across Accounting, Finance, Operations, and Technology.
• Advanced Excel skills and experience with reporting, reconciliation, or automation tools used to manage and analyze large data sets preferred.

About Us

Blue Shield of California became a subsidiary of Ascendiun in January 2025. Ascendiun is a nonprofit corporate entity that is the parent to a family of organizations including Blue Shield of California and its subsidiary, Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan; Altais, a clinical services company; and Stellarus, a company designed to scale healthcare solutions. Together, these organizations are referred to as the Ascendiun Family of Companies.

At Blue Shield of California, our mission is to create a healthcare system worthy of our family and friends and sustainably affordable. We are transforming health care in a way that genuinely serves our nonprofit mission by lowering costs, improving quality, and enhancing the member and physician experience.

To achieve our mission, we foster an environment where all employees can thrive and contribute fully to address the needs of the various communities we serve. We are committed to creating and maintaining a supportive workplace that upholds our values and advances our goals.

Blue Shield is a U.S. News Best Company to work for, a Deloitte U.S. Best Managed Company and a Top 100 Inspiring Workplace. We were recognized by Fair360 as a Top Regional Company, and one of the 50 most community-minded companies in the United States by Points of Light. Here at Blue Shield, we strive to make a positive change across our industry and communities join us!

Our Values:

• Honest. We hold ourselves to the highest ethical and integrity standards. We build trust by doing what we say we're going to do and by acknowledging and correcting where we fall short.
• Human. We strive to listen and communicate effectively, showing empathy by understanding others' perspectives.
• Courageous. We stand up for what we believe in and are committed to the hard work necessary to achieve our ambitious goals.

Our Workplace Model

• We believe in fostering a workplace environment that balances purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility - providing clear expectations while respecting the diverse needs of our workforce. Our workplace model is designed around intentional in-person interaction, collaboration, connection, creativity and flexibility:
• For most teams, this means coming into the office two days per week.
• Employees living more than 50 miles from an office location, out of state employees, and employees in certain member-facing roles should work with their manager to determine in-office time based on business need.
• For employees with medical conditions that may impact their ability to work in-office, we are committed to engaging in an interactive process and providing reasonable accommodations to ensure their work environment is conducive to their success and well-being.

The Company reserves the right to require more presence in the office based on business needs, and requirements are subject to change with periodic reviews.

Physical Requirements:

Office Environment - roles involving part to full time schedule in Office Environment. Based in our physical offices and work from home office/deskwork - Activity level: Sedentary, frequency most of work day.

Please click here for further physical requirement detail.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

External hires must pass a background check/drug screen. Qualified applicants with arrest records and/or conviction records will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with Federal, State and local laws, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status or disability status and any other classification protected by Federal, State and local laws.