Financial Controller - Solar & Energy Infrastructure
AlphaHire • Santa Cruz, California • Full Time
Posted on Thu, Sep 17, 2026
We are seeking an experienced Controller to lead the accounting and financial operations for a project-based contractor supporting commercial clean-energy and infrastructure projects.
This is a hands-on leadership position with ownership of the company’s finance function, including job costing, WIP accounting, payroll compliance, financial reporting, process development, and ERP strategy. The ideal candidate has a strong background in construction or contractor accounting and has experience building or redesigning financial processes within a small-to-mid-sized organization.
Experience in solar, EV, microgrid, or other clean-energy projects is a plus, but not required.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the full accounting function, including general ledger, AP, AR, billing, reconciliations, month-end close, and financial reporting.
- Manage construction job costing and WIP accounting, including percentage-of-completion revenue recognition, project profitability, cost-to-complete analysis, and variance reporting.
- Oversee union and prevailing wage payroll compliance, including certified payroll, fringe benefit reporting, and multi-local wage requirements.
- Review and analyze financial statements to identify discrepancies, trends, risks, and opportunities.
- Manage intercompany transactions, reconciliations, and eliminations across related entities.
- Lead ERP implementations, migrations, system changes, or accounting-system consolidations, including planning, data migration, testing, implementation, and process redesign.
- Build and improve accounting processes, internal controls, reporting structures, and financial workflows.
- Develop budgets, forecasts, cash-flow projections, and financial analyses to support business decisions.
- Partner with project managers and operations teams to monitor project costs, profitability, billing, and overall financial performance.
- Serve as a hands-on finance leader in a lean organization, taking ownership of critical accounting functions without relying on a large finance team.
Requirements
- 5+ years of progressive accounting and finance experience, including Controller, Assistant Controller, or similar senior-level responsibility.
- Direct construction or contractor accounting experience required.
- Strong experience with job costing, WIP schedules, and percentage-of-completion accounting.
- Hands-on experience with union and prevailing wage payroll, including certified payroll, fringe benefits, and multi-local rate management.
- Proven experience leading an ERP migration, implementation, or system consolidation.
- Demonstrated experience building or substantially redesigning accounting or finance processes from the ground up.
- Experience managing intercompany accounting and reconciliations.
- Strong financial statement analysis skills, with the ability to identify anomalies, trends, discrepancies, and potential business risks.
- Experience working in a small-to-mid-sized company where independence and a hands-on approach are essential.
- Strong communication, analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
- Solar, EV, microgrid, renewable energy, or clean-energy experience is a plus, not required.
Benefits
- Competitive salary based on experience.
- Health insurance and retirement plan options may be available.
- Paid time off and company-sponsored benefits.
- Opportunity to take ownership of a growing finance function and work directly with company leadership.
AuditFriendly salary estimate
The employer did not post a salary for this role. Based on AuditFriendly's salary intelligence model (comparable live postings, role, seniority, and location), we estimate base pay of $110,000–$170,000 per year (median ~$137,000). This is an AuditFriendly estimate, not an employer-provided figure.
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What the data says about this job
- Advertised pay for Controller: a median of $129,000 across 5,890 priced postings. Explore the market
- AlphaHire's roles typically close in 4 days; the market median is 14 days. Time to close
- None of AlphaHire's 8 tracked postings is more than six months old. Posting hygiene
- 81% of AlphaHire's 149 open roles are remote. Remote-first companies
Measured from employers' own postings and public filings. How we measure