Americas Financial Controller

Element Solutions Inc•Waterbury, CT

30d•Onsite

About The Position

The Americas Controller is responsible for ensuring the accuracy, integrity, and compliance of all financial reporting and accounting operations across the Americas region. This role provides strategic and operational leadership across Record-to-Report (RTR), Procure-to-Pay (PTP), and Order-to-Cash (OTC) accounting activities, ensuring alignment with global standards, Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and enterprise-wide transformation priorities. The position plays a critical role in driving standardization, automation, and process optimization across regional finance processes, working closely with the Global BPO team, Global FP&A Hub, Regional FP&A, and FSS to achieve 100% documentation, strong controls, and measurable improvements in efficiency and quality. The role stewards talent development across the Americas finance organization, building strong teams, developing successors, and cultivating a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and operational excellence. Ultimately, the Americas Controller ensures that the region meets its financial, regulatory, and operational performance expectations and contributes to a unified, high-performing Global Finance & Enterprise Services organization.

Requirements

High technical proficiency in accounting and financial reporting, with a deep understanding of rules, regulations, and complex transactional flows.
Strong analytical capability, able to interpret financial data, identify trends, and resolve technical or structural issues with precision.
Expertise in process standardization, controls, and accuracy—consistent with the “by the book,” detail-oriented working style of Controllers.
Assertive, proactive leadership, with the drive to challenge assumptions, push for process improvements, and ensure accountability.
Independence in problem‑solving, often generating innovative solutions when facing roadblocks.
Ability to coach and develop teams, aligned with expectations in their respective roles.
Clear, concise communication, especially when explaining technical matters to non-finance partners.
Strong functional collaboration is required for working with Global BPO, FP&A, FSS, Commercial, Supply Chain, and Regulatory teams.
Proactiveness in driving automation, standardization, and global harmonization across regions.
Comfort with challenging the status quo and championing efficient, future‑state processes.
Ability to lead, coach, and develop large, regional accounting teams, ensuring strong succession pipelines and clear accountability.
Advanced team‑building and communication skills, essential for steering a multi-country finance organization.
Driving performance through clarity, structure, and consistent follow-up, ensuring team members deliver on expectations.

Responsibilities

Oversee all RTR (Record-to-Report) activities to ensure accurate, timely month-end close and eliminate accounting surprises (rework, demotion, cross-period adjustments).
Ensure 100% documentation of accounting processes and enforce standardized controls across all entities in the Americas.
Drive consistency of reporting, account reconciliations, and financial statements in alignment with global standards and SLAs.
Provide leadership and oversight across PTP, OTC, and Accounting, ensuring operational KPIs are met (e.g., overdue %, credit hold %, timely payment runs, inventory provision accuracy).
Support harmonization of Americas processes with EMEA and Asia, ensuring alignment with the global FSS model.
Oversee adherence to standardized SOPs and ensure completion of all SOPs prioritized for automation.
Lead implementation of automation initiatives across the Americas to improve accuracy, cycle times, and scalability.
Drive standardized, global finance processes, ensuring consistency with the Global BPO team, and eliminating unnecessary local variations.
Identify process improvement opportunities and support integration work (where relevant).
Ensure compliance with statutory, tax, internal audit, and SOX requirements, maintaining a zero-defect control environment.
Maintain and execute a robust compliance calendar, addressing all service level commitments.
Lead, coach, and develop the Americas accounting teams, ensuring strong succession pipelines and maintaining turnover below target.
Set clear objectives for team members, monitor delivery, and drive accountability
Foster a culture of continuous improvement, transparency, and collaboration across regions.
Execute regional initiatives that support the broader Global Finance & Enterprise Services 2027 roadmap.
Drive harmonization of processes, systems, and documentation across Americas–EMEA–Asia to achieve globally aligned service delivery.