Controller

Legence • Austin, TX

11d • Onsite

About The Position

The Controller leads the core accounting operations of one of Legence’s operating companies based in Austin, Texas, and is responsible for the accuracy, integrity, and timeliness of financial reporting. Reporting to the Legence Group Controller, this role supports the development and implementation of financial practices and resource-management strategies, partnering with the President, executive leadership, and Corporate Finance on planning, budgeting, cash-flow visibility, and policy execution.

The Controller builds cross-functional relationships across departments, including Payroll and Human Resources, and applies a disciplined, controls-driven, risk-aware approach to daily, monthly, and quarterly responsibilities. The role requires ownership of construction-focused accounting, financial reporting, internal controls, and project-based cost accounting in a dynamic, fast-paced environment. The Controller guides the accounting team, improves processes, and manages competing priorities and deadlines.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting.
• Certified Public Accountant (CPA) required.
• Strong construction or engineering accounting background.
• Strong financial analysis, critical-thinking, and problem-solving abilities.
• Excellent time-management and organizational skills, including the ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines.
• Strong follow-through, customer-service orientation, and responsiveness.
• Effective communication and relationship-building skills across teams and departments.
• Demonstrated success developing teams and applying leadership and talent-development skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Excel.
• Positive attitude, sound judgment, and a strong sense of responsibility and ownership.
• High ethical standards; objective, candid, and committed to transparency.
• Commitment to continuous improvement and strengthening financial processes.

Nice To Haves

• Seven or more years of accounting experience preferred.
• Experience with Spectrum is ideal; OneStream experience is a plus.
• Construction ERP experience is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Ensure efficient policies and procedures and appropriate internal controls are in place.
• Review journal entries, account reconciliations, and bank reconciliations.
• Maintain a disciplined month-end close calendar and ensure compliance with GAAP and internal policies.
• Lead the month-end closing process and coordinate the closing of the company’s accounting books.
• Report financial results in conformity with GAAP and Corporate Accounting policies.
• Assess whether resource deployment is adequate for known project schedules and workload.
• Ensure adequate cost accumulation on each project and oversee construction project accounting from start to finish.
• Prepare and analyze month-end reporting, including WIP, over/under, gross margin, revenue recognition and projections, shifts of work, variances to plan, forecast adjustments, earnings fade/gain, and preconstruction costs.
• Work with project managers and operations leadership to ensure accurate job-cost data, provide financial insights for project performance and forecast accuracy, and escalate margin or cost risks.
• Oversee cash inflows and outflows and manage collections to maintain a strong cash position.
• Partner with external auditors on annual audit procedures and ad hoc insurance, tax, project, fringe-benefit, and sales-tax audits; communicate promptly and provide accurate documentation, including Prepared by Client deliverables.
• Manage or supervise accounts receivable, accounts payable, job costing, general ledger, and contracts management.
• Partner with Payroll and HR to support financial accuracy, compliance, and coordinated operational workflows.
• Oversee construction billing, WIP, and cost accounting, and partner with Operations on contract administration within the finance function.
• Monitor and manage job costing, general ledger, and fixed assets.
• Maintain KPI dashboards and lead monthly analysis of operational and financial performance, including labor efficiency and productivity, margin scalability, and cash conversion.
• Review expense projections and recommend cost reductions or opportunities to redeploy resources across projects and departments.
• Identify and communicate financial trends, risks, and opportunities to leadership, including those related to revenue growth, margin expansion, and cash conversion.
• Support the annual planning cycle, including preparation and consolidation of budget requests, analytics, and management review.
• Provide financial schedules and analysis for leadership review.
• Lead operational and financial analyses and prepare ad hoc operational and financial reports as requested.
• Assist with implementation of new ERP and other software tools to modernize and scale the business.
• Use and optimize QuickBooks/Spectrum to improve accuracy, reporting, and process efficiency.
• Improve system controls, standardization, and data integrity.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager