Controller

About Gridco

Gridco is a utility contractor and engineering services company building and maintaining critical electric infrastructure across the Southeast. We serve investor-owned utilities, electric cooperatives, municipal power authorities, and commercial/industrial customers with substation, transmission, distribution, lighting, and fiber work. We're a private equity–backed platform headquartered in Birmingham with field crews operating across multiple states, and we run a sophisticated finance & accounting environment for our size of 400 employees.

About the Role

We're hiring a senior-level Controller to lead Gridco's accounting function. Reporting to the CFO and with day-to-day oversight of our Accounting Manager and the broader accounting team (AP, AR/Billing), this is a hands-on operating seat that owns the close, the cash and WIP cycles, the financial reporting package, and the day-to-day relationship with our Treasury function and external auditors.

You'll personally build the monthly WIP through working directly with Project Managers, produce the financial report package, and continuously improve our GL/ERP and financial reporting systems as we scale into new geographies and lines of business — alongside leading the team that handles AP, AR, and bank reconciliations. The right hire is someone who likes operating in the details and wants real ownership of how the close and job-cost cycles come together.

What You'll Do

1.     General ledger integrity — Review and post AP, AR, payroll, and operations batches in Viewpoint Vista, enforcing coding accuracy and approval standards before entries hit the books.

2.     Payroll oversight — Review and execute weekly payroll uploads, maintain payroll-to-GL reconciliation, and own PTO liability tracking and transmittal approvals.

3.     13-week cash flow forecasting — Build and maintain the rolling 13-week cash flow projection that supports liquidity planning and lender reporting.

4.     Job cost & production reporting — Lead weekly job cost production reporting and partner with Project Management & Operations on production review meetings to drive accountability across crews.

5.     AR cycle management — Own the AR aging cadence, partner with Billing on collections and projected payment dates, and manage new customer setup and ACH authorization.

6.     Daily cash & treasury management

7.     Monthly close ownership — Drive the monthly close checklist end-to-end, ensure entries supporting bank reconciliation are recorded on time, and deliver a clean close package to the CFO on schedule.

8.     WIP and revenue recognition — Roll and build the monthly WIP report and coordinate change order accounting, lump-sum job setup, and T&E / unit-distribution revenue recognition with project managers and the Accounting Manager.

9.     Financial reporting & PE sponsor support — Produce the monthly internal financial reporting package and support the VP Finance on PE sponsor reporting, quarterly covenant compliance, and lender deliverables.

10. External audit & internal controls — Serve as primary day-to-day contact for our external auditors on PBC items, walkthroughs, and testing; maintain control narratives across the accounting cycles and drive remediation of any deficiencies.

Team Leadership

• Supervise, coach, and develop the Accounting Manager and the broader accounting team
• Maintain and refine control narratives across AP, AR, payroll, fixed assets, cash, and debt
• Document SOPs and cross-train to eliminate single-point-of-failure dependencies
• Refine and execute the AI/tech roadmap for accounting efficiency and financial operations improvement

What We're Looking For

• 7 years of accounting experience, with at least 2 in a Controller, Assistant Controller role
• Construction, utility contracting, or other project-based industry experience required — direct exposure to job cost, WIP, progress billing, change order accounting, and revenue recognition on long-cycle projects
• Viewpoint Vista experience preferred; other construction ERPs (Sage 300, JD Edwards, Procore, etc.) considered
• Working knowledge of GAAP including ASC 606 (revenue recognition) and ASC 842 (leases)
• Comfort running treasury operations in a commercial banking portal
• Hands-on Excel skills — building and maintaining a multi-tab WIP workbook, cash projection, and GL reconciliation files
• Strong communication skills — comfortable presenting to operations leaders, the CFO, VP Finance, our PE sponsor, and our lender
• Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance or related field

Bonus Points

• CPA preferred
• Experience in a PE-backed environment — sponsor reporting, covenant compliance, QoE prep
• Familiarity with equipment finance structures common in fleet-heavy contractors (finance and operating leases)
• Experience leading or supporting a national-firm external audit
• Prior involvement in M&A integration or carve-out accounting

Why Gridco

• Senior seat with direct CFO partnership and visibility to our PE sponsor and lender
• Real operating ownership: this role runs the close, the WIP, the cash cycle, and the financial reporting package
• Sophisticated finance environment for the company's size — modern systems, AI utilization, well-documented controls, and a growth mandate that requires the function to scale with the platform
• Hybrid schedule based out of our Birmingham HQ; competitive base, long-term stock incentive, and full benefits