What are the responsibilities and job description for the Senior Controller position at RDI?
What This Is
RDI is hiring a Senior Controller to own our finance function end to end — monthly close, GAAP financial statements, ASC 606 revenue recognition, the billing tracker, lender reporting, and the forward forecast model — and to direct the outsourced team that runs day-to-day bookkeeping, AP, and AR. On-site, five days a week, in Van Nuys.
This is a real ownership seat at a thirty-person, PE-backed specialty CRO. The function has good bones: an engaged CEO with a finance background, an outsourced partner already handling the day-to-day, and a clear revenue model. We need one strong person to step in and elevate it.
This role is probably not a fit if:
- Your revenue recognition experience is product-, inventory-, or COGS-based rather than project/services. This is the core of the work, not something you can pick up here.
- You are a long-tenured Controller or CFO looking for a stable seat to land in. The scope is broad and the trajectory is upward — we want someone climbing into it, not settling.
- You need the role to be remote or hybrid. It is on-site, five days, full stop.
The Work
Revenue recognition is the heart of the seat. We recognize on a cost-based input method under ASC 606 — Cumulative Actuals ÷ EAC × TCV, study by study — and getting it right matters to the board, the lender, and the operating team. If you have run ETC/EAC against contract value — percentage-of-completion, cost-to-cost — in a services business, this will feel familiar. If you haven't, it won't.
The billing tracker connects work performed to invoices issued; we want someone who owns it, not inherits it. You will run monthly borrowing-base reporting and covenant compliance with our lender, and the forecast model we share with the board each quarter and lean on between meetings. The monthly close is the foundation under all of it.
You will direct our outsourced accounting partner — hold them to a standard, give clear feedback, and decide over time what stays outsourced and what comes in house as we grow.
Who We Look For
Five to eight years of progressive accounting experience, CPA strongly preferred. The non-negotiable is hands-on ownership of project/services revenue recognition — ETC/EAC against contract value — in clinical research, a CDMO, consulting, construction, agency, engineering services, or a similar environment. This is the first thing we screen for.
Experience directing an outsourced partner or a small in-house team is a plus. The best fit is someone a little underleveraged in their current seat — technically strong, ambitious, ready to own a full function instead of a slice of one, and looking up rather than sideways.
The Culture
Thirty people, growing deliberately. You will work closely with a CEO who understands the numbers and engages with them seriously, and you will be close to every meaningful decision the company makes — capital, hiring, pricing, study economics. We try to make that visibility feel like opportunity, not pressure.
We are a technology-forward company and expect this seat to operate that way. The scope is broader than a traditional Senior Controller role because we believe one strong person, well supported by good systems, can carry it.
The Salary
$150,000 – $175,000, with room for the right candidate. Benefits, equity considerations, and bonus structure covered in the first conversation.
Why Join
Because you want to own a finance function, not support one. Because you want a CEO who engages with your work seriously. And because the scope of what one person in this seat can do is changing, and you would rather be somewhere that has already noticed.
On-site in Van Nuys, five days a week. We have built the culture around being in the same room and do not plan to change it.
- 5–8 years progressive accounting experience; CPA strongly preferred
- Hands-on ownership of project/services revenue recognition (ASC 606 cost-to-cost / percentage-of-completion, ETC/EAC against contract value) — required
- Services-industry background: CRO, CDMO, consulting, construction, agency, engineering, or similar project-based business
- Monthly close, GAAP financial statements, lender/covenant reporting, and forecasting
- Experience directing an outsourced accounting partner or small team — preferred
- Able to work on-site in Van Nuys five days a week — required
- Product-only, inventory, or COGS-based revenue backgrounds are not a fit
- Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision) Retirement Plan (401k, IRA)
- Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
- Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
Salary : $150,000 - $175,000