Assistant Controller

We're ESB Design+Build. We design, build, and deliver commercial modular construction projects across Arizona, and we've done it long enough to have people on this team at 10, 20, and 30 years. People don't give a company that many years unless it's earned them. We're built on a few things we actually mean: Family, Customers, Quality, Integrity, Speed & Efficiency, and Growth. We hire people who are made of the good stuff and want to build the good stuff.

We're looking for an Assistant Controller to build and run the financial backbone of the company. This is not a maintain-what's-there job. We're rebuilding the general ledger, moving to a real construction accounting platform, writing the policies that make it run, and standing up the monthly numbers that tell us where the business is headed before it gets there. You'll build that, and you'll have ownership backing you while you do.

The title says "Assistant" for a reason: the path to Controller is real and it's spelled out. Land the system, run clean monthly closes, and develop the seat below you, and you grow into the Controller role, with the title and the pay that come with it, typically inside 18 to 24 months. We'd rather promote the person who built it than go hire a stranger.

What you'll actually do

• Rebuild our general ledger on a job-cost-ready chart of accounts and migrate us onto new accounting software: a clean cutover, reconciled to the dollar.
• Close the books every month and deliver company financials, a WIP schedule, and project-level financials on a date you can set your watch by.
• Build a monthly dashboard of the numbers that matter (backlog, margin by project, over/under billings, cash position, DSO) so leadership sees change coming.
• Write the playbook: a close calendar, A/P and payroll procedures, and controls solid enough that someone new could run the function from your manual.
• Own the payroll and A/P process. You've got someone running the day-to-day, and your job is to make sure it runs right, including certified payroll on public work. You can step in and do it yourself when a deadline, a vacation, or a tricky job calls for it.
• Put a private AI to work on the repetitive stuff so the team spends its time on the work that needs a human, and bring your employee along with you, coaching them to work in consistent digital systems and automate wherever it makes sense.

Who we're looking for

You've done construction accounting and you don't flinch at WIP, percentage-of-completion, job costing, retainage, AIA billing, lien waivers, or certified payroll. Maybe you're a senior accountant or accounting manager at a contractor, or a CPA-firm person who's serviced builders and wants to come in-house and own it. You're ready to step up, and you've been waiting for a place that'll actually let you.

A few things that make you the one:

• 5–10 years in, with real contractor or construction-CPA experience. This is the part we won't compromise on—general-industry accounting won't carry you through the WIP work.
• You've survived a software migration (QuickBooks to Sage, Foundation, Viewpoint, or similar). If you've run a parallel cutover and lived to tell about it, we want to hear it.
• You're a builder by temperament: comfortable owning something from scratch, process-minded without being rigid, discreet with sensitive information, and honest to the bone. Integrity here means doing what's right when no one's looking, especially with the money.
• You're curious about AI, not threatened by it, and you're the kind of person who gets coworkers curious too.
• You want to plant roots. This is an in-person role in Marana, and we're the kind of place people stay.

CPA or CCIFP is a plus, not a requirement, and if you're working toward one, we'll help pay for it.

What we offer

• Base of $90,000–$105,000 depending on experience, plus an annual bonus tied to the system landing and the company doing well.
• A clear, achievable path to Controller—not a someday, a track.
• Health, dental, and vision; a 401(k) with up to 4% company match; and sick/holiday/PTO.
• Support for your CPE, your CPA or CCIFP, and a CFMA membership.
• A team that respects the work, a company that's growing on purpose, and the chance to build something that carries the next phase. We build Phase 1 to carry Phase 2, and this seat is how we do it.

How to apply

Send your resume and a few sentences about a financial system you built or a software migration you ran to ***email_hidden***. No cover-letter theater required—just tell us what you've built.

• ESB Design+Build is an equal opportunity employer.

Benefits

PTO, paid holidays, 401(k) match, medical, dental, vision

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree