Controller Position Overview: We are seeking a Controller to lead the accounting and finance function for a worldwide manufacturing company in Montreal, Canada. This is a hands-on role for someone who is comfortable owning the details, rebuilding financial discipline, and bringing structure to an environment that needs stronger accounting processes, clearer priorities, and reliable execution.

The business designs and manufactures highly engineered products used in technical testing, research, and industrial applications. With complex products and operations, the business requires a Controller who can stabilize the fundamentals while helping the site operate with greater consistency and control.

The Controller will be strategic and hands-on, directly involved in journal entries, close activities, reconciliations, payables, receivables, controls, audits, payroll-related data changes, cost accounting, and day-to-day financial problem solving. The first priority will be to get the basics working correctly: bills paid on time, books closed accurately, auditors supported, controls reviewed, and monthly balance sheet reconciliations completed.

The right person will bring ownership, urgency, and practical judgment. They will know how to build a priority list, communicate tradeoffs clearly, and guide site leadership toward the one or two things that matter most when everything feels urgent. This role requires someone who can be direct without being difficult, hands-on without being reactive, and steady enough to help the site regain confidence in financial leadership.

Experience with Canadian accounting practices, Quebec regulatory requirements, GST, QST, and local compliance expectations is required.

Key Responsibilities: Lead the monthly, quarterly, and annual close process with a focus on accuracy, timeliness, and consistency. Own day-to-day accounting execution, including journal entries, reconciliations, accruals, financial reporting, and close-related activities. Stabilize core finance operations, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, vendor payments, customer collections, and cash visibility. Ensure bills are reviewed, prioritized, coded correctly, and paid on time to support uninterrupted business operations. Lead and support a small finance team, including AP and AR resources, with clear direction, accountability, and practical training. Review, improve, and implement internal controls to bring the site up to expected control standards. Complete monthly balance sheet reconciliations and establish a consistent rhythm for review, follow-up, and correction. Support audit requests, resolve open items, and help reduce finance-related noise from internal and external stakeholders. Strengthen processes around payroll master data changes, approvals, documentation, and compliance. Build better financial visibility around product costs, margins, inventory, labor, materials, and operational performance. Begin developing cost accounting practices where limited structure currently exists. Support basic FP&A activities, including forecasting, budgeting, variance analysis, and financial reporting for site leadership. Provide practical financial guidance to site leadership on priorities, risks, cash needs, spending decisions, and operational impact. Help leadership understand what must be addressed now, what can wait, and where finance-related decisions may create operational risk. Partner with operations and site leadership to identify inefficiencies, improve workflows, and create better handoffs between finance and the business. Ensure compliance with Canadian and Quebec-specific accounting, tax, and regulatory requirements, including GST and QST. Support parent-company reporting requirements and escalate technical accounting matters when appropriate. Bring a systems-savvy, process-minded approach to improving daily accounting workflows, coding accuracy, and reporting reliability. Protect confidential financial and business information with discretion and professionalism. Support additional finance, accounting, operational, and leadership initiatives as business needs evolve.

Qualifications and Experience: Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or a related field required. CPA or equivalent accounting designation strongly preferred. Proven experience as a Controller, Assistant Controller, Accounting Manager, or senior accounting leader. Manufacturing accounting experience strongly preferred. Experience in a smaller or mid-sized manufacturing environment where the Controller owns both strategy and execution is highly valuable. Strong knowledge of Canadian accounting practices and Quebec-specific regulatory requirements. Experience with GST, QST, and Canadian tax compliance requirements required. Strong understanding of close processes, journal entries, balance sheet reconciliations, internal controls, AP, AR, accruals, financial reporting, and audit support. Experience improving or rebuilding control environments preferred. Cost accounting experience preferred, especially in a manufacturing or engineered product environment. Exposure to budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, and basic FP&A activities preferred. IFRS exposure preferred, but not required. Strong Excel skills and comfort working with ERP systems, accounting systems, and financial data. Ability to lead a small team while remaining hands-on in the daily work. Strong communication skills with the ability to provide direct, practical guidance to site leadership. Comfortable working in an environment where priorities may need to be clarified, challenged, and sequenced. Self-directed, organized, and able to create structure without waiting for perfect processes to exist. Strong judgment with the ability to know when to escalate, when to push back, and when to solve the issue directly.

What Naturally Makes You a Good Fit: You are willing to roll up your sleeves and fix the basics. \You can bring order to an environment where priorities are not always clearly defined. You are comfortable advising leadership, “Here are the issues. Here is what matters most. Here is what we should address first.” You are steady under pressure and do not get rattled by competing priorities. You can be direct without creating unnecessary conflict. You take ownership quickly and do not need a perfect handoff to start making progress. You are practical, organized, and willing to build simple processes that actually work and can scale. You understand that controls matter because they protect the business, not because they check a box. You can work with a small team, meet people where they are, and raise the standard over time. You notice inefficiencies and are comfortable calling them out with professionalism. You bring a calm, accountable presence to a finance function that needs stability.

Benefits of working with the team: As a valued member of the team, you will receive a competitive compensation package, including a base salary with bonus eligibility based on site and broader company performance. Additional benefits include: Medical, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k) plan, life insurance, paid time off, company-sponsored benefits, etc.