sparrow - Controller

Remote - US Remote$160k - $225k1h ago

Remote Senior NA Payments Software Controller Auditor Team Management Close

Requirements

• 8 to 10+ years of relevant experience: Big 4 or national firm experience. Experience at a high-growth startup is a plus but not required. • Builder mindset above all else: You're energized by the work of building an accounting function from the ground up, setting up systems, writing the first version of a policy, figuring out the right process when no playbook exists. • Deep US GAAP expertise, with real ASC 606 revenue recognition experience. You can write the policy and defend it to an auditor. • Systems fluency: You've worked with ERP systems and billing systems. Bonus if you've been through an ERP or other systems selection or implementation before. • You've integrated AI meaningfully into how you work, and you build new workflows AI-first. You can speak specifically to where it works, where it doesn't, and how you've developed judgment about when to trust the output. • Clear communicator: You can explain accounting concepts without jargon. You're comfortable pushing back when something doesn't make financial sense. • Integrity and discretion: We need someone we trust completely.

Responsibilities

• Own close: Run the monthly close end-to-end, journal entries, reconciliations, financial statements, with accuracy and improving speed over time. Establish a close calendar and repeatable processes that get tighter every month. • Build the accounting foundation: Design and document accounting policies, internal controls, and workflows from the ground up. • Own revenue recognition: Apply GAAP judgment to our prepay, usage-based, and pay-as-you-go contract mix, an area that doesn't fit a standard per-seat SaaS model and requires real thinking, not just following a template. • Lead order-to-cash: Own the full cycle from invoicing through collections, including reconciliation of usage-based billing against contracted commitments, working cross-functionally to ensure accuracy, reduce time-to-payment, and flag issues early. • Prepare us for our first audit: Own audit readiness end-to-end, building audit-ready workpapers, managing the relationship with external auditors, and ensuring we can move through our first audit efficiently and cleanly. • Drive ERP and system selection and implementation: Evaluate our current tools and lead the process of selecting and implementing the right ERP and other systems for where we're going. Bring a systems-thinking mindset. • Identify and adopt the right AI finance tools, including our own. • Build the team: Hire and manage an in-house accounting team over time as we transition functions off our outsourced provider.

Benefits

• This is a full-time, salaried position with compensation of $160,000 to $225,000 depending on experience and location. • Our work at Sparrow is impactful. We help People teams with one of the hardest parts of their job, and we support employees at a time when they need it most. We’re driven by our mission, much like a nonprofit, but with the resources and scale of a fast-growing venture-backed company.