Controller

Ikigai Cases (www.ikigaicases.com) is a fast-growing ecommerce brand manufacturing aerospace-grade aluminum pill cases. Founded in December 2021 by two brothers after their father’s neurological diagnosis led them to discovering the issues with plastic pill organizers, we’ve built a multi-million dollar business in just over four years with a team of 25 across the globe.

Our mission is simple: make exceptional pill cases and provide exceptional customer service. We deliver on this by managing in-house fulfillment at our Washington, DC facility (including custom engraving) and maintaining obsessive attention to detail.

We are hiring a Controller to take complete ownership of our financial operations — accounting, reporting, payroll, budgeting, cash flow, tax coordination, and financial systems. This is a critical senior role, and we’re looking for someone whose professional identity is built around three things: the integrity of the numbers, running the finance function end-to-end, and providing strategic financial insight to the CEO.

The ideal candidate has served as a Controller (or equivalent) for an e-commerce or DTC brand in the $10–30M revenue range. You understand the financial rhythms of e-commerce: Shopify revenue recognition, inventory accounting, seasonal cash flow swings, sales tax across multiple states, and the speed at which decisions need to be made. If you’ve done this before at a similar-sized company, you already know what we need.

At $11.5M in revenue and targeting $30M by 2028, our financial complexity is outpacing our financial infrastructure. We need someone who builds systems, not just operates inside them. You’ll report directly to the CEO and work hand-in-hand with our external financial advisor. No layers of management between you and the decisions your work supports.

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• 5+ years in accounting, bookkeeping, or finance operations

• Prior Controller or senior finance role at a company doing $10M+ in annual revenue — you’ve owned the full financial function, not just pieces of it

• E-commerce or DTC company experience strongly preferred — Shopify revenue recognition, inventory accounting, seasonal cash flow, multi-state sales tax

• Experience closing books independently, on a monthly cadence, without supervision

• Demonstrated accuracy record — you should be able to speak to this specifically

• US GAAP familiarity (CPA not required, but you must understand the principles)

• Experience preparing monthly, quarterly, and annual budgets

• Payroll experience across multiple platforms

• Advanced Google Sheets / Excel (SUMIFS, financial modeling, pivot tables)

• Strong proficiency with Finaloop, QuickBooks Online, or equivalent cloud accounting platform

• Strong written and verbal English; ability to explain financial insights to non-financial stakeholders

• Experience working remotely for a US-based company from the Philippines

• Exposure to sales tax compliance across multiple US states

• Experience using Notion (or similar task management software)

• EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) familiarity

• Prior experience coordinating with external CPAs and tax advisors

Technical skills get you in the door. These traits determine whether you succeed:

• Detail orientation as professional pride — you catch your own errors before they go out, and you change your process so they don’t recur.

• Proactive disclosure — you surface problems before being asked, even when it’s uncomfortable.

• Ownership without supervision — if it’s due, it’s done. No prompting required.

• Direct communication — you push back when something doesn’t look right.

• Reliability — when you say you’ll be available, you’re available. When you can’t be, you say so immediately.