Director of Finance & Controller-63925410850

Position: Director of Finance & Controller

Location: Remote: PH/SA/LatAM

Work Schedule: 9am-5pm-EST

Salary:Market Related

 

The Opportunity

We are seeking a finance leader to own financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, investor reporting, cash management, and accounting oversight across a growing multifamily portfolio — approximately 209 units across 18 buildings in Massachusetts and New Hampshire today, generating roughly $6M in annual rent, scaling toward 300+ units within 12 months and 450+ units within three years.

This is not a bookkeeping role. Transaction processing, reconciliations, AP processing, and routine accounting are performed by our outsourced accounting team across property management and corporate accounting systems. Administrative execution — vendor onboarding, utility setup, W-9s and COIs — runs through our Coordinators, with follow-through owned by our Operations Manager. The successful candidate will build controls, review financial output, manage reporting, lead forecasting and budgeting, and provide the Principal with investor-grade financial visibility across the portfolio.

This is the seat that lets the Principal stop touching accounting entirely and focus on acquisitions, capital allocation, and investor relationships. You should wake up thinking about cash, NOI, forecasts, controls, and investor reporting — not whether a bank reconciliation got completed.

Put plainly: we are hiring a finance executive for a small but growing real estate investment platform, not a senior accountant.

What You Will Own

Everywhere below, the pattern is the same: the outsourced accounting team executes within the framework you design, and you review, approve, and are accountable for the result. You are not the one entering transactions.

1.  Investor & Portfolio Reporting

• Deliver a monthly portfolio reporting package that gives the Principal full visibility — portfolio cash, NOI by property, budget variance, liquidity position, distribution capacity, and acquisition capacity — in under 10 minutes
• Build the property-level and portfolio-level reporting framework (P&Ls, rent rolls, variance reports) that the outsourced accounting team populates and you review and approve before distribution
• Prepare and deliver owner statements and investor distribution packages on a defined cadence
• Own quarterly investor reporting as the acquisition pipeline and investor base scale

The outcome you're being hired to deliver: the Principal opens one monthly package and instantly understands portfolio cash position, property-level NOI, budget variances, leasing performance, construction spend, available liquidity, distribution capacity, and acquisition capacity — without asking a follow-up question.

2.  Strategic Finance & FP&A

• Build and maintain the annual portfolio budget, property by property
• Lead quarterly reforecasting against actuals
• Own and update a rolling 13-week cash forecast across all entities — this is a no-surprises mandate
• Build acquisition and disposition financial models to support underwriting and deal decisions
• Own capital planning — how proceeds from dispositions and financing get redeployed
• Deliver ongoing portfolio performance analysis — which assets are outperforming, which need attention, and why

3.  Financial Controls & Accounting Oversight

• Design the chart of accounts and GL structure across property management and corporate accounting systems; the outsourced accounting team executes transaction entry, bank reconciliations, and AP processing inside the framework you set
• Review and approve the outsourced accounting team's monthly close work product before anything is treated as final
• Own the AP approval workflow — review and approve every bill above defined thresholds; you are the control, not the processor
• Build and enforce segregation-of-duties and a three-way match (PO / receipt / invoice) discipline for capital project spend
• Review CIP schedules and CapEx-vs-operating-expense classification maintained by the outsourced accounting team; reconcile construction management fees earned against project costs

4.  Acquisitions & Capital Markets

• Support acquisition due diligence and financial review
• Analyze acquisition performance against underwriting
• Prepare lender and investor materials for acquisitions and refinancings
• Assist with disposition and capital recycling analysis
• Own the accounting execution plan for closings — the outsourced accounting team records entries, you review purchase price allocations and opening balances
• Oversee disposition accounting — gain/loss calculations, 1031 exchange coordination, proceeds reconciliation
• Review depreciation schedules maintained by the outsourced accounting team across the portfolio
• Support capital raise conversations with clean, investor-ready historical financials

5.  Compliance, Insurance & Lender Relations

• Own the compliance calendar — property tax filings, entity-level filings, and lender reporting deadlines across Massachusetts and New Hampshire
• Own insurance renewal strategy, broker coordination, coverage review, and renewal timelines — administrative collection and paperwork may be delegated to Coordinators, but ownership of the outcome stays with you
• Serve as the primary liaison to the external tax CPA for annual filings and tax strategy
• Maintain lender compliance reporting and covenant tracking for all financed properties

6.  Accounting Team & Process Leadership

• Manage the outsourced accounting team responsible for transaction processing, reconciliations, AP processing, and close support — you own outcomes, not data entry
• Set standards for the team's work, review output, and correct errors before they compound
• Build the internal controls that make outsourced accounting reliable without Principal involvement
• Define clear handoffs with the Operations Manager: you flag what's needed (e.g., updated COIs from a vendor), Coordinators execute, Operations Manager owns follow-through if it stalls — you do not chase vendors
• Recommend when accounting capacity needs to grow as the portfolio scales past 300 and then 450+ units

7.  Property Onboarding — Financial Oversight

• Own the financial onboarding checklist for newly acquired properties, targeting full onboarding within 30 days of close
• Review the outsourced accounting team's entry of opening GL balances, security deposit ledgers, and prepaid/accrual schedules — you approve, you do not key them in
• Coordinate the onboarding handoff with the Operations Manager

What Success Looks Like Monthly

This is what tangible looks like — the deliverables that prove the role is working, on a fixed cadence:

• Portfolio dashboard delivered by the 10th business day of each month
• 13-week cash forecast updated weekly
• Budget variance report delivered monthly
• Investor reporting delivered quarterly
• Compliance calendar maintained continuously, with nothing discovered at the deadline

What We Are Looking For

Required Experience

• A real track record in budgeting, forecasting, and 13-week cash flow modeling — this is FP&A work, not report-running
• Demonstrated experience managing, reviewing, or directing the work of an outsourced or offshore bookkeeping team — not just performing the work personally
• 5–10+ years of progressive accounting/finance experience, with a track record of moving from execution into oversight
• 3+ years specifically in U.S. multifamily or property management finance — non-negotiable
• AppFolio experience strongly preferred; Yardi or MRI acceptable
• U.S. GAAP fluency sufficient to judge the quality of someone else's work, not just produce your own
• Experience building or materially improving financial controls in a lean or remote-first company
• 1031 exchange and disposition accounting familiarity a strong plus

The Ideal Background

The strongest candidates already have someone below them doing transaction entry — a Controller, Assistant Controller, Accounting Manager, or Director of Accounting at a U.S. multifamily operator or property management company managing 500+ units, where their day was spent reviewing, forecasting, and reporting rather than reconciling. An internationally based, credentialed finance professional with strong U.S. real estate exposure fits this profile well.

Candidates who currently spend the majority of their time performing bookkeeping, reconciliations, AP processing, or transaction entry are unlikely to be a fit for this seat.

The Killer Combination

• Based internationally, with strong overlap with U.S. business hours
• U.S. multifamily / property management financial oversight experience
• AppFolio proficiency
• U.S. GAAP
• A demonstrated track record managing or reviewing an outsourced/offshore accounting team
• Real FP&A capability — budgeting, forecasting, cash modeling — not just historical reporting

That combination makes this person the financial operating leader for the entire accounting function as the portfolio scales from roughly 200 to 450+ units.

Engagement Structure

Phase 1 — Paid Evaluation (30–60 Days)

• Structured as a paid contract engagement, 20–30 hours per week
• Full access to the property management financial package and the outsourced accounting team's work product
• Deliverables: accounting structure assessment, control gap analysis, review of current accounting output quality, preliminary 13-week cash forecast, and a clear recommendation for what changes immediately

Phase 2 — Full-Time

• Strong Phase 1 performance converts to full-time via Employer of Record, targeting $40,000–$60,000 USD annually depending on experience
• Full ownership of the accounting function, with a defined partnership structure alongside the Operations Manager and the outsourced accounting team

How We Hire

We do not hire on interviews alone. Finalists receive a real but sanitized financial package and are asked:

“You are taking over as Director of Finance & Controller. What is wrong here? What would you delegate to your bookkeeping team versus own yourself? What controls would you implement? And what do you think our financial position will look like six months from now?”

That exercise tells us more about judgment and delegation instincts than any interview question — which is exactly what this seat is being hired for.

About Us

• Multifamily acquisition and repositioning firm — buy, reposition, sell 
• ~200+ units across Massachusetts and New Hampshire today, scaling to 450+ units within three years
• Active acquisition pipeline — first dispositions targeting Q1 2027
• Lean leadership team — four direct reports to the Principal, fully remote support layer beneath them
• AppFolio as primary system of record; Monday.com for execution tracking