Controller - Finance & Accounting

Lazer is a world-class digital product studio with 180+ senior engineers and designers from companies like Apple, Google, and Coinbase. They have scaled products from $0 to $200M in revenue.

Lazer is seeking a hands-on Controller to own the day-to-day accounting function and strengthen financial systems supporting growth. Reporting to the CFO and partnering with the Finance Manager, this role involves executing the close, financial reporting, cash management, audit, tax, and compliance work. It is a working Controller role in a lean team, not an oversight-only position.

The ideal candidate will improve finance operations by simplifying processes, introducing automation and AI, strengthening project and margin reporting, and providing leaders with clear, actionable information. The right person combines strong accounting judgment with the initiative to challenge assumptions, fix gaps, and build scalable systems without unnecessary bureaucracy.

Who You Are:

Professional Experience

• CPA designation with at least seven years of progressive accounting and finance experience.
• Experience owning the close and financial reporting as a Controller, Assistant Controller, Senior Accounting Manager, or equivalent role.
• A track record of working hands-on in a lean finance team, ideally within a startup, scale-up, technology, consulting, or professional services business.
• Strong technical accounting judgment and experience with audit, tax, controls, and multi-entity reporting.

Operating and Commercial Skills

• Experience with project or contract-based revenue, including time-and-materials, fixed-fee, or retainer engagements, and understanding of how delivery decisions affect margin, cash, and revenue recognition.
• Strong analytical skills to move from transaction detail to clear business recommendations.
• Comfort operating in an environment where processes are still evolving and answers are not always documented.
• Sound judgment, high ownership, and confidence to challenge senior stakeholders constructively.

Systems and Communication

• Demonstrated experience improving finance systems, close processes, reporting, or data quality, supported by strong spreadsheet skills and experience with Xero or a comparable cloud accounting platform.
• Practical examples of using automation or AI to make finance work faster, more reliable, or more useful.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills, including explaining accounting issues to non-finance colleagues.
• Ability to collaborate effectively in a remote-first organization.

Additional Experience

• Experience in a Canadian company with operations, customers, or team members in the United States is an asset.
• Experience implementing or optimizing an ERP, close management platform, reporting tool, or finance workflow is an asset.
• Experience supporting financing, acquisitions, diligence, or investor reporting is an asset.

What You'll Do:

Accounting and Close

• Own the monthly, quarterly, and year-end close across Lazer entities, including journal entries, reconciliations, consolidations, and supporting schedules.
• Prepare accurate and timely financial statements, management reporting, and variance analysis.
• Maintain clear accounting policies and working papers that support consistent treatment and a clean audit trail.
• Stay close to the details and complete or review the work directly when needed.

Revenue and Business Performance

• Own the accounting for time-and-materials, fixed-fee, and retainer engagements, including work in progress, unbilled revenue, deferred revenue, and revenue recognition judgments.
• Run regular project reviews with delivery leaders to improve reporting on revenue, cost, margin, utilization, and labor economics, and identify budget overruns, change orders, and billing gaps early.
• Support forecasting, scenario analysis, pricing decisions, and other work connecting financial results to business performance.
• Review client contracts and statements of work with commercial and delivery teams for revenue recognition, billing terms, and collectability.

Finance Operations and Compliance

• Oversee cash management, banking, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and payroll, while standardizing invoicing and collections for project-based work.
• Lead the annual audit and act as the primary contact for auditors, tax advisors, banks, and other finance partners.
• Coordinate Canadian tax and compliance requirements, including GST and HST, year-end filings, SR&ED support where applicable, and cross-border or multi-entity requirements.
• Maintain appropriate controls for a growing, remote company while keeping processes practical and efficient.

Systems and Automation

• Assess the current finance stack and prioritize improvements with the greatest operational impact.
• Automate reconciliations, close tasks, reporting, and recurring workflows where doing so improves speed and accuracy.
• Use AI responsibly to reduce manual work and improve analysis, documentation, and decision support.
• Build reliable data flows between finance, delivery, sales, and people systems.

Partnership and Leadership

• Work directly with the CFO and Finance Manager as a senior member of a small, collaborative team.
• Translate financial results into clear recommendations for leaders across the business.
• Ask hard questions, challenge weak assumptions, and follow issues through to resolution.
• Help define the finance team, systems, and operating model Lazer will need at its next stage of growth.

AI in our hiring process
We use AI to help us review and shortlist applications based on job-related criteria. A human hiring manager always makes the call on who moves forward. As a company that builds with AI every day, we're all for candidates using it too — just be upfront about how it helped.

Why Work With Us

• 🚀 Accelerate Your Growth: Work across multiple industries and cutting-edge projects with a team that ships fast.
• 💥 Maximum Impact: Shape the future of the tech industry by helping ambitious projects reach their potential.
• 🏅 True Ownership: Everyone ships code and has real autonomy with minimal meetings.
• 💡 Continuous Learning: Be part of a team of senior engineers and designers who love learning and knowledge sharing.

Why This Might Not Be For You

• 🤖 You Resist Modern Tools: We leverage AI and cutting-edge technology to build rapidly and focus on high-impact challenges.
• 🏗️ You Crave High Structure: We thrive in an autonomous, fast-moving environment with some ambiguity.
• 😴 You Prefer Conventional Careers: Our consulting approach involves varied projects and direct client interaction.
• 1️⃣ You Like Staying in One Lane: Our projects require adapting to different tech stacks and modern tooling quickly.

Benefits & Perks

• 🌐 Work From Anywhere: Choose your workspace with strong wifi and passion for building.
• 🧘‍♂️ Work/Life Balance: Believe in a great career and time to unplug.
• 🩺 Employee Care: Full benefits (healthcare, dental, vision) and 401k for US employees.
• 🏖️ Unlimited PTO: Take at least 15 days off a year, more if needed.
• 🎉 Regular Team Retreat: Join team bonding trips to destinations like the Dominican Republic, Cancun, and Hawaii.