Corporate Controller

Description

Purpose of the Role:

The Corporate Controller is a newly created, hands-on leadership role that owns the day-to-day transactional accounting operations of S3 Aero Defense and its subsidiaries. As the company scales — organically and through acquisition — the Controller is responsible for running an accurate, timely, well-controlled, and increasingly automated transactional accounting engine, and for leading the accounting integration of acquired businesses.

Reports to: Chief Financial Officer

Location: Milwaukee, WI (in office with hybrid flexibility on certain days as needed)

• Own end-to-end transactional accounting: accounts payable and disbursements; accounts receivable, billing, and collections; payroll accounting; cash and treasury operations; fixed assets; inventory and cost-accounting transactions; and intercompany transactional processing.
• Deliver clean sub-ledgers on schedule so the FP&A team can complete the monthly close and reporting without rework.
• Own account reconciliations across cash, AR, AP, inventory, accruals, and intercompany — resolving variances promptly and maintaining a documented, complete reconciliation cycle.
• Optimize working capital through disciplined management of payables, receivables and DSO, and cash application.

• Design, document, and operate a scalable control framework over transactional processes that is audit-ready today and can withstand increasing scrutiny (including SOX-style controls) as the company grows.
• Serve as a primary audit contact for transactional and balance-sheet areas, supporting a timely, clean external audit.

• Lead the accounting integration of acquired entities: onboarding AP/AR/payroll/GL processes, mapping charts of accounts and systems, standardizing transactional policies, and establishing intercompany and consolidation mechanics.
• Support financial due diligence and own the transactional-accounting workstream for Day 1 readiness and post-close integration.
• Build a repeatable accounting-integration playbook that scales across multiple acquisitions and, where needed, multiple ERPs.

• Own and continuously improve transactional processes in the Pentagon 2000
  
  SQL ERP; drive automation of high-volume, manual workflows (e.g., payment disbursement, billing/AR, reconciliations).
• Partner with IT and the data/AI initiatives to reduce manual effort, improve data integrity, and support scalable, multi-entity reporting.
• Operate across multiple ERP systems as needed during acquisition-integration periods.

• Lead, develop, and scale the transactional accounting team (Accounting Manager and AP, AR/credit, payroll, and staff-accounting personnel); build depth, cross-training, and succession for key roles.
• Convert institutional knowledge into documented SOPs that reduce single points of failure and accelerate onboarding.
• Foster a positive, accountable, high-integrity culture across the accounting operation.

• Partner closely with the Director of Finance / FP&A so transactional outputs feed the close, reporting, and forecasting cleanly and on time.
• Support the CFO on controls, cash, working capital, and integration, contributing to lender and sponsor reporting as it relates to transactional and balance-sheet data.

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
• 10+ years of progressive accounting experience, including time as a Controller (or equivalent) leading transactional accounting operations (AP, AR, payroll, GL) at a growing company.
• Demonstrated ownership of a scalable internal control environment and coordination of external audits.
• Strong…