Cost Controller, US Operations; Upstream E&P

Houston, TX. On-site, five days a week. Direct hire.

Retained by The Talance Group. Client name shared with qualified candidates.

Six things. If you don't have all six, this isn't your role.

• 15+ years in accounting, finance, cost control, or financial reporting
• Upstream E&P, with at least 5 years at an Operator
• Budgeting, forecasting, and AFE cost control as your core daily work
• Fluency in a major upstream ERP or cost control platform
• A track record of sitting across the table from drilling and field operations, asking hard questions about spend, and holding your ground
• Leadership experience, or the clear capability to build and run a small team

The role

A privately held operator is bringing US accounting in-house from an outside provider. You lead that transition, then stay on as the senior US accounting leader as the function grows underneath you.

The first priority is cost. Capital spend is running ahead of plan, and the reasons have not been pinned down. You will find them. That means tracing dollars back through the AFE, working shoulder to shoulder with operations, and installing the controls and procedures that keep it from repeating. Very little is written down today. You get to write it.

You report to the CFO and supervise accounts payable from the start, with additional accounting roles reporting to you as the function builds out.

Why people take this seat

The company is conservatively financed and funds its work from its own balance sheet. Ownership is long-tenured, turnover is unusually low, and the team is small enough that your work is visible to decision-makers. Benefits are strong. The office is one people are happy to come to.

The honest version: this is a fix-it seat before it is a growth seat. If you want a clean function to maintain, keep scrolling. If you want to be the person who found the leak and closed it, apply.