Fractional Controller - Technology & Process Transformation

AI, automation, and modern finance platforms are taking over routine tasks and creating new opportunities for Controllers to deliver greater value. The days of spending hours on data entry, manual reconciliations, and spreadsheet maintenance are fading. This frees great Controllers to do what clients truly need: understand the business, fix broken processes, and deliver numbers leaders can act on. At Optima, you'll have real tools and a Technology team behind you.

We're looking for Controllers who want to help us, and our clients, figure out what comes next.

As an Optima Controller you'll run the accounting function for a portfolio of clients, responsible for the relationship, the team, and the results. You'll also be the person we send in to make each client's accounting function better: learn how work gets done, find where time and accuracy are leaking, and implement a better way forward.

• Client and team: Be the primary contact for clients' owners and finance leaders. Direct and coach the staff accountants on your clients, and review work before it goes out.
• Scope and retention: Manage each engagement to scope and budget, raise issues early, and spot where a client would benefit from CFO, HR, or technology advisory support.

• Close and reporting: Run an on-time month-end close and deliver accurate financial statements, KPIs, management reporting, budgets, and forecasts. Work with our reporting and FP&A tools (such as Optima Insights and Jirav) to give clients clear visibility. You don't need to build dashboards — you need to know what good looks like and what questions to ask.
• Accounting operations and controls: Oversee the GL, AR/AP, payroll, sales tax, and EDD filings, maintain sound internal controls, and coordinate audits with outside CPAs. Supervise, mentor and coach your engagement team.

• Assess and vet: Use Optima's Discovery & Scoping process to map current workflows, then evaluate tools (such as , Ramp, or AI-native close tools) on fit, cost, integrations, and controls.
• Implement: Partner with our Technology team on system conversions, data migrations, and AP automation rollouts, from data mapping through cutover and training.
• Experiment and share: Use Optima's approved AI tools to speed up research and routine work, document what works in SOPs, and help us decide what's ready to scale.

• Curious, adaptable, and committed to continuous learning. You embrace new technologies, explore emerging tools, and aren't afraid to lean through experimentation and iterating.
• A process-minded problem solver with healthy skepticism. You see the close as a system, and you inquire about controls, data integrity, and cost before recommending solutions.
• An owner. You treat each client as your own, proactively manage expectations, follow through on commitments, and address challenges before they become frustrations.
• A trusted advisor and communicator. You can explain complex financial, operational, and technology concepts for audiences at every level, from bookkeepers to CFOs, and you consider the business from a macro perspective.

We're not looking for someone to preserve the status quo. We're looking for Controllers who are excited to challenge legacy processes, embrace emerging technologies, and help define the future of accounting for our clients.

This is a hybrid position that requires 3 days in our San Diego office.

• You are adaptable - you can adjust on the fly and welcome diverse clients.
• You are technically strong – you have experience in accounting,…