Controller
About Crew Finance
Anchored in Santa Monica with crewmates across the U.S., Crew Finance is a specialized consulting firm providing fractional finance and accounting expertise to high-growth startups in Consumer, Tech, and SaaS. We serve some of the brightest emerging brands in the game — the kind you've seen at a celebrity-hosted pop-up or spotted in a hotel minibar and thought, “who's behind that?”
Working at Crew means wearing multiple client hats simultaneously. It's dynamic, it's varied, and it keeps things interesting. You won't be doing the same thing for the same company forever. You'll be doing smart, meaningful work across a portfolio of consumer brands that actually need you — and will feel it when you show up right.
What You'll Actually Do
As Controller at Crew Finance, you own the financial operations and reporting for a portfolio of early-stage consumer brands. These are not clients with mature finance teams and established processes. They have big ambitions, lean infrastructure, and founders who are juggling seventeen things at once. Your job is to be the most reliable thing in their financial universe.
- Own the full close: revenue, expenses, GL reconciliations, accruals, and financial statements — on time, every month
- Manage a team of domestic and international accountants across your client portfolio
- Maintain GAAP compliance and accrual-basis accounting without making it everyone's problem
- Oversee billing, AP/AR, inventory costing, and revenue recognition for each client
- Manage inventory accounting: costing partnership with our clients portfolio, write-offs, and landed cost treatment
- Handle trade spend and promotional accounting — accruals, chargebacks, deduction management, retailer compliance
- Build and maintain COGS models that actually reflect how a product brand operates
- Support cash flow forecasting for inventory-heavy businesses where timing is everything
- Translate financial information for founders who are experts in their product, not their P&L
- Be the person who tells them what they need to hear, not just what they want to hear
- Evaluate and implement financial tools appropriate to each client's stage — QBO, NetSuite, Xero, Bill.com, Shopify
- Build the processes that don't exist yet; document them so they survive when things scale
- Foster internal controls that add real protection without adding bureaucracy that kills momentum
What We're Looking For
The CPG experience is non-negotiable. The startup instincts are what make you exceptional.
- Deep CPG accounting experience: inventory, COGS, trade spend, deductions, and promotional accounting
- 5+ years of progressive accounting experience, ideally across multiple clients or companies
- Strong command of US GAAP — revenue recognition, inventory valuation
- Proficiency with QBO, NetSuite, Xero, and the startup tool stack (Bill.com, Gusto, Shopify)
- Bachelor's in business or accounting; CPA preferred and genuinely valued
- You've worked with early-stage founders and understand that “we've been doing it this way” is both a red flag and a completely understandable reality
- You bring order to ambiguous situations without making people feel judged for the mess they're in
- You can hold the line on what matters and let go of what doesn't — and you know the difference
- You're curious about the brands you serve. You want to know what they sell, who their customer is, and why it matters
- You can manage multiple client engagements without dropping anything, and you're honest when capacity is a constraint
Why Crew
- Fractional work means exposure to dozens of consumer brands across stages, categories, and business models. Your brain will not get bored
- A team of smart, collaborative people who care about doing right by clients — and each other
- The opportunity to build something real; this role has room to grow as Crew grows
- Remote-first, with a culture that trusts you to manage your time and do excellent work
- Clients that are genuinely cool — the kind you'll actually tell people about at dinner