Controller / Director of Accounting & Finance (Commercial Real Estate)

Role Overview

A growing real estate investment and property management business is hiring a senior Controller / Director of Accounting & Finance to lead its accounting and finance function. The organization manages a large and complex portfolio of residential and commercial assets, with more than 40 entities and about 100 properties.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can run daily accounting operations, strengthen processes, build scalable systems, and support the company’s next phase of expansion. There is also potential for the right person to grow into a long-term leadership or partner-level role.

What the Role Covers

You will own the full accounting and finance department, balancing strategic planning with detailed execution. The role includes financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, KPI development, portfolio performance analysis, and operational oversight across the company’s entities and properties.

The position also calls for a strong focus on process redesign and automation. The company wants to move from largely manual workflows toward a more structured, technology-enabled, and AI-supported operating model.

Core Accounting and Finance Duties

• Lead accounting and financial reporting across the property portfolio, entities, and related businesses.
• Manage accounting for more than 40 legal entities and around 100 properties.
• Oversee monthly, quarterly, and yearly close activities.
• Ensure accurate reporting at the property, entity, and consolidated levels.
• Handle accounts payable, accounts receivable, bank reconciliations, intercompany activity, owner distributions, lender reporting, and cash management.
• Review general ledger transactions and confirm proper treatment across all entities.
• Work with external CPAs, tax advisors, auditors, lenders, investors, and internal ownership.
• Maintain strong controls and provide financial information that is accurate, timely, and useful for decision-making.

Budgeting, Forecasting, and KPI Reporting

• Own the annual budgeting process for the company, its entities, and the property portfolio.
• Create and maintain budgets at the property, entity, and company levels.
• Prepare budget-versus-actual reporting and variance analysis for ownership and leadership.
• Build forecasts, cash flow projections, and capital planning reports.
• Set up recurring KPI reporting for accounting, finance, property management, leasing, maintenance, and other operational teams.
• Identify the most important financial and operational measures for the business and establish a regular reporting rhythm.
• Track metrics such as occupancy, collections, delinquency, operating expenses, NOI, cash flow, maintenance costs, leasing velocity, debt service coverage, entity performance, and team productivity.
• Translate accounting data into practical insights for management and ownership.
• Improve portfolio visibility through dashboards, recurring reporting, and executive summaries.

Department Leadership and Structure

• Take full responsibility for the accounting and finance department.
• Create, document, map, and manage workflows and SOPs.
• Build clear systems for recurring tasks, approvals, deadlines, and responsibilities.
• Spot operational gaps and implement practical fixes.
• Lead internal accounting staff and help develop a high-performing team.
• Set accountability standards, reporting cadence, and performance expectations for finance.
• Build a department that can scale as the business expands.

AppFolio and Property Accounting

• Manage accounting operations in AppFolio and connected systems.
• Improve workflows for property accounting, tenant ledgers, owner reporting, reconciliations, payables, receivables, and property-level reports.
• Ensure AppFolio is used accurately and consistently across the portfolio.
• Prior experience implementing, cleaning up, optimizing, or managing AppFolio accounting setups is strongly preferred.

Process Improvement and AI Transition

• Help shift the accounting function from manual, person-dependent work toward automation and AI-assisted workflows.
• Find repetitive accounting and finance tasks that can be improved through automation, AI tools, offshore support, or better process design.
• Create written SOPs and process diagrams for major accounting functions.
• Build a finance structure that does not rely on undocumented knowledge or single individuals.
• Introduce AI-supported tools to improve accuracy, speed, budget tracking, variance analysis, KPI reporting, and executive visibility.
• Evaluate and implement technology that improves accuracy, speed, accountability, and reporting quality.
• Work with ownership to design the company’s future accounting and finance infrastructure.

Hands-On Expectations

• Be prepared to handle detailed accounting work when needed.
• Review and, when appropriate, prepare journal entries, reconciliations, schedules, and reports.
• Resolve accounting issues directly rather than only delegating them.
• Combine strategic leadership with practical, day-to-day execution.

Required Background

The ideal candidate should have at least 10 years of accounting experience, including substantial responsibility for complex accounting operations. They should be able to organize and run an entire accounting and finance department and have a strong command of financial statements, general ledger accounting, reconciliations, cash management, budgeting, forecasting, and internal controls.

Experience across multiple entities, properties, cost centers, or business units is important, along with the ability to build SOPs, workflows, checklists, and reporting systems. Strong leadership, communication, and organizational ability are essential, as is comfort working in a fast-paced entrepreneurial setting.

The company is looking for someone who can think at a high level while also staying close to the work and handling accounting details when required.

Preferred Experience

Strong preference will be given to candidates with AppFolio experience, real estate or property management accounting background, a CPA license, experience supervising offshore or outsourced accounting support, and experience using automation, AI tools, or other technology-enabled accounting processes.

Additional advantages include building dashboards, budget-to-actual reporting, financial models, KPI systems, and working closely with ownership, investors, lenders, and outside tax professionals.

Compensation

The base salary range for this role is $160,000 to $195,000, plus a discretionary bonus.

Important Notice

The employer may use artificial intelligence tools to assist with parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials. These tools support the recruiting team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are made by people. Candidates may contact the employer for more information about how their data is processed.