Controller

The Role:

SPARC Behavioral Health is seeking an experienced Controller to lead full back office accounting operations, including treasury management, and drive process improvement across a growing, multi-entity healthcare organization. This role owns the monthly close, financial statement reporting, and audit preparation, while leading a Senior Accountant and Payroll Specialist and partnering closely with the CFO on broader finance initiatives. The ideal candidate is hands-on, comfortable in a fast paced environment with evolving systems, and motivated to build stronger processes rather than simply maintain existing ones.

The organization is a private equity backed portfolio company, and this role should expect the reporting cadence, lender covenant requirements, and diligence rigor that come with that ownership structure.

AS the Controller, you will have responsibility for:

• Own the monthly close process, including journal entries, account reconciliations, and preparation of financial statements
• Lead treasury and cash management, including cash positioning and bank relationships
• Own payroll end to end, including processing, compliance, and recordkeeping
• Lead and mentor a Senior Accountant and a Payroll Specialist, providing review and development support
• Serve as the organization's NetSuite subject matter expert, maintaining data integrity and troubleshooting system issues
• Support an active NetSuite systems stabilization effort, including entity structure cleanup and intercompany elimination processes
• Lead audit preparation and serve as a primary point of contact for external auditors
• Identify and implement process improvements to increase close efficiency and reporting accuracy, with a goal of driving toward a 10 business day close
• Maintain and strengthen internal controls across accounting functions
• Support intercompany accounting and reconciliations across multiple entities
• Support tax compliance and reporting, including coordination with external tax preparers on income tax provisions, multi-state filings, and any sales/use tax obligations across entities
• Partner with the CFO on ad hoc financial analysis, technical accounting questions, lender and investor reporting, and special projects
• Assist with policy documentation and standardization of accounting procedures

Experience

• BA and CPA required
• 5+ years of progressive accounting experience, including at least 2 years in a Controller or Assistant Controller capacity
• Hands on NetSuite experience strongly preferred
• Experience owning or closely overseeing payroll processing, including compliance, recordkeeping, and payroll tax knowledge
• Strong technical accounting knowledge (GAAP) with demonstrated experience preparing financial statements
• Experience managing or mentoring staff
• Prior experience supporting external audits and preparing audit ready documentation
• Experience in a private equity backed or investor reported environment strongly preferred
• Healthcare, behavioral health, or multi site services industry experience a plus, including familiarity with multi payer, multi state revenue considerations
• Track record of improving or building accounting processes, not just executing existing ones
• Strong communication skills and comfort operating with some ambiguity in a lean finance team