Project Accounting Director - Orion Services Group

Job description

Director, Project Accounting New York, NY **Our Culture at Orion** At Orion, we are builders. We want to be the gold standard for people in the Commercial Services trades. We are building a 100+ year business with an A+ team, driven, excited about the future, and looking for people who want to build with us. We believe in hiring people with a growth mindset who are committed to building something bigger than themselves. Our culture is grounded in four core values: Coach, Compete, Collaborate, and Commit. We strive to be low ego, high performance, and deeply committed to our people, our Operating Companies, and our long-term vision. Orion Service Group is a growing network of commercial services businesses across the United States, spanning HVAC, electrical, plumbing, building automation, and related trades. We are highly acquisitive, integrating 10-15 operating companies per year, and we are building toward the public markets. Orion is a roll-up-your-sleeves culture. At all levels, we expect people to prioritize, act quickly and effectively, demonstrate agility in their thinking, and get the job done every day. This is not a sit-back-and-direct environment. We value doers, problem-solvers, and people who are hands-on and decisive. **The Role** The Director of Project Accounting is the corporate owner of how project revenue is accounted for and reported across the Orion network, reporting directly to the VP, Corporate Controller. More than 30 of our operating companies run project work, together representing $500M+ of annual project revenue across roughly 1,000 open percentage-of-completion jobs at any given time. Each of those companies brings its own history, its own contract mix, and its own systems. This role brings a common approach to how that revenue is recognized and reported, in a way that respects what is working locally and raises the bar everywhere. This is a leadership and change management role that runs on technical credibility. Corporate sets the standard; we design it, teach it, and earn its adoption across operating companies whose finance leaders do not report to you. The conversations are collaborative, but they are technical, and you will need to be the person who can work through the answer with a controller in real time. You will partner with our Group VPs of Finance, who lead 5-8 operating companies each, rather than working around them. This is a builder's seat. You will be the first person at Orion to own this function, and you will shape it rather than inherit it. **The judgment areas that define this role include:** Job costing and cost-to-complete discipline on multi-month projects, where the estimate is revised over the life of the job and each revision affects reported margin ASC 606 application across fixed-price, unit-price, GMP, T&M, and service agreement structures Contract modifications, including approved-scope change orders with pricing still to be settled, unapproved change orders, and claims Retainage, including when the right to consideration becomes unconditional and where the balance belongs Loss contract identification and the information flow that surfaces a loss early Warranty reserves and deferred revenue WIP reporting, over- and under-billings, and the estimate quality behind them **What We Are Looking For** Core Competencies Project and contract accounting depth - you know job costing, WIP, cost-to-complete discipline, over- and under-billings, retainage, contract modifications, claims, and loss contracts well enough to work through a question with a controller in the moment rather than taking it away and coming back. Influence at scale, through a leadership layer - you have moved practice across many entities at once by working through regional or divisional leaders. You know that an approach which works in one conversation does not automatically carry across thirty. Field credibility - you earn the right to change how an operating company works by knowing the work. You can tell a genuine contract difference from a habit, and say so without making it personal. Teaching instinct - a meaningful share of this job is training people who have done it another way for a long time. You build training that lands, and you stay through the first cycles rather than handing off a deck. Verification discipline - you know the difference between adoption and reported adoption, and you confirm it with data, exception reporting, and sampling. Ownership mentality - when the numbers are not right, it becomes your problem to solve, even if you did not create it. Systems fluency - you work effectively across ERP environments and partner with the systems organization. You understand what a system can enforce and what only judgment can. Comfort with ambiguity and a fast pace - you prioritize well, work across many operating companies at once, and stay organized under a high volume of concurrent demands. Low ego, high collaboration - you build consensus across Finance, Operations, and Systems and with operating company leadership, without direct authority. **Experience and Qualifications** 8+ years in project or contract accounting, including experience at a corporate or multi-entity level. Hands-on experience with multi-month project work, where cost-to-complete estimates are revised over the life of a job and those revisions affect reported margin. Background in a project-based environment Strong command of ASC 606 as applied to construction and service contracts, including contract modifications and variable consideration, contract asset and liability classification, and loss provisions, with the ability to write technical positions that hold up in an audit. Demonstrated success setting a standard or process that finance leaders outside your reporting line adopted, ideally across more than a handful of entities. Multi-entity experience in an acquisitive or decentralized environment where accounting practice varies by location. Working fluency across ERP environments and direct involvement in at least one implementation or conversion. Experience with COINS or a comparable construction ERP is a strong plus. Proficiency across Microsoft Office and AI platforms (Claude or ChatGPT). Demonstrated ability to build low-cost automation, is a strong plus. CPA is a plus, not a requirement. Willingness to travel to operating companies. This role is not run from a desk. **Key Responsibilities** Standard Setting and Hands-on Accounting: Design and document the network approach to project accounting: WIP reporting, cost-to-complete discipline, over- and under-billings, retainage, contract modifications and claims, loss contracts, warranty reserves, deferred revenue, and ASC 606 application by contract type. Serve as the accounting depth owner for project revenue in external audit and, as we progress toward the public markets, in control design, documentation, and testing. Current State Mapping and Risk Assessment: Map how each project-revenue operating company recognizes revenue today across percentage-of-completion and deferred approaches, contract types, and treatment of cost on open jobs. Build a risk view across project revenue, warranty reserves, and deferred revenue, and use it to sequence where the standard lands first. Field Adoption and Training: Lead adoption across the operating companies in partnership with the Group VPs of Finance and the systems organization. Build and deliver the training that brings operating company finance teams onto the standard, and stay with them through the first close cycles. Sequence rollout by risk and readiness, and work the exceptions directly rather than escalating them. Reporting and Visibility: Build a network-wide, job-level view that turns roughly 1,000 open jobs into a short list requiring attention, with a recommended action plan behind each, so reviews are problem-solving sessions. Establish reporting on adoption status, WIP quality, estimate revision patterns, and margin trends by operating company. Build this reporting on the platform data layer rather than maintaining it by hand. Close and Consolidated Review: Review consolidated project revenue and WIP each month, identify anomalies early, and resolve them with the operating company rather than correcting after the fact. Partner with Corporate Controllership on close acceleration as it affects project reporting. Acquisition Onboarding: Build and run the project accounting playbook for newly acquired companies so each acquisition converges on the standard on a defined timeline. Support diligence and integration on project revenue quality for deals in flight and within the first 90 days of ownership. **What Success Looks Like (first 12 months)** Current-state map complete across project-revenue operating companies, with the meaningful differences identified and risk-ranked. Network project accounting standard documented, approved, and adopted by operating companies representing 80%+ of project revenue. Project-revenue operating companies reporting WIP monthly on a common schedule that reconciles to the general ledger. Job-level exception reporting live, with estimate revision and margin trends visible by operating company and by job. Warranty reserve and deferred revenue risk view complete, with a framework in place for the following year. Training delivered to operating company finance leaders carrying project revenue, with adoption confirmed through data. Acquisition onboarding playbook live and applied to every deal closing after month six. Project revenue positions documented and supported in the annual audit. **Reporting Structure** This position reports directly to the VP, Corporate Controller and partners with the Group VPs of Finance to reach the operating companies. **Work Location and Schedule** This is a full-time role based in New York, New York. Remote candidates will be considered for the right fit. Travel of 30-40% to operating companies is expected, particularly during the initial rollout. **Compensation** The salary for this role will be determined based on experience, qualifications, and alignment with organizational needs. **Our Values** Own It Take responsibility for your results and empower others to own theirs. Act With Care Strive to do work you can be proud of today and in 100 years. Lead with humility, curiosity, and transparency. Be Agile Have a growth mindset, embrace continuous improvement, and keep reinventing yourself. Win Together Serve the team, learn from each other, and collectively raise the bar.