Controller

Reporting to the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, the Controller will be responsible for leading the company’s global Accounting function, including a team of professionals across Accounting Operations, Financial Reporting (including IFRS Canadian and SEC filings), Technical Accounting, Tax and Treasury.

The Controller will serve as an important and key business partner and stakeholder. They will interact and coordinate with colleagues in Finance, Sales, Product Management, Engineering, Marketing and IT to drive the execution, recording and reporting of the company’s business. 

Most important, the Controller will play a key leadership role in the overall CFO organization and with the company’s executive leadership team around change management, process and controls improvement, scaling finance and company infrastructure and operations for our growing SaaS business, and building and developing a team of accounting professionals.

Other specific responsibilities of the role include:

• Directs and oversees the Company’s Global Accounting function, which includes accounting operations, tax, financial reporting, accounting policy & compliance, billing and A/R.
• Directs and oversees all accounting operations including all general ledger responsibilities, revenue recognition, A/P, payroll, fixed assets, T&E and other functions.
• Ensure timely and accurate internal and external financial reporting, including IFRS Canadian and US SEC public filings
• Drive the necessary work to operate and evolve the Company’s internal controls and various compliance environments and regulatory authorities, including Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.
• Point person and key interface with the Company’s audit team.
• Participate & interact regularly with the Audit Committee/Board
• Manage quarterly and annual financial statement reporting; constantly driving improvements through automation. Plan, control and direct corporate accounting activities, ensuring compliance with US GAAP, IFRS, statutory guidelines and internal financial policies and procedures.
• Evaluate intricate business transactions and manage customer deals bookings, billing and accounting treatment.
• Ensure that consolidated financial results are complete, consistently prepared and materially correct and direct the preparation of monthly, quarterly and annual financial statements and footnotes.
• Run the monthly/quarterly close process globally, ensuring all results, including balance sheets, income statements & cash flows are posted, consolidated and fully analyzed for reporting to Executive Management, the Board of Directors and the public.
• Design and prepare sophisticated financial analysis for use in the monthly close process.
• Oversee the global billing and accounts receivable function to ensure that transactions are properly recorded in the billing systems, customer invoices are properly prepared and communicated to customers, and customer amounts are collected on a timely basis.
• Manage the General Ledger and sub-modules for efficient operation, proper controls and appropriate level of detail for all management and financial reporting.
• Involvement in strategic initiatives, including M&A activity.
• Oversee and drive necessary financial policies, procedures, and internal controls and play a leading role in directing change initiatives and process improvements.
• Recruit, manage and develop a strong, performance-oriented Accounting & Reporting organization, capable of actively and effectively engaging and growing with the business.

Experience & Qualifications:

• The ideal candidate will bring strong Accounting leadership experience, in public company environments, and will have exposure to a recurring revenue business. Large company experience is a plus but should have experience in higher-growth environments, where building infrastructure and operating in a hands-on way was required.
• The ideal candidate will bring a strong operational orientation to the role and will have experience scaling processes, systems and people capabilities as a company grows and scales. Other requirements of the role include:
• Strong influencing capabilities, ability to work well cross-functionally as a Business Partner and command credibility with a senior leadership team, the Board and other external constituents.
• Player-coach operating style, with the ability to dive into details as necessary.
• Proven track record of building, mentoring and developing high-performing teams.
• Track record of leadership in complex, large-scale, cross-border businesses.
• Strong foundational knowledge of US GAAP, plus IFRS experienced preferred, including financial reporting and regulatory filings.
• Experience with accounting financial systems is critical; Absolute runs a NetSuite-based ERP platform.
• Strong analytical skills including judgement and commercial acumen,
• Ability to travel and engage effectively with accounting team members in Vancouver, and travel to other parts of the world where there are business operations (e.g., Austin, Texas and Vietnam), as global travel safety conditions permit.
• 10 years of Accounting experience, with 4 at the leadership level.
• CPA credential required; Big 4 public accounting firm experience highly preferred.
• BS degree in Accounting/Finance preferred.

Personal Attributes:

The ideal candidate will be high-energy, intellectually curious, results-driven and assertive; they will also be collaborative and operate transparently. S/he will be resourceful and adaptable and will be someone who seeks out opportunities to reach out to the business, build engagement and add value. The successful candidate will have strong communication skills and will be capable of presenting to a wide variety of audiences. S/he will be a strong leader and people manager, capable of coaching and mentoring a team to achieve career goals and development. Success will also be driven by someone who has a passion for SaaS companies and growth, someone who has a drive to innovate and a strong comfort level to experiment and learn.

Why Work For Us:
You’re resilient and passionate about securing the Work from Anywhere era. So are we.

We’re in search of the best and the brightest – everyone from innovators, sellers and marketers to financers, operators and especially customer relationship managers – we’re looking for top tier talent to help us shape the next decade of security, drive innovation that enables customers with truly disruptive solutions and are dedicated to making a meaningful difference.

Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada with international offices in Victoria – BC, Seattle – WA, San Jose - CA, Boulder - CO, Ankeny – IA, Austin - TX, Reading - UK and Ho Chi Minh City – Vietnam, Absolute Software (NASDAQ: ABST) (TSX: ABST) accelerates customers’ shift to work-from-anywhere through the industry’s first self-healing Zero Trust platform, ensuring maximum security and uncompromised productivity. Only Absolute is embedded in more than half a billion devices, offering a permanent digital connection that intelligently and dynamically applies visibility, control and self-healing capabilities to endpoints, applications, and network access to ensure their cyber resilience tailored for distributed workforces.

Our vision is to be the world’s most trusted security company – and to empower end users to connect securely and from anywhere, to all the applications they need to collaborate and get their work done, without interruptions and with an optimal network experience. Absolute currently serves approximately 16,000 customers with more than 13 million activated endpoints globally. G2 recognized Absolute as a Leader in the Winter 2022 Endpoint Management and Zero Trust Networking Grid Reports, reflecting our continued customer satisfaction across product lines. To learn more about Absolute, visit our website at www.absolute.com or visit our YouTube channel