Overview

The Corporate Controller is a senior finance leader at TEC Equipment, reporting to the Chief Financial Officer and based at the Portland Oregon Corporate Headquarters. TEC has grown from $250M to $1B in the past decade and intends to double or triple in scale over the next 10 to 15 years. The Controller owns the day-to-day financial and accounting operations that make that growth possible — while building the discipline, controls, and reporting infrastructure required at 2x-3x scale.

 

This is not a technical accounting role alone. The Controller is a partner to the CFO and to the operating business, holding financial discipline where it needs to be held, translating operational reality into accurate financial results, and building an accounting function that scales with the enterprise. The right leader will bring deep technical mastery of GAAP, close cycle, controls, and audit — and will be measured equally on their ability to lead a team of 25+, partner across operating and enterprise functions, drive change through systems and process transitions (including the ongoing Proceed ERP implementation), and hold financial discipline in a family-owned business at a generational moment.

 

The Controller works closely with the Executive Leadership Team, the Thompson family Council, external auditors, and the leaders of all business units across leasing, parts, service, truck sales, trailer sales, and TEC Development. This person is expected to conduct themselves and make decisions in full alignment with TEC's Vision, Mission, Values, and Culture at all times.

Responsibilities

• Own the day-to-day accounting operations including General Ledger, Fixed Asset, Inventory, Payroll, and Accounts Payable and Receivable, ensuring accuracy, discipline, and timely delivery across every entity in TEC's consolidated structure.
• Lead the monthly, quarterly, and annual close cycles. Deliver accurate financial results on committed timelines. Continuously improve the close cycle to prepare the accounting function for TEC at 2x and 3x current scale.
• Deliver high-quality financial and accounting services to internal and external stakeholders, including Thompson family ownership, the Executive Leadership Team, lenders, auditors, and operating leaders across all business units. Partner across the enterprise as an active contributor to business decisions, not as a downstream service provider.
• Own the monthly, quarterly, and annual reserve analysis using rigorous techniques to evaluate risk and ensure compliance with US GAAP. Hold the analytical discipline required in a capital-intensive business with active covenant relationships.
• Develop and maintain critical accounting policies, procedures, and templates. Build the documentation and process discipline that supports clean audit outcomes and scales with enterprise growth. Determine the accounting treatment for material transactions in partnership with the CFO.
• Maintain deep working knowledge of US GAAP and financial reporting standards. Serve as a technical accounting leader alongside the CFO. Be the person the operating business trusts to explain what the accounting treatment is and why it matters.
• Lead the Annual External Audit process end to end. Deliver clean, timely audit outcomes. Build and maintain a strong working relationship with the audit firm engagement team.
• Own external financial reporting, ensuring completeness, accuracy, and timely delivery. Contribute to the development of reporting formats that translate financial results into clear, decision-oriented information for the Council, the ELT, lenders, and other stakeholders.
• Develop and manage internal financial reporting aligned with operational needs. Deliver timely, actionable information to business unit leaders and enterprise partners. Translate operational reality into financial results, and translate financial results back into operational insight.
• Analyze financial information and provide recommendations to leadership on opportunities to improve profitability, manage risk, and support the growth thesis. Bring a strategic perspective to the accounting seat — not just what happened, but what it means and what should change.
• Own the Corporate Accounting P&L including the accounting function's operating costs, and manage the function's cost discipline as the enterprise scales.
• Own quarterly debt covenant compliance reporting and forward-looking covenant forecasting. Partner closely with the CFO on lender-facing reporting and covenant amendment processes. Bring the accounting seat's discipline to a critical, ongoing responsibility.
• Partner with the CFO on monthly cash forecasting and prior-month forecast variance analysis. Build the cash discipline required for a capital-intensive business with active lender relationships.
• Develop and maintain internal controls to ensure accuracy and compliance with US GAAP and TEC's internal policies. Build the control environment appropriate to a $1B enterprise scaling to 2x-3x, not the environment appropriate to today.
• Partner with the CFO to ensure proper controls over disbursements, employee-related transactions, and all matters where financial risk intersects with people risk.
• Own the accounting integrity of physical inventory across truck sales, parts, trailer sales, and lease and rental fleets. Lead the periodic inventory validation processes. Hold the accounting discipline required to accurately value inventory, identify aging and impairment concerns, and recommend write-downs when the analysis supports them — in partnership with the CFO and operating leaders, but with the accounting seat's voice fully expressed regardless of operational pressure.
• Partner with the CFO and operating leaders to maintain appropriate segregation of duties across all financial transactions. Ensure the accounting function is positioned to identify and escalate issues without conflict of interest.
• Serve as the accounting seat's primary point of contact for financial risk matters that require Council-level visibility. Escalate through the CFO to the Finance Committee of the Thompson Family Council when the situation warrants.
• Own the accounting function's engagement with the Proceed ERP implementation through go-live (November 17, 2026) and the 90-day post-implementation stabilization period. Partner with the CIO, the finance team, and the operating business to ensure the finance-side workflows are ready, tested, and stable through cutover.
• Lead the accounting side of ongoing systems evolution — chart of accounts, close cycle, financial reporting, controls, and integrations. Bring the discipline required to make systems investments produce actual improvement, not just replacement of existing pain with new pain.
• Drive process improvement across the accounting function. Identify and eliminate manual workarounds, single-person dependencies, and scale constraints. Build the operating disciplines that support the enterprise TEC is becoming.
• Lead change management within the accounting team through systems transitions, workflow changes, and process improvements. Communicate what is changing and why. Build team buy-in through partnership, not through directive.
• Partner with the CIO and enterprise IT function on systems architecture decisions that affect financial reporting integrity. Bring the accounting seat's perspective to systems governance conversations before decisions are made, not after.
• Directly Responsible Individual (DRI) for a team of 25+ accounting staff. Own team structure, roles, individual development, performance management, and succession depth. Build a team capable of supporting TEC at 2x and 3x scale.
• Coach, develop, and mentor team members. Provide timely, clear, and constructive feedback. Understand each team member's learning style, strengths, and development areas. Create the conditions for the team to do their best work.
• Partner across the enterprise as an equal contributor, not as a downstream service function. Build working relationships with the CIO, HR leadership, Legal, and each operating business unit leader (leasing, parts, service, truck sales, trailer sales, TEC Development). Translate financial insight into operational decisions.
• Hold financial discipline where it needs to be held, including in situations where operational pressure runs against it. Bring the accounting seat's voice to inventory decisions, capital allocation conversations, and business unit financial performance discussions. Escalate through the CFO when partnership approaches are not producing accountability.
• Coordinate cross-functional initiatives that involve the accounting function. Influence team members and enterprise partners to deliver on shared commitments. Present clear status updates to the CFO, the ELT, and the Council Finance Committee.
• Support the cycle of continuous improvement in process and controls. Apply structured problem-solving techniques to create durable, scalable workflows.
• Manage workload and proactively communicate with the CFO when there are unexpected challenges or resource constraints. Do not carry issues in isolation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or related discipline.  CPA preferred.
• Minimum 10+ years of progressive accounting experience required, with at least 5+ years in a Controller or senior accounting leadership role at a company of comparable scale ($500M – $2B revenue).
• Prior Controller experience at a privately-held or family-owned company strongly preferred. Experience with capital-intensive businesses including some combination of dealership, leasing, equipment finance, industrial distribution, or asset-heavy manufacturing preferred.
• Demonstrated experience leading through ERP implementation (as accounting lead, project sponsor, or finance workstream owner) required. Track record of leading accounting teams through systems transitions and change strongly preferred.
• Direct experience with covenant compliance reporting and active multi-lender banking relationships preferred.
• Team leadership and direct supervisory experience with teams of 20+ required. Track record of building bench strength and developing team members into more senior roles preferred.

• Deep knowledge of US GAAP. Mastery of general accounting, reserve analysis, revenue recognition, lease accounting, and consolidated reporting across multiple entities. Command of best-practice close cycle discipline, controls, and audit management at scale.

• Demonstrated ability to lead the accounting function through ERP implementation, systems transitions, and process transformation. Ability to hold team focus and morale through change while maintaining operating discipline.

   

• Working knowledge of inventory accounting in a capital-intensive business including aging analysis, impairment testing, write-down analysis, and reserve methodology. Ability to hold the accounting seat's voice on inventory matters against operational pressure.

   

• Working knowledge of debt covenant compliance reporting, forward-looking covenant forecasting, and lender-facing communication. Ability to partner with the CFO on covenant amendment processes and lender relationship management.

• Ability to lead, develop, and grow an accounting team of 25+. Identifies and develops succession depth. Coaches team members into more senior roles. Establishes a culture of accountability, technical excellence, and cross-functional partnership.

• Ability to build working relationships with operating leaders across all business units, with the CIO on systems matters, with HR on people matters, and with Legal on governance matters. Translates financial insight into operational decisions. Recognized as a builder of the business, not just a financial reporter.

• Ability to present clearly and confidently to the CFO, the Executive Leadership Team, the Council Finance Committee, external auditors, and lender relationship managers. Comfort translating technical accounting reality into concise, actionable briefings for non-accounting audiences.

• Comfort operating in a family-owned business environment. Understanding of the governance dynamics that come with a family Council structure and how the accounting function partners appropriately within that structure.

Benefits

TEC provides our employees and their families with a full menu of health, wellness, and retirement benefits.

 

New hires are eligible to participate in TEC Equipment’s comprehensive benefits plan the first of the month following your date of hire.

 

• Choice of two comprehensive medical plan options that include prescription drug coverage
• Choice of two dental plans that cover preventative and diagnostic care, basic and major services, and orthodontia for children
• Vision care, discounted hearing exams, and hearing aids
• 401(k) retirement savings plan with company contribution
• Life, accident, and disability insurance
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Education assistance
• Seven paid holidays, vacation accrual of at least 48 hours per year, and paid sick