Role and industry
Controller, Government Contractor (DCAA) Recruiters
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
Financial Headhunters: Hire a controller who keeps your contract billing safe from audit findings and federal clawbacks.
This is what we do all day: recruit accounting, finance, banking and insurance professionals.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
- Controller
- CFO
- VP Finance
- FP&A Director
- Accounting Manager
- Director of Accounting
- Assistant Controller
- Tax Director
- Treasury Manager
- Internal Audit Director
- Senior Accountant
- Financial Analyst
- Head of Financial Reporting
- Commercial Lender
- Chief Credit Officer
- Business Systems Finance Lead
- No upfront fee
- Pay only if you hire
- Accounting, finance, banking and insurance
- We reach people who aren’t on job boards
- Replacement terms on standard searches
01
What does this hire really come down to?
Your controller controls your ability to bill federal agencies. If they miss a nuance in the Federal Acquisition Regulation, your invoices stop getting paid. You need someone who maps indirect cost pools to every contract invoice as a standard daily task rather than an afterthought.
Knowing how to operate Deltek Costpoint or Unanet is the starting point. The real test is whether they configure the general ledger to block unallowable costs before a transaction is even posted. Ask them to show you how they set up a new project code to keep indirect costs separated from direct billable labor.
You need a person who manages the communication with external auditors. Ask about the last time they had an audit finding and how they corrected the control to prevent a repeat. They must own the project data that tells your project managers if they are burning through a contract budget faster than planned.
02
What do we check before you see anyone?
- 01We ask for examples of how they apply FAR and CAS to maintain indirect rate structures for different types of contract awards.
- 02We verify their process for flagging unallowable costs in the general ledger so they never show up on an incurred cost submission.
- 03We review their history with timekeeping systems to see if they enforce strict controls on labor charging and overtime recording.
- 04We have them explain how they gather PBC lists and manage the flow of information to external auditors during an audit cycle.
- 05We confirm they can set up an ERP to handle project-based billing requirements that align with financial reporting outputs.
- 06We evaluate their method for recognizing revenue on long-term government agreements to verify it holds up against contract officer scrutiny.
03
Where do we find them?
We identify these professionals inside finance departments of government contractors where federal oversight dictates accounting tasks. These people work on defense or infrastructure contracts and understand the cycle of federal reporting. They change jobs when their current employer treats compliance as a burden rather than a business necessity.
We also recruit audit managers from accounting firms who work exclusively on government contract engagements. These individuals want to stop auditing systems and start operating them full-time. They leave the advisory side because they want to build the internal systems they used to critique for other organizations.
We search for controllers currently in firms that treat accounting as a back-office utility rather than a strategic asset for contract profitability. A candidate will consider joining your team if you provide control over the ERP configuration to drive project-based billing accuracy. To determine if your client can offer this change, ask the candidate to describe a time they proposed a major change to an accounting system that was rejected by their leadership. If the candidate describes how they defended their proposal against organizational pushback, they will find the change to your environment valuable. We evaluate these answers to confirm they possess the authority to implement the audit-ready processes you need.
04
Which hiring mistakes should you watch for?
- 01Companies hire controllers with standard corporate experience and expect them to pick up DCAA rules later which leads to expensive audit failures.
- 02Managers ignore the need for deep system knowledge and fail to test if the candidate can actually configure their specific ERP.
- 03Employers confuse general financial reporting with the ability to defend specific cost structures during a federal audit.
05
The search in three steps
- 01We audit your specific contract environment and regulatory footprint to identify the exact technical requirements for your business.
- 02We conduct direct outreach to employed professionals who already have experience in federal cost accounting and ERP configuration.
- 03We run technical interviews to assess how candidates handle specific audit problems before we schedule an interview with you.
06
Which related hiring decisions are worth comparing?
How your Controller search runs
How does The Six-Step Search work?
One sequence, from a well-defined seat to a shortlist you can judge.
Search Calibration
We start with a call about the seat, the books, the owners and the people the hire will work with. We learn what the role must fix in the first year and what would make a candidate wrong even if the resume looks right.
You get: A written search brief: scope, must-haves, deal-breakers and the pay range, agreed with you.
Market Mapping
We map the companies and institutions where the right people already work: similar size, similar ownership, similar complexity, in your market and in others.
You get: The target list of companies and institutions we will search, reviewed with you before outreach.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We find direct ways to reach the people on the map. Most are employed and not reading job boards, so reaching them takes real research.
You get: Direct routes to people who are not on job boards, researched for your search.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We call and write to people individually and follow up. Interest varies, so we discuss the actual opportunity rather than promising a particular response.
You get: One-to-one conversations about your actual role, followed up, never a mass email blast.
Live Candidate Qualification
We speak with every candidate before you do. We check scope, systems, reporting lines, compensation expectations, location and why they would move.
You get: Only candidates we have spoken with, checked on scope, systems, pay, location and motive.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You receive a short written brief on each finalist covering what they have done, where they are thin and what they want. Then we help with interviews, references and the offer.
You get: A short written brief on each finalist, plus help with interviews, references, counteroffer risk and the offer.
Questions people ask
Can you provide a realistic estimate for when we might review a shortlist?
We will examine your current contract environment and tell you exactly how many qualified people we can reach in the current market. We do not set fake deadlines but work based on the actual candidate response rate for your specific role.
What specific interview questions should we use to test if a candidate can handle our indirect cost structures?
Ask them to describe a specific time they had to justify an indirect rate calculation to a government auditor. Ask them to explain exactly which transactions they consider unallowable and how they blocked those from hitting the final invoice.
How do you keep candidates committed to our offer if their current firm makes a counteroffer?
We identify their primary reason for leaving early in our process so we know what they are running toward. We keep them focused on their stated career goals so they are prepared to turn down a counteroffer when it arrives.
Is there a way to manage this search without making our hiring plans public?
We manage the entire outreach process with strict discretion to keep your hiring plan confidential. We will discuss exactly what information we share with potential candidates before we contact anyone.
Are there any retainers or upfront fees involved in your contingency model?
Our search is strictly contingency based. You owe nothing until you sign a candidate we have presented and they begin their work.
What is your guarantee?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What don't you do?
We do not post your Controller job and forward whoever applies. We do not send stacks of unscreened resumes, and we do not recruit outside accounting, finance, banking and insurance.
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Tell us about the seat.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
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