Role and industry
Controller, Real Estate Developer Recruiters
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
Financial Headhunters: Avoid hiring general accountants who lack the ability to handle construction draws, complex joint venture waterfall calculations and property accounting cycles.
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?
A real estate controller must track cash flow against specific construction budgets while adhering to GAAP requirements. Generic corporate accountants often miss the nuances of development cycles and project-specific expenses. You need a person who treats the general ledger as a live operational tool to log every site cost against the correct project line item.
The controller must talk to project managers daily to turn site activity into clear financial reports. They need to handle complex joint venture agreements and run the waterfall calculations for profit distributions. If the controller cannot calculate how a change in a construction draw impacts the internal rate of return, your development team loses its ability to manage budget risks.
You need a financial lead who manages annual audits without delaying project timelines. They must control internal data to satisfy lenders while keeping pace with real estate transactions. We interview leaders who built accounting systems for development firms. What specific database configurations did they use to check their financial infrastructure scaled alongside their previous firm's asset portfolio?
02
What do we check before you see anyone?
- 01We verify they have handled construction draw schedules and the specific paperwork required to trigger lender fund releases without project delays.
- 02We ask them to walk through joint venture accounting to see if they can explain equity distribution across different ownership levels.
- 03We test their work in Yardi or MRI by asking how they configured systems to track new projects instead of just inputting numbers into existing reports.
- 04We confirm they have managed external audit lists to see if they maintain records that satisfy institutional investors.
- 05We check their process for reconciling common area maintenance charges and tenant recoveries to see if they identify revenue leakage.
- 06We watch how they explain accounting logic to project staff to determine if they can make financial data useful for non-finance managers.
03
Where do we find them?
We look at mid-sized development firms where candidates managed the entire financial cycle. These people often change jobs because they hit a wall in their current firm or want to manage larger, more complex capital structures.
We find accounting managers at property management companies who are ready to own the entire financial function. They seek roles that move them away from restrictive, rigid processes so they can build and refine accounting operations.
To find candidates, we target smaller real estate development shops where the controller directly interacts with lenders and construction leads to manage capital project cycles. A prime candidate often considers a move because their current firm uses a standardized accounting platform that prevents them from customizing financial models for new asset classes. We ask them, how have you modified your ledger structure to accommodate a shift from residential to mixed-use commercial development? If they can describe a specific adjustment to their chart of accounts or a change in how they allocated overhead across projects, it shows they possess the practical control you need rather than just relying on pre-built software templates.
We also source from firms currently undergoing rapid portfolio expansion where the accounting team has become overly segmented. A controller there might feel stifled by restricted access to the high-level capital stack and wants to return to a position where they oversee the entire waterfall distribution process. We ask them, can you explain the exact impact of a delayed construction draw on the internal rate of return for your current project? An answer that focuses on cash timing and lender requirement nuances tells us they are ready for the responsibility of your specific capital structures, whereas a generic answer confirms they remain detached from the financial outcomes of the development projects they support.
04
Which hiring mistakes should you watch for?
- 01Hiring someone from manufacturing or service firms who assumes real estate accounting works like other industries, ignoring the specific demands of property development.
- 02Choosing a candidate based only on a CPA certificate while ignoring their lack of technical ability to fix broken system reports or data errors.
- 03Hiring a person who refuses to leave their desk, resulting in a controller who fails to give the project managers the budget updates they need every day.
05
The search in three steps
- 01We compare your specific portfolio against the market to find candidates who have worked on identical capital structures.
- 02We perform technical tests to confirm the candidate has finished accounting cycles for asset classes like your own.
- 03We arrange interviews that focus on how the candidate will work with your project managers to track your financial records.
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
How long do you anticipate the search process will take for this role?
We produce a candidate list after we finish market research and verify technical skills. We do not set firm deadlines because we prioritize candidate accuracy over quick turnarounds.
What methods do you use to confirm a candidate can solve real-world problems on our specific software?
We conduct deep technical interviews to check their work on live accounting systems. You then evaluate their leadership approach and how they fit your team during your own interviews.
If a candidate receives a counteroffer during our final interviews, how is that handled?
We manage the candidate during the search to track their true intent. If a counteroffer appears, we address it based on the personal goals the candidate stated at the start of our search.
How can we maintain control over our anonymity throughout the recruitment process?
We agree on a disclosure plan before we start reaching out to candidates. You decide exactly what information is shared and when the company name is revealed.
What is the total fee obligation if we decide to hire a candidate you present?
You pay only if you hire. We only invoice a fee if you choose to hire a candidate we present, based on the terms in our contract.
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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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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