Controller

About K1 Industries
For the first time in decades, power demand growth in the US has jumped 5x, driving multi-year lead times for critical power infrastructure. K1 builds and deploys modular power packages at scale, now.

The role

K1 is hiring a Controller to build and run the accounting function as we scale manufacturing and commercial operations. We need someone who can own the close, lead the accounting side of our ERP implementation, establish reliable manufacturing accounting, and manage the company’s financial statement audit. You will build the systems and controls that give leadership an accurate view of our financial position and the cost of what we build.

This is a hands-on, builder role. Today our accounting is handled by an outside firm; you will be our first in-house accounting hire, bringing the function in-house and building it alongside finance, which will share the load while the team is small. You will work closely with finance, engineering, procurement, supply chain, and operations to connect purchasing, inventory, production, and fixed assets to the general ledger. Expect to do the detailed work yourself at the start, including journal entries, reconciliations, and resolving gaps in source data, while turning evolving processes into a repeatable close and reliable financial reporting.

You will report to the Head of Finance with strong visibility to the leadership team.

What the role owns

• Close and financial reporting: Own the monthly, quarterly, and annual close, including journal entries, account reconciliations, accruals, and financial statements. Establish a clear close calendar, review process, and supporting documentation. Investigate variances and communicate results and accounting judgments to finance leadership. Support board and investor reporting cycles.

• ERP implementation and management: Lead the accounting and financial workstreams of ERP implementation, partnering with operations and supply chain and with external implementation specialists. Own the chart of accounts, accounting requirements, opening balances, and financial reporting setup. Drive data migration, testing, reconciliations, and user readiness through go-live and stabilization, and own the system’s accounting configuration and controls after go-live.

• Inventory, WIP, and manufacturing cost accounting: Establish and maintain accounting for raw materials, work in process, and finished goods. Work with procurement, supply chain, and manufacturing to ensure receipts, material movements, production activity, and completed builds are recorded accurately. Own inventory reconciliations, physical and cycle count procedures, costing methods (job costing for complex builds and standard costing as volumes grow), overhead allocation, and the treatment of scrap, rework, and obsolescence. Build reliable visibility into material, labor, and overhead costs by product or build, investigate cost variances with operations, reconcile production records to financial results, and improve the accuracy of cost of goods sold and margin reporting.

• Fixed assets: Own fixed asset and construction-in-progress schedules, including additions, transfers, depreciation, and disposals. Establish clear capitalization policies and supporting records for equipment, tooling, facilities improvements, and other qualifying expenditures. Coordinate with engineering and operations to track when assets are placed in service.

• Revenue and contract accounting: Establish revenue recognition and billing for equipment sales, long-term service agreements, and warranties, including deferred revenue, contract balances, and warranty reserves.

• Internal controls and accounting policies: Build practical controls over purchasing, payments, inventory, journal entries, system access, and financial reporting. Establish approval authority, appropriate separation of duties, and documented review procedures. Maintain accounting policies and resolve technical accounting questions with external specialists as needed.

• Audit management: Lead preparation and execution of the company’s financial statement audit. Coordinate with external auditors on scope, timing, and evidence requirements. Own supporting schedules, accounting memos, request tracking, and resolution of audit findings, including preparation for inventory observation.

• Accounting operations, tax compliance, and team development: Oversee accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll accounting, and related reconciliations, coordinating with internal owners and external providers. Coordinate outside providers on income, sales and use, property, and payroll tax compliance, and own the related accruals and filing calendar. Make the first accounting hires as volume justifies them, and develop the team and processes with clear responsibilities and accountability for accuracy and timeliness.

Who does well here

• Wants to build an accounting function from the ground up and is comfortable doing the detailed accounting work directly while building the processes around it

• Has owned the close and financial reporting for a manufacturing or hardware business, with a strong working knowledge of US GAAP

• Brings hands-on experience with inventory, WIP, product costing, overhead allocation, and manufacturing variances

• Has led the accounting workstream of an ERP implementation through data migration, testing, go-live, and stabilization

• Has maintained fixed asset and construction-in-progress schedules and applied sound judgment to capitalization and depreciation

• Has led financial statement audits from the company side and can build organized, well-supported schedules and resolve issues with auditors

• Can establish effective controls in a small team while keeping purchasing, production, and payments moving

• Works well with engineering and operations teams and can trace financial discrepancies back to the underlying transactions and processes

A CPA (an active license is not required), public accounting experience, and experience scaling an early-stage manufacturing company are strongly preferred. Experience with complex equipment builds, project costing, and the transition from early builds to commercial production is especially relevant, as is exposure to long-term service agreements, warranty accounting, and project finance, SPV, or lessor structures. K1 hires for its values: run toward hard problems, own your work, learn obsessively, and bias to action.

What success looks like in the first 12 months

• The monthly close runs in-house on a defined calendar with documented reconciliations and review

• The accounting workstream of the ERP implementation is scoped and underway with operations and supply chain

• Inventory, WIP, and fixed asset accounting are established, reconciled, and supported by count procedures

• Core controls are in place: approval authority, separation of duties, and documented review

• The audit plan is agreed with the auditors and supporting schedules are in place

Compensation

Competitive salary and meaningful early-stage equity. Your equity participation will reflect the impact and ownership this role carries. Standard benefits package including health, dental, and vision insurance.

Location

The role is based at K1’s headquarters in Carson City, Nevada, near Reno and Lake Tahoe. San Francisco-based and remote candidates will be considered for the right hire. Frequent onsite travel will be required, including the first months in role, ERP implementation and go-live, physical inventory counts, and period-end closes, to work closely with manufacturing and operations and establish reliable inventory and asset processes.