Overview
Assistant Controller Jobs in United States at WagWay Group
Title: Assistant Controller
Company: WagWay Group
Location: United States
Remote in the following state: Illinois, Maryland, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona
Company Overview:
WagWay Group is a PE-backed pet clubs and wellness company with operating brands across the U.S. WagWay was established to build a national, contemporary network of leading pet wellness providers in attractive markets. WagWay pet centers offer daycare, boarding, grooming, training, and vet services under a comprehensive model. The Company aspires to set the standard for pet wellness through the combination of service excellence, innovation, and pet health monitoring.
Job Summary:
We are seeking a highly capable Assistant Controller to help lead and scale our accounting function. This person will be both a strategic thought partner and a strong individual contributor: someone who can design and build scalable processes, roll up their sleeves to execute them, and continuously evolve within a growing, multi-entity business. The ideal candidate is a self-starter and strong communicator who can partner with non-finance teams to enhance overall organizational effectiveness. This is a high-impact, highly visible role that will work directly with the Controller, CFO, and CEO regularly and will have an opportunity to grow their career within the organization and within the Private Equity portfolio.
Essential Functions & Responsibilities:
- Lead and support the month-end, quarter-end, and year-end close processes, ensuring accurate, timely, well-documented, and auditable financial results
- Own key areas of accounting operations, including journal entries, account reconciliations, accruals, prepaids, fixed assets, lease administration, inventory controls, intercompany activity, depreciation schedules, asset disposals and roll-forwards, and revenue-related accounting
- Design, build, and improve scalable accounting processes, policies, controls, and reporting workflows
- Serve as a hands-on contributor by preparing and reviewing workpapers, reconciliations, variance analyses, and supporting schedules
- Partner with the Controller and CFO on technical accounting matters, process improvements, financial reporting, and audit readiness
- Help develop and maintain a strong internal control environment, ensuring compliance with GAAP and company policies
- Lead and coordinate M&A or new store opening activities, including purchase accounting, opening balance sheet integration, financial and accounting workflows, etc.
- Identify gaps in current processes and proactively recommend practical, scalable solutions
- Evaluate accounting implications of contracts, new initiatives, and business changes
- Work cross-functionally with operations, HR/payroll, legal, technology, marketing, and other teams to ensure accounting processes support the needs of the business
- Coordinate with external auditors, tax advisors, and other third-party partners as required
- Mentor and support accounting team members while remaining willing and able to execute critical work directly
- Collaborate with Access Holdings to cross-pollinate strategies and share playbooks across the portfolio
- All other duties as assigned
Professional Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in accounting required; CPA strongly preferred
- 7+ years of progressive accounting experience required; experience in public and private industry accounting strongly preferred
- Strong knowledge of US GAAP and experience with month-end close, account reconciliations, revenue recognition, audit, fixed asset and capital projects, and internal controls
- Experience operating in a multi-location, multi-entity, retail, services, or similarly complex environment
- Accounting systems/ERP experience; NetSuite experience strongly preferred
- Strong ability to operate independently and generate high quality content such as detailed workpapers, journal entries, reconciliations, etc.
- Comfortable working in ambiguity and building structure where processes are evolving or incomplete
- M&A transactions and/or entity integration experience
- High ownership mentality, sound judgment, and a bias toward practical, scalable solutions
- Ability to balance big picture thinking with detailed execution; can connect accounting details to broader business implications
- High emotional intelligence, low ego, and collaborative leadership style
Personal Characteristics:
- Curiosity: asks probing "why" and "how" questions; digs into data and first principles before forming conclusions; proactively learns the industry, business model, and customer
- Humility: seeks feedback early; admits mistakes quickly; prioritizes team outcomes over personal credit; adjusts views when presented with better evidence; encourages and fosters an environment where others feel safe doing the same
- Drive: sets ambitious goals; takes full ownership of results; persists through obstacles; consistently follows through without reminders
- Proactive: identifies gaps and solves them without being asked; anticipates downstream impact; flags risks early with proposed solutions
- Thought-leader: generates practical, non-obvious solutions; challenges assumptions respectfully; applies structured thinking to ambiguous problems
- Efficient: moves quickly without sacrificing quality; prioritizes high-impact work; makes timely decisions with imperfect information
Equal Employment Opportunity
WagWay provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. We believe that a diverse team is a better team. The perspectives and experiences that people from different backgrounds bring to a company drive better decisions and improved results. WagWay is committed to a culture of inclusion and believes that diversity drives the best results.
