Overview
Financial Controller, Childcare Platform Jobs in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at Movement
Title: Financial Controller, Childcare Platform
Company: Movement
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Movement | Hybrid (Toronto plus site travel across Southwestern Ontario and Quebec) | Full-time
About Us:
We are building a multi-site childcare and early education platform across Canada. We currently operate two centres across Ontario and Quebec, and we are close to adding a third centre in the Greater Toronto Area, our first CWELCC-funded site. We are actively pursuing additional acquisitions and intend to build one of Canada's most disciplined operators in the sector.
The platform is one of the core investments of Movement, a global special situations investment firm with hubs in Toronto and Singapore. Movement partners with companies across North America and Asia Pacific, with deep expertise in capital structuring, operational transformation, and cross-border execution. The childcare platform sits within Movement's broader portfolio and is being built with serious capital, patience, and operating discipline behind it.
This role is for the platform specifically. You are joining the platform, building its finance function, and reporting to the Partners who oversee it.
How We Think About This Hire:
We are looking for someone who will tell us how to run these daycares better, not someone who waits to be told. Someone who thrives under the weight of running the finance function and takes full accountability and ownership of it. We want strong views on cost structure, on funding optimization, on reporting cadence, on internal controls, and on how to integrate acquired centres. We expect you to bring recommendations, improvements, and opinions to us, not wait for us to ask.
If you are looking for a role where someone hands you a task list, this is not it. If you want to actually shape how a growing platform runs, and work with partners who listen, read on.
What You Will Own:
CWELCC budget discipline (the most important thing). Our incoming GTA centre is the platform's first CWELCC-funded site, and every CWELCC centre we acquire from here forward operates under a cost plus funding model: underspend and we owe the province a clawback, overspend and we eat the loss. There is no margin for sloppy budgeting. You own weekly budget to actual variance tracking against allocated provincial funding, year to date, half year, and year end reconciliations against the funding envelope prepared to a standard that withstands Service System Manager review, forecasting against funding categories, and the internal cadence and reporting that ensures we never end a fiscal year with a material clawback or overspend.
Full financial ownership of every centre. You own the financials at every centre currently in the platform and every centre we add from here forward. Monthly close, P&L by centre, balance sheet, working capital, payroll integrity, AP/AR oversight, cash management, and intercompany loan tracking. Working closely with our centre administrators to ensure the books reflect operational reality.
Lender reporting and covenant compliance. Every centre we own carries debt at the entity level, each with its own reporting obligations and covenants (typically DSCR-based, with quarterly reporting cadences). You are responsible for tracking and meeting every one of those obligations across every facility, and for proactively flagging any covenant risk before it becomes a problem.
Owner reporting, the monthly package. Each month, you deliver a financial reporting package to the partners covering:
- P&L per centre, actual vs budget vs prior month vs prior year, with variance commentary on anything material
- Consolidated P&L, balance sheet, and EBITDA by centre and at the platform level
- Trailing twelve-month trend by centre and consolidated
- CWELCC budget to actual by line item with YTD reconciliation status (for CWELCC sites)
- Covenant compliance dashboard across every debt facility
- Cash position by entity, 13-week rolling cash forecast at the holdco level, working capital and intercompany movements
In addition, you produce half-year and year-end CWELCC reconciliations ready for Service System Manager review, and quarterly written commentary on what is working, what is not, what the funding and cost outlook looks like, and what you would change. We want your insight, not just your numbers.
Acquisition support. Working alongside the deal team on diligence, reviewing target financials, modelling deal economics, and integrating acquired centres onto our chart of accounts and reporting cadence within 60 days of close.
Platform-level financial planning. Annual budgeting, rolling forecasts, capital planning, and the financial inputs that feed our investment committee memos.
Build the team. As the platform grows from three centres to ten and beyond, you will build out the finance function under you. Staff accountants, AP clerks, and eventually a Director-level structure. This role is designed to grow into Head of Finance as the platform scales.
What We Are Looking For:
- Proven multi-site financial operations experience. Ideally, in a regulated and/or government-funded sector. Childcare, long term care, healthcare, private education, or similar. If you have run finance for a multi location operator, you already understand the rhythm of this role.
- CPA designation strongly preferred. Candidates near completion will be considered if the operating experience is strong.
- Strong point of view. You should arrive with opinions on what good financial discipline looks like in a multi site operating business, and you should be comfortable defending them.
- Discipline over flash. We want someone who finds satisfaction in clean reconciliations, accurate forecasts, and tight variance reporting, not someone looking to build slide decks.
- Comfort with ambiguity and acquisition pace. New centres will join the platform. The chart of accounts will evolve. The reporting package will get more sophisticated. You should find that energizing, not destabilizing.
- Direct, professional communication. You will work directly with the partners, our external advisors, our lenders, the provincial Service System Manager, and centre level operating staff. Clarity matters.
- Bilingualism (English and French) is a plus given our Quebec operations, but not required.
Compensation and Structure:
- Base salary: $110,000 to $140,000 CAD, calibrated to experience.
- Performance bonus tied to (i) clean CWELCC reconciliations with no material clawback, (ii) on time monthly close across all centres, (iii) successful financial integration of acquired centres.
- Hybrid working model. Toronto-based with regular travel to centres. Expect roughly one day per week on site at a centre, more during integrations.
- Reports directly to the platform Partners (Gregory Gruschka and Javier Ballve).
How to Apply:
- Apply through LinkedIn with your resume and a short note, no more than half a page, explaining why this role fits what you are looking for next, and one specific thing you would want to change or improve about a multi-site financials function you have worked on. We read every application.
