With over 65 years of operations in Texas, and 2,700 employees supporting our business operations, Brandt designs, builds, services, and retrofits commercial and industrial facilities with electrical, mechanical, pipefitting, and plumbing solutions that are expertly designed, quality constructed, safely delivered, with on-time, on-budget customer satisfaction.
 

The Brandt Companies LLC is Texas’ premier provider of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) system design, build, and maintenance services. Brandt is deeply committed to the community, the environment, and our customers. Brandt cares – about sustainability, efficiency, safety, and long-term success – for all of the people we touch. Brandt’s core values of Care, Integrity, Perseverance, and Agility set us apart from our competition. Brandt is the largest MEP industry provider in Texas. Importantly, in keeping with our core values, we care, we are an “honest broker”, we play fairly, deal honestly, and are respected by our industry partners both unionized and non-unionized. We care about all of our customers, team members, partners, stakeholders, and communities we serve.

Brandt strives for ‘continual improvement’ and seeks regularly to recruit outstanding professionals to join our team. Presently, Brandt seeks to attract and hire a ‘world-class’ Controller with construction industry experience, M&A interests, and FP&A skills, that can add value now as our Controller, and in time progress in the company adding continual value and expertise to potentially fill future roles like the CFO or other key executive positions; i.e., we are looking for our Controller to make Brandt their career focus and we have an upward mobility path for the right candidate.

Our Controller and accounting department serves our Brandt Company team member electricians, plumbers, pipefitters, HVAC, and other professionals working on construction sites, and our executive and regional office locations throughout Texas. Brandt’s Controller will direct, develop, and oversee Accounting including AR, AP, Payroll, general accounting, reporting, tax, and cash management. Additionally, the Controller will collaborate with IT, HR, Legal and all Sales/Ops functions. The Controller is encouraged to engage in just about any financial and process improvement activity across the company, where there is value in such engagement. 

The Controller will manage a professional accounting staff of 14 professionals and an intern. Of these professionals, 4-5 are degreed in accounting, and the others are providing accounting support roles. Additionally, the company is in the process of upgrading our existing FP&A processes and capacity, and we are adding additional FP&A roles that we anticipate will be completed prior to the new controller being placed.

Ideal Behavioral Attributes of Brandt’s New Controller

1. Your values are in alignment with our core values of Care, Integrity, Perseverance, and Agility. You care about your people, team, community, and quality of your work.
   You have high integrity, resilience, stick-to-it-ness, and ability to bounce back from setbacks. You are agile and can maneuver to new ground as the facts change, and you can adapt quickly to new requirements as they appear. You know when structure/policy is necessary and when guidelines are sufficient without stifling project operations, employee morale and motivation.
2. You are socially dynamic and personable. You are comfortable talking with people at all levels within the organization. We are not looking for a ‘robotic financial bean-counter’ who is dispassionate about people.  Rather, we are looking for a financial leader and manager who has people skills and who will inspire and lead others, who can effectively coach one-to-one for improvement, who cares deeply about people, process, building relationships, and delivering results. The right candidate will be open to discussion, debate, and crucial conversations, and appreciate the art of influence (e.g., the soft skills), and willing to invest time in building personal relationships with the management team.
3. You are smart AND humble. You have keen intellect, wisdom, forethought, and perception. You speak plainly seeking to relate complex facts and figures simply, visually, and verbally in ways that others can clearly understand. You have emotional intelligence and are humble and coachable.
4. Self-Motivated and Responsible. You are a self-starter, self-motivated, take responsibility for you and your team-members goals and performance, and you get things done. You take responsibility for your role and deliver without the need of micro-management by the CFO. Further, you hold your team members responsible and get your best results working through people, developing relationships, building trust, and expecting excellence. You are not an excuse maker, but rather delight in taking ownership of your work responsibilities and decisions. You are perceptive and enjoying identifying the causes; effects, impact, and scope of potential financial risks and opportunities, and can provide decisive and accurate solutions. 
5. Passionate Achiever. You have a demonstrated knack for identifying and tackling ‘hard problems,’ thinking creatively, using existing resources and getting things done. You stay current on technology and are passionate about figuring out how to make processes, systems, functions, and experiences better. You have curiosity and like to understand how things work, and it is as important to you as reporting accurate data; for when you understand the mechanics of the business, you are more valuable as an advisor to the CFO and company.
6. Strategic thinker and planner.  The Controller will participate in accounting futures thinking, M&A pre-planning and due diligence, financial business opportunity and issues modeling, growth forecasting, and FP&A processes. The right Controller candidate will have demonstrated experience successfully identifying needs, preparing plans, and subsequently managing similar type financial functions with prior firms with demonstrated success in strategic thinking and planning.
7. Organized and detail oriented. The position requires significant planning, organization, and oversight over projects, people, and processes. You are detailed oriented, a planner and organizer, and are prepared for foreseeable events; you are versatile and have a demonstrated capacity to multi-task and juggle many demands.  You act deliberately and decisively with “calm urgency,” not frenetic chaos.
8. Work ethic and Energy. You work hard and smart. You leverage your time and resources. You achieve more than most during your day. You have a very practical approach to tasks and are efficient with both time and resources.  You enjoy accomplishing tasks and feel great satisfaction for a job well done. You are focused on results and not clock-watching, realizing that as the Controller, there are situations that will require greater levels of time commitment to ensure desired outcomes and that delivering results is the measure of performance. You also understand the criticality for life-balance in the workplace, and you are able to effectively fit in your work around your essential life activities (e.g., we want you to go to your kids ball-games, concerts, and get your work done), as we allow you the flexibility as a professional to get things done, at time and place that allows for life balance.
9. Life-Long Learner.  You have a natural curiosity about life, people, finance, accounting, tax, audit, risk, and solving problems. You are not a know-it-all, but rather a seeker of new information. You realize that there is always more to be learned, and have a life pattern of watchfulness being vigilant to keep up with trending changes in finance, regulations, compliance, and accounting industry best practices.
10. Communicator.  You can communicate simply, clearly, and understandably to all parties. You must be able to bridge the gap of knowledge and speak on accounting, finance, and risk issues clearly, lucidly, and simply to the management team in the board room, to our operations, and on our construction sites.  Communicating also includes preparing reports and deliverables that show progress on the controller and accounting management dashboards, preparing presentations to communicate financial, accounting, and other complex issues, and keeping management abreast of any issues that may adversely impact the company’s financial wellbeing.
11. Listens. Actively listens with ears, eyes, and all senses, observing trends in data collected, conversations spoken and unspoken, and financial and operational risk observations throughout the workplace, and redirects these listening fact points and observations into actionable intelligence. Understands that many profit fumbles can be avoided by first observing of early signals variance, waste, abuse, neglect, and foreseeable risks.
12. Fun to work with. You are a financial and business leader that inspires, encourages, and uplifts employees to higher levels of performance. People like to work with you and for you.

Controller Position Functions and Requirements

In compliance with Brandt’s corporate policies and procedures the Controller shall:

• Manage Brandt’s accounting department located at our company headquarters located at: 1728 Briercroft Ct, Carrollton, TX 75006.
• Manage the accounting functions including AR, AP, Payroll, general accounting, reporting, tax, and cash management.
• Collaborate and coordinate all financial and accounting functions with IT, HR, Legal and all Sales/Ops functions.
• Supervise all activities of the accounting functions and resources located across our Texas regional field offices and construction sites as required.
• Participate actively in industry-focused Controller peer group meetings with seven other companies where Brandt has established relationships.
• Conduct other controller duty travel, typically in state as may be determined to be in the best interests of the company.
• Lead a detailed annual department budgeting and quarterly forecasting process for the Brandt Companies. Report to the  CFO the Corporate headcount, operating, and capital expenditures
• Be balance sheet focused, and be able to relate financial results to business outcomes.
• Produce monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and use WIP accounting methods where appropriate.
• Prepare business unit and consolidated financial statements and operating metrics.
• Oversee consultants (typically CPA’s) who perform the external audit, tax preparation, and transfer pricing policies.
• Mediate purchasing agreements or other contractual agreements as necessary.
• Ensure the effectiveness of internal controls
• Conduct periodic LEAN management reviews to gauge and reduce financial waste throughout the enterprise.
• File all periodic regulatory and tax filings
• Direct / Control all cash management functions
• Manage accounting policies, procedures, processes, and business systems to ensure high quality and efficient accounting and reporting
• Develop and maintain company budgets and produce budget versus actual analysis
• Ad hoc financial reporting and analysis, as well as special projects as needed
• Manage auditors and tax accountants
• As directed by the CFO, interact with Executive Management and Board of Directors as required

Knowledge, Skills, Experience Requirements

1. Bachelor's Degree and/or Masters Degree in Accounting/Management required; MBA preferred.
2. Minimum of 9-12+ years’ experience supervising accounting/finance department, playing work-ups from the assistant controller, to controller, CFO, etc.
3. 3+ prior years public accounting firm working in audit role preferred
4. Prior public accounting experience and CPA required; however, CPA certification need not be currently active.
5. Prior construction industry accounting experience helpful
6. Prior trades union compensation and contracting experience helpful
7. Experience working with a broad range of company sizes from small businesses (where you do everything) to larger companies over $400 million in annual revenue (where you are more specialized)
8. Experience working within headquarters and multi-location operations preferred.
9. Advanced knowledge of finance, accounting, budgeting, tax planning, banking, cash management, and cost control principles
10. Strong financial analysis skills (e.g., cost-benefit analysis, ROI calculations)
11. Regulatory reporting understanding and experience
12. Strong accounting technical skills including the ability to prepare accurate financial reports
13. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, creative and innovative, organized, detail-oriented, and thorough
14. Experience with evaluating, selecting, and integrating financial applications such as ERPs; the company currently uses the Wennsoft (ERP), and prior experience is helpful but not required on this ERP
15. Experience with MS Office (MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Project) and other productivity tools;
16. Microsoft Excel competency is required with demonstrated strong “Jedi-Knight” level use of this tool.
17. Demonstrated ability to accept responsibility, be self-governing, be proactive, and responsible for the accomplishment of the company mission without need for daily coaching or prompting from the CFO;
18. Prior understanding of the operating environments and working conditions for these typically MEP trades: Plumbing, Piping, Sheet Metal, Electrical, High Purity Piping, HVAC Service, Boiler Service, would be most helpful.
19. Demonstrated history of good employee relations in past position a must;
20. Ability to deliver results while working through others, and motivate a team culture that is respectful and supports the company values of excellence, integrity, and quality experience for our customers;
21. Strong problem solving and creative skills and the ability to exercise sound judgment and make decisions based on accurate and timely analyses.
22. Create and monitor policies, procedures, and schedules to orderly manage issues such as management practices, transactions, reporting, compliance, audit, regulation, and interdepartmental coordination.

Compensation

Salary is competitive, negotiable and commensurate with ability and experience; Benefits package is typical of other benefit packages for the Controller position in Texas.

Timing

The new Controller position is available immediately, as our current controller is leaving on 7/31/19 to join his family out of state; importantly, there will be an opportunity for the new Controller to liaison and consult with our departing controller after his departure as needed.  While speedy placement is desirable, it is Brandt’s objective to take the time necessary to find the best available candidate for this position.  Brandt realizes that the “right” candidate is likely to be working for another firm, and we are willing to work with you to make a smooth transition, as we expect the same from our outgoing employees.

Other

The Brandt Companies, LLC is an affirmative action, equal opportunity, minority/female/veteran/disabled employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), age (40 or older), national origin, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other category protected by law.