Director of Accounting & IPO Readiness

Director of Accounting & IPO Readiness

Biomedical / Life Sciences

Position Overview

Full time, Fully Remote, 1099 Contractor. Initial project is 4-7 months with opportunity to extend or become W2 employee. Travel on sight may be required. Must reside in the USA and be a CPA.

Pay

$125-150 / hour

We are seeking an experienced Director of Accounting & IPO Readiness to lead accounting transformation and public-company readiness initiatives for high-growth and pre-IPO clients.

This is a senior, hands-on leadership role responsible for helping organizations build the accounting infrastructure, internal controls, financial reporting processes, systems, and teams necessary to operate at scale and prepare for public-company requirements.

The ideal candidate will have significant experience working with public or pre-IPO companies, PCAOB audits, SOX/ICFR, U.S. GAAP, and rapidly scaling accounting organizations. Experience within biomedical, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, life sciences, or related regulated industries is preferred.

This individual must be comfortable operating in an environment where processes are still being built. The role requires someone who can both identify what a public-company-quality finance organization should look like and personally lead the work required to build it.

Key Responsibilities

IPO & Public Company Readiness

• Lead accounting and financial reporting readiness assessments for pre-IPO organizations.
• Assess current accounting processes, systems, staffing, policies, and controls and develop remediation and implementation roadmaps.
• Prepare organizations for audits performed under PCAOB standards.
• Coordinate with external auditors, technical accounting advisors, legal counsel, valuation specialists, and other IPO advisors.
• Establish accounting processes capable of supporting SEC/public-company reporting requirements.
• Assist with financial statement preparation, audit support, PBC management, and reporting calendars.
• Identify accounting and reporting gaps that could create audit findings, control deficiencies, significant deficiencies, or material weaknesses.
• Support technical accounting analysis and documentation for complex transactions.

SOX / Internal Controls

• Lead the design and implementation of SOX-ready internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR).
• Develop risk and control matrices, process narratives, flowcharts, control documentation, and testing procedures.
• Establish appropriate segregation of duties throughout accounting and finance.
• Design scalable controls across major business cycles, including:
• Order-to-cash / revenue
• Procure-to-pay / accounts payable
• Inventory
• Payroll
• Treasury and cash management
• Financial close and reporting
• Fixed assets
• Equity
• Purchasing and vendor management
• Coordinate with IT and systems professionals regarding IT General Controls (ITGCs), system access, change management, automated controls, interfaces, and report reliability.
• Assist management in identifying and remediating control deficiencies.

Accounting Operations & Infrastructure

• Design and implement scalable accounting processes capable of supporting significant increases in transaction volume.
• Develop and improve monthly, quarterly, and annual close procedures.
• Establish close calendars, reconciliation standards, review controls, and reporting deadlines.
• Build scalable accounts payable and purchasing processes, including vendor onboarding, approval workflows, PO controls, three-way matching, and payment authorization.
• Develop accounts receivable, billing, collections, and cash application processes.
• Establish inventory accounting processes, including inventory movement, valuation, reserves, reconciliations, costing, and related controls.
• Develop accounting policies and standard operating procedures.
• Establish management reporting and financial reporting packages.
• Evaluate and improve ERP and financial systems architecture, integrations, workflows, and automation.

Biomedical / Life Sciences Accounting

• Support accounting issues specific to biomedical, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, and life-sciences organizations.
• Oversee or advise on accounting for research and development activities.
• Support accounting for clinical trials, CROs, CMOs, laboratories, research arrangements, and related accruals where applicable.
• Evaluate accounting for licensing arrangements, milestone payments, collaborations, grants, intellectual property, and other industry-specific transactions.
• Support inventory and cost accounting as organizations transition from R&D or pre-commercial stages into manufacturing and commercialization.
• Work cross-functionally with operations, supply chain, regulatory, clinical, manufacturing, and executive leadership.

Team Leadership

• Help design the client's future-state accounting organization.
• Determine appropriate staffing requirements as transaction volumes increase.
• Recruit, onboard, train, and mentor accounting personnel.
• Provide technical and operational oversight to Accounting Managers, Senior Accountants, Staff Accountants, AP/AR personnel, and other accounting professionals.
• Establish clear review and quality-control procedures.
• Develop accounting staff into a scalable, high-performing finance organization.
• Serve as a senior point of contact for client CFOs, CEOs, boards, auditors, and other stakeholders.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field.
• CPA required
• Approximately 10+ years of progressive accounting, audit, financial reporting, or controllership experience.
• Significant experience with public-company, pre-IPO, or IPO-readiness environments.
• Strong understanding of U.S. GAAP.
• Experience supporting PCAOB audits.
• Strong knowledge of SOX 404, ICFR, COSO, and internal-control design.
• Experience designing, documenting, implementing, or testing internal controls.
• Strong understanding of month-end and quarter-end close processes.
• Experience interacting directly with external auditors.
• Demonstrated ability to design and improve accounting processes rather than simply operate existing processes.
• Experience managing and developing accounting teams.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with executives, auditors, operational personnel, and technical specialists.

Preferred Qualifications

• Previous Big Four or national public accounting firm experience.
• Combination of public accounting and industry experience.
• Experience working for or advising a company through an IPO or significant IPO-readiness process.
• Experience with SEC reporting and public-company reporting requirements.
• Experience in biomedical, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostics, healthcare technology, or life sciences.
• Experience supporting organizations transitioning from pre-commercial/R&D stage into commercialization.
• Experience with inventory, manufacturing, standard costing, contract manufacturing, or supply-chain accounting.
• Experience with biomedical or pharmaceutical R&D and clinical-trial accounting.
• Experience implementing or optimizing ERP systems such as NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, or similar platforms.
• Experience designing ITGCs and working with technology teams in a SOX environment.
• Experience building accounting departments or finance infrastructure within high-growth organizations.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is not solely an auditor or technical accountant. We are looking for a builder who understands what auditors and public-company stakeholders expect and can translate those expectations into practical accounting processes, systems, controls, and teams.

This individual should be equally comfortable reviewing a technical accounting issue, designing a SOX control, improving an inventory reconciliation, evaluating an ERP workflow, developing an accounting policy, mentoring an Accounting Manager, and presenting findings to executive management.

Experience helping a biomedical or life-sciences organization scale from an early-stage or pre-commercial environment into a commercial and/or public-company environment is highly desirable.

Pay: $120.00 - $150.00 per hour

Expected hours: 40.0 – 50.0 per week

Work Location: Remote