Financial Controller – Project Costing & ProfitabilityPosition Summary
Skyestone (Bluestone Apps Company) is seeking a hands-on Financial Controller – Project Costing & Profitability to manage the financial performance of software implementation projects from proposal through launch and support.
This role will be responsible for building accurate project cost models before proposals are submitted, establishing project budgets at kickoff, tracking actual costs and resource consumption, and providing weekly profitability reporting to management.
The ideal candidate must be highly proficient in QuickBooks, Excel, project accounting, budgeting, forecasting, margin analysis, and financial reporting. Experience in software development, IT consulting, SaaS, systems integration, or offshore delivery is strongly preferred.
This is not a traditional bookkeeping role. The Controller will work closely with Sales, Project Management, Architecture, Development, QA, and executive leadership to ensure every project is properly priced and remains financially healthy throughout delivery.
Key Responsibilities1. Proposal Costing & Financial Review
Before major proposals are submitted, develop and validate a complete project cost model that includes:
- U.S. Project Management
- Sales and pre-sales effort
- Solution and Technical Architecture
- U.S.-based development resources
- India-based development resources
- QA and testing
- UI/UX and DevOps
- Post-launch support and warranty
- LLM / AI API consumption
- Cloud infrastructure and hosting
- Third-party APIs and software licenses
- Sales commissions and sales overhead
- Administrative and corporate overhead
- Contingency and project risk
- Target gross margin and profit margin
Provide management with a clear financial summary showing:
Project Revenue | Direct Cost | Overhead | Contingency | Gross Profit | Gross Margin % | Expected Operating Profit
Identify underpriced or financially risky projects before contracts are signed.
2. Project Budgeting at Kickoff
Once a project is awarded, convert the proposal cost model into an approved financial budget.
Establish:
- Total project revenue
- Approved hours by role
- Labor costs by U.S. and India resources
- Monthly or milestone-based cost targets
- Cloud and LLM budgets
- Third-party technology costs
- Support and warranty costs
- Contingency reserve
- Target gross margin and profitability
This budget will serve as the financial baseline for the entire project.
3. Weekly Project Profitability Tracking
Monitor every active project from kickoff through launch and stabilization.
Prepare a weekly Project Margin Report showing:
- Contract value
- Budgeted vs. actual cost
- Budgeted vs. actual hours
- Percentage of budget consumed
- Percentage of project completed
- Remaining project budget
- Projected cost to complete
- Estimated final project cost
- Current and forecasted gross margin
- Budget variance
- Contingency remaining
- Change request revenue
- Unbilled work
- Accounts receivable status
Projects should be classified as:
Green – On Budget
Yellow – Financial Risk
Red – Overspending / Margin at Risk
The Controller must identify financial issues early, not after the project has already lost money.
4. Overspend & Financial Risk Management
Monitor and escalate issues including:
- Excess development or PM hours
- Scope creep
- Unapproved customer requests
- Rework
- QA overruns
- Architecture changes
- Integration complexity
- Cloud cost overruns
- Excessive LLM/API consumption
- Schedule delays
- Support effort beyond assumptions
Work with Project Managers and management to recommend corrective actions such as:
- Change requests
- Additional customer billing
- Resource reallocation
- Scope adjustment
- Staffing changes
- Cost reduction
- Executive escalation
5. Forecasting & Estimate at Completion
Maintain an updated Estimate at Completion (EAC) for every active project.
Forecast remaining labor, development, QA, cloud, LLM, support, and infrastructure costs and compare projected final profitability to the original approved budget.
Explain all material variances and identify projects that are likely to miss their target margins.
6. QuickBooks & Financial Management
Maintain strong financial discipline within QuickBooks Online, including:
- Project-level income and expense tracking
- Customer invoicing
- Accounts receivable
- Vendor expenses
- Expense classification
- Contractor payments
- Revenue and expense reconciliation
- Payroll allocation where applicable
- Monthly financial close support
- P&L and cash-flow reporting
- Project profitability reporting
Ensure QuickBooks information accurately supports project-level and company-level reporting.
7. Billing & Change Request Control
Work with Sales and Project Management to ensure timely billing for:
- Deposits
- Milestones
- Fixed-price projects
- Time-and-material work
- Change requests
- Support retainers
- Maintenance agreements
Track completed but unbilled work and ensure material scope changes are financially evaluated before additional work begins.
Each change request should account for additional labor, timeline, PM, QA, architecture, infrastructure, LLM, cloud, and support costs while protecting the required profit margin.
8. Executive Reporting
Provide concise weekly and monthly reporting to management covering:
- Active project backlog
- Project revenue
- Budgeted and forecasted margins
- Projects at financial risk
- Major cost overruns
- Scope-creep concerns
- Unbilled revenue
- Accounts receivable
- Cash requirements
- Key actions required from management
Reporting should focus on financial exceptions, risks, and required corrective actions, not simply accounting activity.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, or related field
- 5+ years in financial control, project accounting, FP&A, or similar role
- Strong proficiency in QuickBooks Online
- Advanced Excel and financial modeling skills
- Strong understanding of project costing and gross-margin management
- Experience with project-based or professional-services businesses
- Strong analytical and communication skills
- Ability to work directly with Sales, PMs, developers, and executives
CPA is preferred but not required.
Preferred Experience
Experience in the following is highly desirable:
- Software development
- IT consulting
- SaaS
- Systems integration
- AI implementations
- Offshore software development
- U.S./India delivery models
Understanding of LLM/API costs, cloud infrastructure, software subscriptions, and AI-related operating expenses is a strong advantage.
Key Performance Indicators
Performance will be measured by:
- Accuracy of project estimates
- Percentage of projects meeting target margins
- Reduction in unexpected overruns
- Early identification of troubled projects
- Accuracy of project forecasts
- Timeliness of customer billing
- Reduction in unbilled revenue
- Accounts receivable performance
- Quality of weekly management reporting
- Improvement in overall company gross margin
Core Objective
Before Skyestone (Bluestone Apps Company) sells a project, ensure we understand its true cost and price it profitably. After kickoff, continuously track financial performance, identify overspending early, and work with management to protect the project's targeted profit margin.
Pay: ₹300,000.00 - ₹600,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Flexible schedule
- Health insurance
- Paid sick time
- Paid time off
- Provident Fund
Work Location: In person
