Our client is seeking an experienced and strategic Vice President of Accounting Operations to lead their growing Philippines-based accounting team. This senior leadership role is responsible for overseeing multiple accounting functions, driving operational excellence, and ensuring strong alignment with U.S.-based leadership.
The ideal candidate brings deep accounting expertise, proven experience leading large offshore teams, and a hands-on, process-driven leadership style. This role will be instrumental in scaling the organization, improving efficiency and accuracy, and developing future leaders within the team.
Key Responsibilities
Leadership and Oversight
- Lead and manage a team of 70+ professionals across Accounts Payable, General Accounting, and Special Projects teams.
- Establish clear performance expectations and further develop metrics and reporting to monitor efficiency, accuracy, capacity, and service levels.
- Communicate performance insights regularly to the U.S. VP of Accounting Operations and COO.
- Build and oversee structured onboarding, training, and professional development programs.
- Provide coaching, mentorship, and feedback to develop talent and foster a high-performance, accountable culture.
Strategic Planning and Operations
- Provide leadership aligned with company mission, values, brand standards, and administrative policies.
- Develop and manage a staffing strategy that aligns client complexity, workload volume, and service expectations with individual employee strengths, skill sets, and availability.
- Identify available capacity and deploy team members to special projects and cross- functional initiatives based on required skill sets.
- Review, standardize, and improve SOPs across client groups to drive consistency and operational efficiency.
- Challenge existing workflows and implement process improvements to enhance accuracy, turnaround time, and scalability.
- Lead project management efforts to better utilize existing task management and time-tracking tools.
- Independently learn and assess current systems, understand real-world usage, and design improved workflows aligned with operational goals.
- Own initiatives end-to-end, from concept and design through implementation and sustained adoption.
- Troubleshoot operational issues, perform root-cause analysis, and propose solutions for approval by U.S. leadership.
Technical and Systems Leadership
- Develop deep expertise in the accounting systems, operational tools, and technologies used by the team and supported clients.
- Maintain a strong understanding of company accounting standards, directives, and client requirements.
- Lead process documentation and expansion of the Trainual knowledge base to support consistency, scalability, and knowledge transfer.
Requirements
● Bachelor’s degree in Accounting required; CPA preferred.
● 15+ years of progressive accounting experience, including at least 5 years in senior leadership roles.
● Proven experience leading large offshore or shared services accounting teams.
● Restaurant or hospitality industry experience preferred.
● Strong knowledge of accounting principles, operational controls, and standard operating procedures.
● Demonstrated ability to scale teams, processes, and systems in a high-growth environment.
● Exceptional analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills.
● Highly tech-savvy, with the ability to quickly learn and optimize new systems and tools.
● Advanced proficiency in Excel.
Key success indicators:
- Strong root-cause analysis and problem-solving capability
- Ability to design scalable systems and standardize processes
- Operational discipline across teams
- Effective workforce planning and bandwidth optimization
- Autonomous leadership in a fast-scaling environment
The suitable candidate will be:
- Strategic yet hands-on – Able to see the big picture while driving execution.
- Confident and willing to push back – Not a “yes” person; able to challenge assumptions and provide alternatives.
- Autonomous and self-directed – Thrives with latitude and accountability.
- Process- and systems-driven – Focused on standardization, efficiency, and scalability.
- Strong people manager – Ensures the right people are in the right roles, with optimized utilization.
