Senior Accountant / Controller
Park Lights Hospitality - Winter Park, Florida
About Park Lights Hospitality
Park Lights Hospitality (PLH) is an independent, multi-concept restaurant group based in Winter Park, Florida, operating Prato Winter Park and Luke’s Kitchen & Bar in Maitland. We are in an active national expansion phase - with locations under development in Bethesda and Nashville and a growing pipeline of upscale, full-service concepts across multiple markets. Our first phase of growth will achieve 8 locations spread nationwide, with the second phase in planning.
We build high-volume, beloved restaurants that are designed with intention, operated with discipline, and experienced by guests as something genuinely different. Our concepts are polished without being precious, ambitious without being corporate, and rooted in hospitality. While our craft is serving acclaimed food and drinks, we believe our purpose is connection, and the guest experience is everything.
We are growing fast. That growth requires infrastructure that matches the standards we hold inside our restaurants - and we’re building that infrastructure now, with the people who want to grow alongside us.
The Role
We are looking for a Senior Accountant / Controller who is exceptionally organized, technically proficient, and genuinely passionate about the hospitality industry. This is not a strategic finance role - it is an execution role, and we mean that as a compliment. We need someone who takes deep pride in running a clean, tight, fully documented financial operation and who understands that in a multi-concept restaurant group, the details are everything.
You will own the day-to-day financial infrastructure of PLH: the books, the taxes, the leases, the compliance calendar, and the vendor relationships. You will assist and compile critical close data and P&L information, and work in close coordination with the VP of Finance and our operations and culinary teams. You will also collaborate and help oversee an outsourced AP function and a light-load accounting partner, as well as collaborating with internal and outsourced HR resources.
PLH is at an inflection point - and we know it. Legacy habits and systems are being unwound, rethought, and rebuilt from the ground up. The person who joins now gets to help shape that foundation, and to do it alongside a team of professionals that doesn’t exist anywhere else in independent hospitality.
This is a role for someone established in their career who is still hungry, organized to a fault, and wants to grow and continue to learn inside a company that is building something worth being part of.
What You’ll Own
- Full-cycle accounting and month-end close processes across all PLH entities, ensuring timely and accurate financial reporting
- Monthly financial statements, supporting schedules, and account reconciliations to ensure completeness and accuracy of financial reporting
- Prepare and maintain multi-entity consolidations, intercompany reconciliations, and elimination entries to ensure accurate and timely consolidated financial reporting
- Develop and document accounting policies, procedures, and internal controls
- Coordinate sales tax, payroll tax, income tax compliance and other regulatory compliance filings with external advisors and service providers
- Maintain lease abstracts and monitor critical lease obligations, including renewal options, percentage rent provisions, insurance requirements, and key compliance dates (in coordination with the VP)
- Administer vendor contracts, certificates of insurance, and key document management
- Perform cash management activities, including daily cash monitoring, bank reconciliations, and liquidity reporting in coordination with the VP
- Oversee outsourced accounts payable functions, including invoice review, approval workflows, vendor relationship management, and payment controls
- Payroll processing and accuracy in coordination with HR and third-party payroll provider
- Support annual audits, tax engagements, lender requests, and other financial reporting requirements by preparing schedules, reconciliations, and supporting documentation
- Pre-opening cost tracking and accounting for new unit development (full-scale NRO support for the VP and operations team – an opportunity to gain experience in NRO and new deal analysis and management)
- Manage multi-state compliance activities, including sales tax registrations, business license renewals, entity setup, and regulatory compliance for new market expansions
- Primary administrator of Restaurant365 (R365) including chart of accounts management, entity setup, reporting integrity and system maintenance
What We’re Looking For
Experience
- 3-5+ years of accounting experience, with a non-negotiable of meaningful time inside a restaurant, hospitality, or multi-unit food & beverage environment
- Multi-entity / multi-concept experience strongly preferred
- Upscale or full-service restaurant background is a significant advantage
- Restaurant365 (R365) proficiency strongly preferred; other restaurant accounting systems considered
- Familiarity with the Toast POS platform
- Outsourced partnership management and coordination highly preferred
- Tax proficiency and experience highly preferred
Skills & Attributes
- Exceptional organizational skills - you manage deadlines, not just tasks
- Detail orientation that is genuinely part of how you work, not just how you describe yourself
- Clean, clear written communication - you can summarize financial information simply
- Comfort working across outsourced partners and internal stakeholders
- Ability to manage up effectively and flag issues before they become problems
- Familiarity with lease documentation and critical date management
- Solid understanding of sales tax, payroll tax, and multi-state compliance basics
- You are a kind, decent, and even-tempered person who enjoys good food, restaurants, and working with your team members to drive excellence and standards while lifting and leaning on each other
Education
- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field required
- CPA preferred but not required - the right experience matters more than the credential
Compensation & Location
- Base Salary: Starting at $90,000, with serious upward consideration commensurate with experience
- Bonus: Performance-based
- Location: Winter Park, Florida - on-site role; local candidates strongly preferred (hybrid considered)
- Benefits package including health insurance, 401K, and PTO
Who Thrives Here
You are precise without being rigid. You take ownership. You communicate effectively and actively listen first to understand, then to take action. You understand that a restaurant group running multiple concepts across multiple markets lives and dies by the quality of its back office, and you want to be the person who makes that back-office exceptional.
You are not the loudest person in the room. You are the most prepared. You believe good hospitality extends beyond the dining room - and you want to work somewhere that believes the same thing.
We are not a finished thing. PLH is evolving and driving positive change, rethinking how we operate, and building the infrastructure that matches where we are going. If you want to put your stamp on something real - on the systems, the standards, and the culture of a group that is becoming something - this is that seat.
Park Lights Hospitality is an equal opportunity employer.
Pay: From $90,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
Work Location: In person
